Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Exact PF Chang's Copycat!)
In just 30 minutes, you can enjoy PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps but better at home! The chicken filling is saucy, full of flavor, and topped with crispy rice sticks on top of crisp lettuce leaves - so satisfying and delicious! Save yourself the $18 it costs to order Chicken Lettuce Wraps at PF Chang's and make them at home!
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Outdoor Wok Station not required, but really fun to cook on!
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb chicken thigh minced (see note)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
Sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp mushroom water
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp sake
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil plus more for finishing the dish
- ½ tsp cornstarch
Oil & Vegetables
- 3 cups neutral oil
- 4 oz vermicelli rice noodle use Three Lady Brand or Lungkow Brand
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 scallion sliced, greens and whites divided
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms rehydrated in hot water, drained, squeezed dry and roughly chopped
- ¼ cup water chestnuts roughly chopped
- 1 head iceberg lettuce
Instructions
- Finely mince the chicken and add it to a mixing bowl. Season the chicken with salt, white pepper, sesame oil, and baking soda and mix to combine and marinate for 15 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mix together the oyster sauce, mushroom water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, vinegar, sake, sugar, sesame oil and cornstarch.
- Heat the neutral oil to 400F in a wok over high heat. Add in the rice vermicelli and let them puff up (about 5 seconds) and immediately remove the noodles and transfer them onto a paper towel to drain. Remove the frying oil leaving 2 tbsp in the wok.
- Heat the oil over medium heat in the wok and add the garlic and scallion whites and stir fry for 15 seconds. Turn the heat to high and Add the chicken and stir fry for 2 minutes over until 80% cooked through, then add the mushrooms and water chestnuts and stir fry for another minute until the chicken is fully cooked.
- Add the sauce and stir fry over medium high heat until the sauce is absorbed and slightly thickened and glossy. Add in the scallion greens, mix and finish with a drizzle of sesame oil.
- Serve the chicken with the fried noodles and pieces of iceberg lettuce and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- chicken thighs - while you can use ground chicken, I actually recommend hand mincing chicken boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Hand-minced chicken results in a chunkier, less uniform texture that holds up nicely when mixed with the mushrooms and water chestnuts. I also think chicken thighs tastes better than ground chicken. You can also use ground beef or turkey.
- water chestnuts - I used canned water chestnuts.
- shiitake mushrooms - I recommend using dried shiitake mushrooms that you rehydrate yourself - you'll need the water for this recipe. If you don't have shiitake mushrooms on hand, you can substitute with another mushroom of your choice.
- vermicelli rice noodle - use Three Lady Brand or Lungkow Brand for the signature crispy rice sticks to top Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- iceberg lettuce - use a cold, crisp lettuce that can hold up to being used as a wrap. Butter and iceberg lettuce are the best options. Romaine lettuce can also work but they'll be less like wraps and more like scoops.
- mushroom water - this is water from the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms; if you used fresh mushrooms or didn't use shiitake mushrooms, you can substitute with broth or stock.
- sake - You can substitute sake with another dry cooking wine (such as white wine or sherry) or chicken broth.
Nutrition
Calories: 302kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 947mg | Potassium: 314mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 119IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg
