Tasty lettuce wraps similar to PF Changs
- 1 large onion
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 pound chicken or ground beef
- 16 boston lettuce or bibb lettuce
- 8 ounce water chestnuts diced
- 2 t. minced garlic
- 2 t. soy sauce
- 2 tsp. bottles fresh ginger (i use ground ginger)
- 1 t. rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp. asian chili pepper sauce (i use siracha)
- 3/4 cup green onion
- 2 tsp. asian sesame oil (dark)
- Carbohydrate 108.333151670039 g
- Cholesterol 0.480000000405768 mg
- Fat 10.4451323800901 g
- Fiber 55.9104689938821 g
- Protein 33.8103866481945 g
- Saturated Fat 1.42465508543871 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (2757g)
- Sodium 973.777866694716 mg
- Sugar 52.4226826761574 g
- Trans Fat 2.39318939011593 g
- Calories 562 calories
Step-by-step
- Cook chicken in skillet,remove from pan to cutting board.
- Add onion to skillet.
- Finely chop chicken.
- Return to skillet.
- For ground beef - while meat is cooking, chop onion and add to skillet.
- Turn skillet to med/high and add in soy sauce, garlic, hoisin sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, and chili pepper sauce.
- Cook for 5-10 minutes.
- Add in water chestnuts, green onion, and sesame oil, stir fry for another 2 minutes.
- Put in serving dish.
- Rinse lettuce and pat dry.
- Spoon chicken/beef mixture into wraps, fold and enjoy.
Crisp, pliable butterhead leaves cradle a steaming, highly seasoned mince that balances the sharp heat of chili pepper sauce with the fermented sweetness of hoisin. Achieving this specific mouthfeel relies entirely on how the protein is handled before it ever touches the hot skillet. If the meat is left in large, irregular clumps, the structural integrity of the delicate lettuce cup collapses under the weight, resulting in a messy meal rather than a composed bite.
Finely chopping the cooked chicken or ground beef down to a uniform, rice-grain size ensures that every single morsel absorbs the soy, garlic, and ginger slurry evenly during the five to ten minute reduction phase. When executing this dish, timing matters immensely because water chestnuts and green onions added too early will lose their essential crunch, so they must go in precisely two minutes before the pan comes off the heat. Standardizing this sequence prevents the vegetables from steaming instead of stir-frying in the dark sesame oil.
Boston lettuce and Bibb lettuce work interchangeably here due to their cupped geometry, though loose-leaf varieties lack the structural bowl required to hold dense fillings. Thoroughly drying the washed leaves with lint-free paper towels prevents excess moisture from pooling at the base of the wrapper, maintaining the vital textural contrast between the hot, unctuous filling and the cold, crisp vegetable exterior.
