So I failed to tell you the entire culinary story of Ben’s and my Vegas Vacation…
Our first night, feeling brave after a rather large can of Sapporo, we each dove face first into a Pinks Hotdog, whose newly opened location was strategically placed right outside our hotel. A Classic Dog for him, and a Rueben Dog for her. I know.
(source)
Whatever. One bite of the snappy casing, sour ‘kraut and salty pastrami and it was lights out. When in Vegas! 
The other meal I failed to mention took place late one night after returning home from sipping cocktails and shooting craps at the casinos. I had previously turned up my nose to the P.F. Changs located in the lobby of our hotel, preferring to dine at non-chain restaurants for all major-meals while on vacation. But as I looked at the clock, I came to realize that it certainly wasn’t a major-meal hour of the day morning, and the smell wafting from the restaurant’s open doors smelled too good to resist.
Bring on the chain restaurant – and the Lettuce Wraps – whee!
PFC’s Lettuce Wraps – I am telling you – salty, greasy, PERFECT. If you’ve ever had them, I bet you’ll agree. But sometimes they can be a little too greasy, know what I mean?
That’s why I decided to recreate.
P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps
Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
1lb ground chicken breast
1/2 medium onion, minced
salt & pepper, a dash of each
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 inch nob fresh ginger, peeled & minced
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon natural peanut butter
1/2 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (or more if you like it hotter)
dash of fresh pepper
3 green onions, chopped
1/2-8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained & chopped
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
10-12 large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry
Directions:
1. Heat a large, non-stick skillet on high. Add chicken, onion, salt & pepper, and cook until chicken is nearly done, stirring often to break up the meat. Add in minced garlic and ginger, and continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink.
2. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, combine sesame oil, soy sauce, water, peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce and pepper. Microwave for 20 seconds, then stir until smooth. Add into the skillet and stir to combine.
3 Add green onion and water chestnuts into the skillet then cook for 1-2 minutes until the onions are soft and the water chestnuts are heated through.
4. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts, and serve with cold lettuce leaves
I die. I die for this dish! It is FANtastic, and so much lighter than PFC’s!
Salty, crunchy and crispy – fun too! Simply pile the chicken mixture onto a lettuce leaf,
roll,
and chomp. AWESOME. The fuller you stuff ‘em, the better, too. My first wrap was kind of weak sauce, so I really jammed the filling in with the others. Much better! 
The water chestnuts in the mixture are a total must, in my opinion. They add a fabulous crispness and texture to the filling, that you wouldn’t get by just using ground chicken alone.
Soooo so so good, AND since I said buh-bye to all the extra oil, I got to indulge in dessert, guilt-free!
My pals at Blue Bunny recently sent me an incredible care package filled with all their new products, including Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream,
and MINI ICE CREAM SANDWICHES – squeal! They are SO cute!
At first I thought they might be a little too cute, as in too petite, as in not enough bites for my ice cream loving face – but they’re a perfect 6-7 biter. And only 100 calories. Major. Win.
I Do I Do Wedding Cake Ice Cream – I’m comin’ for ya’ next – muwahahaha!
Well, I’m off to work on blog stuff for the rest of the evening! Between redesigning IGE, being crazy busy at work, and some extra freelance gigs, I am up to my pierced EARS in piles of things to get done.
Have a great night!
~~~~~
Confess: what’s your favorite sit-down chain restaurant?
Fridays. I could eat their French Onion Soup everyday. I haven’t been in YEARS!
[...] anyone else love P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps? I do and I was so happy to see Iowa Girl Eat’s blog last week when she tried a lighter take on this favorite dish. (post coming [...]
[...] Homemade PF Changs Lettuce Wraps w/ ground turkey with a side of roasted butternut [...]
Making these tonight! Thank you!
I am hosting Recipe Night tomorrow night and made these ahead tonight in preparation. Since I pick the water chestnuts out of lettuce wraps at PFChang’s, I omitted them and loved this dish even more. But that’s just a selfish preference!
I can’t wait to show off my new finding to the ladies!
FYI… some girls & I from church have Recipe Night once a year. Everyone brings a dish to share (any course and no need to assign or rsvp with courses – it always works out, and so what if you only have apps & dessert – it’s still a girls night out!) and 20 copies of the recipe. We all get to try each others’ food and then leave with new ideas/recipes!
FYI #2… I myself am a former Iowa girl and even a farmer’s daughter – from birth until I went to college… fond memories and I love to visit my family!
Where do you find ground chicken? Or do you ask them to grind it for you at the store?
Hi Kristin! I made your lettuce wraps last night for dinner. Amazing!! They are definitely going to be a staple.
Love chicken lettuce wraps, and I was so happy to see this recipe. Just made them for dinner tonight, and they were delicious. So easy and quick to prepare too. Now I finally have a way to use up all that rice vinegar and sesame oil I’d purchased a while back.
Even my husband thought it was great and filling too!
@Krissa…You should be able to find ground chicken at just about any grocery in the meat department. I bought mine at Walmart, prepackaged.
We just made the lettuce wraps for dinner and they were delicious! Definitely going into the regular menu rotation.
Hi Kristin-
I’m a long-time reader but have never commented before. Just wanted to let you know that I made the lettuce wraps for dinner tonight, and they were AWESOME! Even my “meat and potatoes” husband loved them:) Thanks for this awesome recipe; we will be having these again!
[...] husband and I also visited the family, made delicious lettuce wraps, and bottled wine this weekend. I definitely recommend the lettuce wraps for any of you that [...]
