Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Somewhere along the line, someone in Instagram-land decided to make Saturday into Caturday 😹 And while we love our cats, I can’t see making a post about them every single Saturday!
They pretty much do the same thing daily, judge us 😬
So I decided to do a play on that and do “CopyCaturday”. Every Saturday I’m going to find a copycat recipe and make it! See which we find closest, or most improved from the original! We don’t eat much fast food, but we do think there are some good possibilities out there for a good home-cooked version.
This week we decided on P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps! For one reason, Zach suggested it when I asked 🙂
I haven’t had Chicken Lettuce Wraps at P.F. Chang’s before, so I was relying on him to give me the review of this recipe!
I found a few I liked, and kind of merged them based on what Zach said was and wasn’t in the actual restaurant version!
Here is what I came up with!
First, my ingredients …
I loved this recipe since the only things I had to buy were the lettuce and the ground chicken! We had used some water chestnuts out of a can a few weeks ago and I froze the other half (they were still pretty crunchy for having been frozen!!), so those were used in this recipe. We always have green onions frozen as well (now I have to say if you are looking for a crunch in your green onions, freezing them is not the way to go!)
First things First
I always make my sauces first so that they have a chance to really meld together! 
This is a pretty standard sauce for me! I am a very big fan of Asian food! The soy sauce is from an Asian Market because I love the flavors of the sauces I find there! Lots less salt, lots more flavor!
Lots of choppy choppy!
Onions, ginger, garlic …
The ginger was a gift from one of the Harvest Hosts we stayed at! We put that in a ziploc and froze it! Then when we need it, we simply take it out and grate what we need!
I’m going to pause here to say how much I love that white prep bowl!! I was looking for something to measure out multiple spices into and happened upon these! And I just love them! The clear ones are also from Walmart, but I prefer the white ones! It’s a 6oz bowl, so just large enough to hold my spice mixes when cooking! I prep everything ahead of cooking so I’m ready! Pretty sure I need more of them 😃 At $1.25 each, that’s a steal for the convenience they bring!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps + White Rice 😋
It’s at this point that Zach starts the white rice in the InstantPot! It’s the easiest way to make rice! If you haven’t tried that yet, check out my post (Can We Revisit The InstantPot?) on the basics of cooking rice (and potatoes) in the InstantPot!
So all the prep work was done, and all I had to do was cook!
☺ 
Sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger, add the meat … cook! Done! Finally!
Now it’s at this time I realize that getting Iceberg Lettuce was NOT the way to go! The leaves literally ripped apart as I was trying to VERY CAREFULLY peel them away! It was not pretty! But I made it work because there were no other options on board!
Despite the iceberg lettuce debacle, they were delicious! Messy, but delicious 😋
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps
P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves mince
- 1 tbsp ginger freshly grated
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 can water chestnuts drained, thinly sliced
- 2 green onions sliced thin
- 1 lettuce large, sturdy leaves. washed
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil until well blended
- In a large skillet, over med-high heat, heat olive oil. Add onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in ginger and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add ground chicken and cook until just done, about 5 minutes. Break up the meat as it cooks.
- Pour in the sauce and cook for an additional 2 minutes, until the sauce reduces slightly and the chicken has finished cooking completely.
- Remove from heat and add in water chestnuts and green onions.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper
- Build wraps by placing lettuce leaf on a plate. Add a scoop of white rice in the center, then top with the chicken mixture. Repeat with remaining lettuce leaves.
Notes
Was it a Complete Copycat?
Zach said YES! It was! 😊😊😊
Will we make it again?
Yes, Yes we will!! Of course, we usually have the ingredients on hand at all times! I would definitely go with fresh green onions just because I think the crunch would be an added bonus! Also, more sturdy lettuce 😂! It was a challenge to eat just by picking it up, and not much easier with a fork! So those would be our changes! But the flavors were amazing!
CopyCaturday Recipes Aplenty!
There is a site called Top Secret Recipes that has a ton of available fast food and restaurant copycat recipes. It is not a free site! You can buy recipes in different ways, individually or buy one of the books, there is also a membership that you get 8 free recipes a month, you get the picture! Click on the chef below to check it out!
Another great resource is Copycat.com . Here you will find TONS of FREE recipes!! She also has a few books available on Amazon! Either way, it’s a win! 😋
