Chicken Lettuce Wraps
I’ll come out and say it, P.F. Chang’s chicken lettuce wraps are the best part of America. Unfortunately for me, the nearest P.F. Chang’s is over two hours and an international border away. So when it’s Wednesday evenings and I’m craving that rich, crisp, and saucy delight, I have to make it myself. Which is exactly what I did.
Luckily, chicken lettuce wraps are pretty much just fancy tacos, and tacos are easy. The premise is exactly the same: cook some ground meat, add some spices for flavor, and serve it in something cup shaped. In fact, these might be easier since there’s no toppings to deal with.
Most recipes I found rely on hoisin sauce for flavor. I’m sure this works, and is probably close to P.F. Chang’s recipe, but it has two fatal flaws. First, I have a very small fridge and storing a bottle of sauce for one recipe isn’t something I want to do. Second (or maybe 1B), I don’t really like hoisin sauce, so I’m not going to use it in other recipes. Clearly, an alternative is needed.
I opted instead for a 50/50 split of soy sauce and molasses. To this I add some garlic and ginger to give it a bit of bitterness, some rice vinegar for acidity, and a hit of fish sauce for a rich finish. If you want a bit of heat in your wrap, you could throw in a few red pepper flakes too.
Of course, a good chicken lettuce wrap needs some body to back up the initial crunch of the lettuce. Here were start with grated carrots, which blends seamlessly into the chicken giving just a hint of bit and earthy flavor. On top of that there’s chopped water chestnuts; these give a satisfying pop when you hit them and soak up the sauce wonderfully.
Once you’ve chopped and mixed everything it’s smooth sailing until it’s time to eat. It doesn’t quite match the original, but it did satisfy my craving for at least a little while.
- 4
- 20 minutes
- 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 500 g ground chicken
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 can water chestnuts, chopped
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, garted
- 1 tbsp ginger, grated
- 1 head firm-leafed lettuce (butter, iceberg, and romaine work well)
Directions
- Coat the bottom of a skillet in a small amount of oil. Add the chicken and cook over high heat, stirring frequently
- Mix together the soy sauce, molasses, fish sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and ginger. Stir very well to break up the molasses
- When the chicken is almost cooked, add the carrots and water chestnuts. Continue cooking over high heat for 2 more minutes
- Add the sauce and reduce heat to medium. Stir until the sauce is uniformly distributed
- Top with green onions and serve in lettuce leaves
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