Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Better than P.F. Chang’s)!
Posted Feb 29, 2016, Updated Jul 19, 2024
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Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps (better than P.F. Chang’s)! A quick (less than 30 minutes), easy, and healthy dinner that tastes delicious! Gluten and dairy-free!
I know that’s a pretty bold claim…Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps you can make at home that are better than the beloved dish from P.F. Chang’s?! It may be bold, but it’s true! This Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps recipe is one that took me years of trial and error, and lots of taste-testing, to get it just right.
These Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps wraps are one of my favorite dinners (along with this cashew chicken stir fry). They are quick and easy and my whole family loves them. Even my kids eat them, and have tons of fun doing it!
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps: Ingredients & Substitutions
As always I recommend making this recipe exactly as it’s written! Like I said, I tested and retested this recipe more times than I can count to achieve lettuce wrap perfection! However, here are a few potential substitutions!
- Ground chicken: Finely diced chicken breasts are a great substitute for ground chicken! You can also use ground turkey or ground beef!
- Peanut Oil: Any oil can be used here if you don’t keep peanut on hand or if you have a peanut allergy. I recommend olive oil or avocado oil!
- Soy Sauce: If you have a soy allergy you can substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce.
- Peanut Butter: If you have a peanut allergy any nut or seed butter could work here, but peanut butter definitely gives the best results!
How to Make Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Let’s walk through the process of making this chicken lettuce wraps recipe step-by-step. Don’t forget to watch the video too!
Make the Sauce
The first step in this lettuce wrap recipe is making the sauce. The sauce is the key to the flavor of this recipe. I do not suggest tampering with the sauce. It is the part of this recipe that took me years to perfect, and is absolutely delicious as-is.
It’s really simple to make! Just whisk all the ingredients together. If you use a thicker peanut butter that is solid at room temperature, you may need ot warm it slightly before using it to make this Asian lettuce wraps recipe!
Make the Lettuce Wrap Filling
Begin by cooking the onion, minced garlic and ground chicken until the chicken is lightly browned.
Use a Wok, Sauté pan, or a cast iron skillet. For traditional Asian recipes I love pulling out my wok. But as you can see in the photo above, a regular sauté pan or cast iron skillet works perfectly.
Next, add the vegetables and cook until they are soft.
Finely Dice Vegetables
This is one of the keys to making sure every bite is bursting with both texture and flavor! Sometimes I even let my food processor do the chopping for me!
Then, add the sauce and cook until slightly thickened.
Serve
I prefer to enjoy this recipe the traditional way – as lettuce wraps! However, I usually serve these Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps to my kids over noodles or rice, or with a side of our favorite homemade fried rice, because it’s much easier for them to eat with a spoon than wrapped in a piece of lettuce.
They’re also a great appetizer, along with these spring rolls dipped in peanut sauce, to some of our favorite Asian meals, like cashew chicken, vegetable stir fry, Asian quinoa salad, and this baked crispy tofu.
Store
Store any leftover lettuce wrap filling in an airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store leftover lettuce separately in the refrigerator, because storing them together will make the lettuce soggy.
Freeze
The lettuce wrap filling can be frozen for up to 2 months in an airtight container. Thaw it by warming it in a pan on the stovetop over low heat.
Lettuce Wraps Recipe FAQs
There are three varieties of lettuce that I recommend to use when making these chicken lettuce wraps:
– Butterhead lettuce
– Green Leaf Lettuce
– Romaine Lettuce
Just be sure to choose a head of lettuce that has large and flexible enough leaves to use as a wrap!
It’s actually very simple! Just cut the bottom part of the head of lettuce off. Then carefully peel away each lettuce leaf! Don’t forget to wash and dry the lettuce leaves before serving!
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Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps (better than P.F. Chang’s)!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 Tablespoon peanut oil
- ½ onion (finely diced)
- ½ Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup red or green pepper (finely diced)
- 8 ounces water chestnuts (drained & finely diced)
For the Sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce*
- 3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce**
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons sweet chili sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
To serve
- ¼ cup peanuts (crushed)
- Lettuce or your favorite Asian salad
Instructions
- Whisk together sauce ingredients until well combined. If you use a firmer peanut butter you may need to microwave the mixture for 30-60 seconds in order to melt it and ensure everything is well-mixed.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons peanut oil in a frying pan. Once hot, add ground chicken, onion and minced garlic.
