P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps is the most popular item on the menu for good reason with chicken, chestnuts and a delicious sauce, they’re healthy and addicting!
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps are an integral part of most people’s P.F. Chang’s experience. When you go to the restaurant you’ll see a plate of them on most people’s tables and to me I always order them in spite of how easy they are to make (then I always sort of resent how expensive they are!).
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps are unique in that they’re so popular and so healthy at the same time. Most restaurants use cream/butter/cheese/frying to get something to stand out on their menu, but these give you a ton of flavor without resorting to those tricks so they can also be part of your New Year’s resolutions!
There are ingredients here (I’ve listed them below with links) that are unique to Chinese recipes and will add the specific flavors this dish needs to be authentic. I totally understand if you love this dish but don’t want to buy 3-4 bottles of sauce you may not use frequently. I think if you can find a local Asian grocer you’ll be pleasantly surprised how low the prices would be and that the investment in the ingredients is worth it. 
Also, if you are considering these purchases and are on the fence I have a ton of recipes that use them if you’d like to look around the site. I have a recipe index for Every Single Panda Express Recipe and many other Copycat and Chinese Food recipes that you could use these ingredients with.
If you’d like to serve these as they are in the restaurant you can purchase and fry up maifun rice sticks, but to keep it easy I skipped that step since it is mostly a garnish. 
Want More P.F. Chang’s Recipes?
Tools/Ingredients Used in the making of these P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps:
Oyster Sauce: This is a unique flavor and ingredient. If you avoid seafood and want another option I recommend Vegetarian Oyster Sauce (made from mushrooms) but I don’t recommend you swap this out for something else altogether. I know sometimes people recommend Hoisin Sauce as a replacement, it would not give you the authentic flavor here if you do that though.
Mirin: This is Japanese Sweet Cooking Rice Wine and has a unique flavor. If you’re in a pinch and need to swap it out, use white wine sweetened with a bit of sugar (this isn’t an exact science but I would say in a tablespoon of wine, maybe a ½ – 1 teaspoon sugar ratio).
Rice Vinegar: Readily available in almost all grocers these days, this is a great vinegar to keep on hand. It does have a hint of sweetness to it, so don’t replace with any other vinegar except perhaps a red wine vinegar if you absolutely need to.
Maifun Rice Sticks: Those little white rice sticks the P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps and other menu items are frequently served on. There isn’t a whole lot of flavor in these, but for presentation you fry them for a few seconds then when they rise to the top of the oil you take them out, let them dry and break them into pieces.
Soy Sauce: Nothing much to say here except Kikkoman has the best flavor overall and I always recommend reduced sodium.
Chili Oil: Adds great flavor, but in a pinch you can add sesame oil and just add a bit more Sriracha.
Sriracha: Speak of the devil. You need this in your kitchen, it is the perfect way to add a nice even heat to dishes without a unique chili (like jalapeno or another chili that imparts flavor in addition to heat) or smoky flavor.
Chinese Hot Mustard: Love buying this as a powder so I can keep it in my pantry for infrequent uses or add it as a powder when I’d like to add heat without liquid. This is a pantry item I love having on hand.
Ingredients
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon chili oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives
- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese hot mustard
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
Main Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 8- ounce can water chestnuts , drained and minced
- 1 6- ounce can straw mushrooms , drained and minced
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 2 scallion stalks , chopped
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Serve With:
- 4 cups to 5 iceberg lettuce
Instructions
- To make the dipping sauce, add the ingredients (from the sugar to the sriracha) in a small bowl and whisk until fully combined.
- In a large skillet add two tablespoons of oil and brown the chicken in it on medium-high heat.
- When browned remove chicken, add in the rest of the oil and sauté the water chestnuts, straw mushrooms, garlic and scallions for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the skillet along with the soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce and rice vinegar and stir to coat and combine everything.
- Serve in lettuce cups and top or dip into the dipping sauce as desired.
- If you'd like to serve these as they are in the restaurant you can purchase and fry up maifun rice sticks, but to keep it easy I skipped that step since it is mostly a garnish.
Nutrition
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Just found your website. I have been making my own version of these for a while, using hoisin. I really can’t wait to try your version and never used rice wine or vinegar in mine! Do you have a suggestion on how to cook the ground chicken to get finer and smaller crumbles of meat?
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Hi Pam, I’m sorry I didn’t see this comment until now. Did you have a chance to try the P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps yet? There are a variety of manual and electric choppers to get that finer meat crumble. As a Chef, I just use the chopping skills I had to learn to get the smaller crumbles of meat!
Is the Chinese hot mustard that you use the liquid hot mustard, or the powder? Thx!
thank you- recipes are great! WE ALWAYS DINE AT THE P.F. CHANGS IN FREEHOLD. OPEN ONE IN MONMOUTH COUNTY. BELMAR AREA
thank you- recipes are great!