These were better than the resturant! My roommate and I didnt even have all the ingredients: we didn’t use ginger, substituted the chili garlic sauce with Franks Hot Sauce, the rice vinegar with teriyaki sauce, and also used ground turkey and it was delicious. I can’t wait to play around with the sauce (step 2) by adding either general tso sauce or sweet & sour, or pretty much any other asian sauce or marinade. It ony took about 30 minutes to make too which is (for lack of a better word) amazingly awesome!
Thanks for the easy and delicious meal!
I found this recipe via Pinterest, and *HELLO* was it TASTY! I’ve not had the lettuce wraps at PF Chang’s, but I do enjoy wrapping yummy filling in crisp, cool lettuce. The flavor was rich and wonderful. Thanks for the share.
I’ve enjoyed browsing your blog, and you have me missing Iowa right now! (I’m a Drake Alum…ha!)
Best, Dianna
These wraps are in my rotation every so often now! I made them two nights ago and we enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today – SO good, especially for how quickly the dish can come together. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
[...] Style Meaty Marinara Sauce (pictured above) Thursday-Grilled Rosemary Buttermilk Chicken Friday-PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps (This is a new recipe for me but I’ve been wanting to try it for awhile…I love PF [...]
[...] with the girls one night (yay!)…so I didn’t end up making the Coconut Chicken Soup or PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps–you’ll see them on the line up again this week. I did make (again) the Autumn Herbed [...]
[...] Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats [...]
[...] P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps (picture and recipe courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats) [...]
I just made these tonight with ground turkey, they are amazing! Great sauce you concocted there. I added more Sriracha sauce (we love the Rooster here) and chopped in a green pepper. It was a big hit, and really easy. I prepped everything while my meat was defrosting and it went really quickly, like 15 minutes tops!
Tip for pulling apart that dang lettuce – cut the bottom off and pull from the bottom. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that the other 3 times I’ve made lettuce wraps, but it made my life so much easier!
This recipe is amazing AND quick! My boyfriend and I go to PF Changs all the time and the lettuce wraps are a favorite! These are so much lighter, but still full of flavor! Great recipe
The only thing your recipe is missing is the mushrooms. PF Changs lettuce wraps have a lot of chopped up mushrooms in them which is quite strong in the flavor.
Thanks for sharing the awesome recipe. I shared it on my blog giving all the credit to you and linking it to your blog right at the top in the title. I hope you’re good with that. We are always looking for healthy choices and have started a recipe swap for our growing readers. This is perfect and my family will be having it this week!
Live and love well, ~Teresa
[...] original photo and recipe cred: http://iowagirleats.com/2011/04/26/p-f-changs-lettuce-wraps-remade/ [...]
I just made these tonight and both my husband and I loved them. Thanks so much for the great recipe… it really does taste like P.F. Chang’s, but better!
[...] 12. P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps @ Iowa Girl Eats [...]
This was fabulous!!! So great and so much healthier than the restaurant version. I did not have water chestnuts on hand, but I used chopped mushrooms and thought it was a nice touch. Also did not have chili-garlic past so I just threw in some red pepper flakes;
This will become a regular. BTW I ground the chicken myself in a food processor – fabulous!
[...] Chang’s Lettuce Wraps Source: Iowa Girl Eats & The Culinary [...]
Found these on pinterest! They were amazing!!!!!
thank you for sharing your recipe! I made these for dinner tonight and my husband loved it and so did I!
Uh, hi…you’re officially my hero now. These were OH SO GOOD! I made this for my husband and me for lunch today. We had the leftovers for dinner. Can’t wait to make it again. I added 1/4 cup of hoisin sauce, and it was great. THANKS!
Just made these tonight for dinner!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! Adding this to my dinner rotation for sure!
[...] I’m super excited to be making this PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps copycat for a few friends and can already bet that it’s going to be a hit. My apartment is quickly [...]
Just inhaled these. So good and so easy. Thank you so much for making me feel like I can actually cook something besides eggs!
[...] *Knock-off PF Changs Lettuce Wraps: If you can’t make it to the real PF this weekend, give this recipe a try! Promised to be yummy! http://iowagirleats.com/2011/04/26/p-f-changs-lettuce-wraps-remade/ [...]
These were soooooo good. I used ground turkey because the butcher was out of chicken. I used Bragg’s liquid aminos instead of soy sauce to keep the sodium low. I forgot the water chestnuts, so I sliced up a couple mini bell peppers for the crunch factor. I am on a diet, and I reluctantly added the honey. Next time, I think I will swap out the honey for stevia, or omit it altogether. The best diet food I have eaten, perhaps EVER!
Chipotle’s Barbacoa Burrito with rice and black beans…I get full half way through it but always manage to get the whole thing down.
[...] oil and balsamic massaged kale with PF Changs copycat thai peanut ground chicken and goat [...]
[...] boy and I made P.F. Chang Lettuce Wraps – but of course, I made some changes and/or I have no photo.. we used tofu in replace of the [...]
Made these tonight! My husband and I LOVED them!! Definitely making again!!
[...] P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps (recipe originally found here) [...]
Kristin, I made this recipe tonight after having P.F. Chang’s on Friday and I have to say, I love these results so much better. Far less grease and who knows what else.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Cheers!
I can’t wait to try these! Do you recommend any side dish to go with these or would they work as an “one dish meal” since they are usually served as an appetizer at P.F. Chang’s? Thanks so much!
We ate these as our entree and were stuffed!