- Cook until chicken browns and the onions are translucent, cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the peppers and water chestnuts and cook about 5 minutes or until peppers are slightly soft.
- Add the sauce and simmer on low heat until the chicken and veggies are evenly coated and everything is heated through.
- Serve in lettuce leaves, on top of your favorite Asian salad, or over noodles or rice!
Video
Notes
- Ground chicken: Finely diced chicken breasts are a great substitute for ground chicken!
- Peanut Oil: Any oil can be used here if you don’t keep peanut on hand or if you have a peanut allergy. I recommend olive oil or avocado oil!
- Soy Sauce: If you have a soy allergy you can substitute coconut aminos for the soy sauce.
- *be sure to choose a gluten-free soy sauce to keep this asian lettuce wraps recipe gluten-free, like this one.
- Hoisin sauce: **be sure to choose a gluten-free hoisin sauce to keep this recipe gluten-free, like this one.
- Peanut Butter: If you have a peanut allergy any nut or seed butter could work here, but peanut butter definitely gives the best results!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this tonight for dinner. Didn’t add in peppers as my kids are not fans of them, the recipe was still Absolutely delicious. Packed with flavor! Topped them with bean sprouts. Will definitely be making these again.
Made this tonight for dinner. Didn’t add in peppers as my kids are not not fans of them, the recipe was still Absolutely delicious. Will definitely be making these again.
I have a question. Making these tomorrow. You don’t call for Green Onions/Scallions but I see them in the photo. Did you add them in addition to the chopped onion or instead of?
I also made this exactly as defined in the recipe. They are everything folks seems to agree they are…. 5 Star Freaking DELICIOUS. Even my husband, who is not a ‘lettuce wrap’ kinda guy.. was in Love! Today, I just shredded up the lettuce and ate the meat on top, like a salad.. I’m typing this and watching the last of it disappear… so sad! LOL
I followed the recipe exactly with the exception of peanut oil (I only had rice bran oil). It was amazing. I’ve me this twice and will be making this again soon.
This recipe was delicious! I forgot to take a picture because we were starving! I’m usually really good about taking phots of the food I make from online recipes too. haha. Oh well. Anyway we loved the flavor! Had two each. We have one more each for lunch tomorrow.
I wanna say.. when I came across your recipe here that I loved SO much that your page was so clean and that I didn’t get bombarded by ads! It ruins my experience every time and I end up leaving as soon as it begins.
Last thing.. I have to laugh now but when I saw the picture of your BEAUTIFUL family, I thought your arm looked oddly long and I had my head tilted for a bit before I finally said to myself.. nah.. and zoomed in to see that it wasn’t your arm extending that far down onto your daughters upper arm. LOL it was yours AND her arm!
Thanks for sharing this yummy Asian chicken lettuce wrap! I’ll sign up for emails!
Wonderful recipe! I used 2 chicken breasts that I cut into small pieces while still partially frozen and then chopped in the food processor under almost ground. Also substituted Sriracha for the sweet chili. My husband said it was the best he ever tasted. Will be making this again.
Like any new recipe I try, somehow I manage to use every cooking utensil, bowl and pan in the kitchen…and forget to unscrew all lids from the sauces before whisking. All in all, a great recipe that I’ll be making again. My vital mistake: using ground turkey meat and not draining the excess liquid from the pan prior to adding the sauce. It definitely diluted the sauce unfortunately. I may play around with the sauce mixture a bit in the future as i found it heavy on the peanut flavor – personal preference. Thank you very much for sharing a fairly simple recipe with some good flavors!
We made this tonight with a few modifications, and it was great! Made the sauce as is. It didn’t smell good but we went with it and the flavor was awesome after the cook. We added serrano peppers to the chicken & onions, leaving out the green peppers (can’t digest them and hubby won’t eat them). I added some orange peppers to my lettuce wraps separately. Seriously good and I will make these again! Thank you!
This is the first review I have ever left but I needed to tel you that this recipe is AMAZING. It may be the best thing I have ever ate! I followed the recipe as directed but added peppers and spinach cut in small. Truly a great recipe and you nailed the sauce.
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you love this recipe as much as we do!