You’re welcome.
Love your recipes. Please send me more.
Not easy to find all the ingredients i a small town. Ha to o a little substitution.
I’m so glad you’re loving them. Sometimes, Amazon even has some of the pantry items so don’t forget to check there.
I’ve tried other recipes for this & they don’t compare!! It’s,worth going out & finding all these ingredients! Superb! Thank you!
Thanks, Dee!
Do you think the mixture would freeze well??
Certainly. Just freeze the meat mixture after cooking. When you are ready to eat, thaw and reheat and make the dipping sauce.
Great recipe! I made this recipe for a party and it was a hit. Everyone was impressed and I received a lot of praise. Such a big hit and so easy to make. It was difficult to find straw mushrooms so I use common white mushrooms instead. I added fried maifun rice noodles as a crunchy topping as well. Thanks for this delicious simple recipe!
Sounds like a great substitutuion. So glad everyone enjoyed it!
What is the calorie count on these? I have made them and they’re great!
I just updated the nutritional information in the recipe card. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed them!
P.F.Changs also makes a vegetarian lettuce wrap. I love it and wonder if it is the same as this chicken version except for omitting the chicken .
It seems like that would be the case.
I’ve tried several online versions of ‘P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps’ and some are good, some are bad – but these are the best I’ve tried and the closest to the real thing. The inclusion of the maifun rice sticks was great, fun to cook too. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it, Michael!
Great recipe, my fam loved it. I couldn’t find straw mushrooms, so i
I used mushrooms in a glass container. I also added carrots.
So glad you all enjoyed it, Vivian!
I couldn’t find the canned mushrooms… I’m assuming I can just use fresh mushrooms, right?
If you’re having a problem finding them, try checking in the ethnic food aisle of your grocery store or at an Asain market. But yes, you can use fresh if unable to locate them. I hope you enjoy them!
Is there a substitute we can use for the chinese mustard? Regular or Dijon?
Dijon or spicy brown mustard will give you the same consistency but not the flavor. If you decide to use either, I would suggest adding prepared horseradish or Wasabi to it as well but just a tiny amount (a dab) because they both pack a lot of heat. Hope this helps!
Wonderful! Tasted just the same as restaurant and makes 4 servings!! Love it! Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 stars! So glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely loved these and they did taste exactly the same!! Thank you so much for something I can really enjoy and keep losing weight!
So glad you enjoyed it! If you haven’t already, you should check out my other site as well https://cookingwithpoints.com Lots of fast and healthy recipes.
Outstanding!
How many calories? Breakdown on nutritional value? Made these tonight, amazing! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it! Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.
Lisa,
I’m not sure if this recipe is exactly the carbon copy of the PF Chang’s version, however, according to the American Diabetes Association’s “Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating”, one order at the actual PF Chang’s of the chicken version, is 630 calories, 8 g of fat, 11% Cal. Fat, 2 g Sat. Fat, non-applicable amounts of Chol. mg or Sodium mg., 92 grams of Carbs, a non-applicable amount of Fiber, and 44 g of Protein. According to the “Servings/Exchanges” regime, they amount to 5 starch, 2 veg, 3 lean meat.
By the way, Sabrina, I did actually make this and it was outstanding! Thank you!
I made these last at night, such a hit! I can’t get over how the flavor brought me back to the last time I ate PF Chang’s lettuce cups all the way back in high school! After moving abroad, I have been craving them off and on ever since, and finally got to eat them again (at home) thanks to you! Thank you for a delicious recipe, my new favorite!
So glad I was able to bring you a piece of home!
I am severely allergic to anything oyster. Is there a substitute I could use that does not have any oyster in it? I’d like to try this but don’t want to “die trying it”!
There is a mushroom version of oyster sauce you can use as a substitution.
Thanks for the tasty recipe. I managed to obtain all the ingredients except for mirin so I substituted sherry and it seemed fine. We ended up eating the chicken mixture over steamed rice with the dipping sauce sprinkled over it as the lettuce we bought had really torn up leaves. Different, but it definitely worked. My son was disappointed that there weren’t leftovers!
No leftovers is a good problem to have 😉 I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it and came back to let me know!
I LOVE lettuce wraps! I grew eating something similar at my parents’ Chinese restaurant!
That’s a delicious appetizer, I might have to make this!
You are my P.F. Chang’s copy cat hero! I love this item on their menu. Glad I can now have it at home too
Awww, thank you Sandi!
I love all of these PF Changs copycat recipes that I’ve been seeing lately and I LOVE this one too! yum! Thomas will love this!
I still cannot believe I have never made these from home!
Those sound so flavorful, yummy!
Thank you Kimberly!