This ground chicken lettuce wraps recipe with ginger and hoisin is a quick, healthy, and flavorful dinner you’ll want to make again and again.
Inspired by P.F. Chang’s, these Asian lettuce wraps are packed of with bold flavor, thanks to a simple sauce made with garlic, ginger, and hoisin.
Best of all, they come together in one pan and are ready in minutes. Serve them family-style and watch them disappear!
Key Ingredients
- Ground Chicken: I prefer ground chicken, but ground turkey or pork are good substitutes. Choose meat with at least 7% fat for the best flavor and texture.
- Garlic, Ginger, Onion, and Green Onions: To make these lettuce wraps super flavorful, I cook the ground chicken with fresh garlic, ginger, onion, and green onions. While they add a small amount of prep time, these really bring that authentic flavor.
- Hoisin Sauce: I use homemade hoisin sauce for this recipe, but store-bought works just fine. Hoisin sauce is a popular condiment in many Chinese dishes, adding a sweet and savory flavor to the ground chicken. I love how it coats the chicken and turns into our sauce. I also use hoisin sauce for these hoisin sticky ribs!
- Sesame Oil: I add a generous splash of toasted sesame oil, which gives the chicken an authentic, nutty, toasted flavor.
- Gochujang or Sriracha: These add a little kick! I love Gochujang (a sweet/spicy Korean fermented chili paste), but Sriracha works perfectly as a substitute.
- Water Chestnuts: I buy the sliced water chestnuts sold in cans. I love the crunch they add to these lettuce wraps.
- Lettuce: Use lettuce that easily breaks into sturdy cups. Butter lettuce (used in my photos), iceberg, romaine, and green leaf are all great choices.
- Toppings: I love adding chopped peanuts, sliced chile peppers, and a squeeze of lime juice. You can also serve them with extra hoisin or a light dipping sauce on the side (recipe below).
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Tip 1: Cook the chicken first. This lettuce wraps recipe comes together quickly, so start by building flavor early. Cook your ground chicken in toasted sesame oil until it begins to brown. Then, stir in the aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger, and green onion).
Tip 2: Season with hoisin and gochujang. The recipe includes suggested amounts of hoisin sauce and gochujang (or sriracha), but be sure to taste as you go. Store-bought hoisin can be saltier than homemade, so adjust the seasoning to your liking.
Tip 3: Serve family-style. I like to serve these family-style, letting everyone dig in. Put out extras on the table. I love chopped peanuts, sliced chilies, extra green onions, lime wedges, more hoisin sauce, and my favorite Vietnamese-inspired dipping sauce (not something P.F. Chang’s serves, but it’s delicious). You’ll find that extra dipping sauce included in the recipe below.
More Asian-Inspired Dinners
- Fried Rice
- Crispy Spring Rolls (also calls for ground chicken)
- Chicken Stir Fry
- Teriyaki Chicken
Easy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These ground chicken lettuce wraps made with lots of garlic, ginger, and hoisin sauce are a quick, healthy, and delicious meal. Every time we make them, we can’t help but do a little happy dance. They taste that good!
You can easily swap the chicken for another ground meat like turkey or pork. For a vegetarian option, try shredded firm or extra-firm tofu (we use a box grater) or plant-based crumbles.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 head Bibb or Romaine lettuce
1 tablespoon neutral oil like sunflower oil
1 pound (450g) ground chicken, at least 7% fat
1 tablespoon minced garlic, 3 to 4 cloves
1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1-inch thumb-sized piece
Half of a medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, sliced, light green and dark green parts separated
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
4 to 5 tablespoons hoisin sauce, we recommend homemade hoisin
¼ to ½ teaspoon Gochujang or sriracha, optional for heat
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
Optional: Fish sauce, Limes, Chopped roasted peanuts, finely diced chilies
Directions
1To prepare the lettuce for your wraps, separate the leaves and remove the core. Handle the leaves carefully to prevent damage, and trim any large or tough stems as needed. Give the leaves a thorough wash and dry them before storing them in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.
2Heat the sesame oil and sunflower oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and press down into the oil to flatten it. When the underside starts to brown, use a wooden spoon to break the meat into crumbles.
3Stir in minced garlic, ginger, chopped yellow onion, and the sliced light green parts of the green onion (you will use the darker green parts later). Keep stirring everything in the skillet as it cooks.
4Once the onions have become tender and the chicken is fully cooked, add the hoisin sauce, gochujang (or sriracha), and water chestnuts. Stir everything together until well coated in the sauce. Taste, and add more sauce if needed. If it doesn’t pop with flavor, add a small splash of fish sauce.
5Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in half of the dark green parts of the green onion, and then serve with lettuce leaves and toppings.
6Serve lettuce wraps family-style with optional toppings on the table. We love the remaining sliced green onion, chopped peanuts, finely diced chilies, and fresh lime wedges for squeezing on top.
7Serve lettuce wraps family-style with optional toppings on the table. We love the remaining sliced green onion, chopped peanuts, finely diced chilies, and fresh lime wedges for squeezing on top.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Lettuce: Try Butter lettuce (also known as Boston Bibb), Iceberg lettuce, Romaine lettuce, or Green Leaf lettuce.
- Hoisin sauce: Our homemade hoisin has a thinner consistency and is less salty compared to the store-bought version. If you use store-bought, add to your tastes as it might be more salty or sweet.
- Optional sauce for dipping: (shown in photos) Stir together 3 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, ¾ tablespoon lime juice, and 1 tablespoon sugar until the sugar dissolves.
- Make ahead: You can make the filling in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days or freeze for up to a month. To serve, reheat the filling on the stovetop or microwave. If you’ve frozen the filling, thaw it overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
We loved this, especially using the home made hoisin sauce! I modified a little by boiling and shredding the chicken, then served it on open pieces of lettuce. Big hit with hubby!😁
Joanne and I are so happy you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Delicious recipe! My family loved it and commented these lettuce wraps are as good as any restaurant ones.
Made this today for my sister and a friend. So flavorful and the fish based dipping sauce was the perfect compliment! They loved them.
Loved this recipe! Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
DELISH!! And perfect for a hot and humid day. I didn’t have enough fish sauce, but added some Chinese 5 Spice to the ground chicken; and rice vinegar, soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds to the dipping sauce. Adding to the rotation for sure.
I loved the added crunch of water chestnuts in this dish. It was so good just out of the pan, using the bibb lettuce as the scoop. And I like the spiciness of the Gochujang. Also, since I didn’t have peanuts, I added cashews. Wonderful
I made this tonight and it was delicious! So much easier AND tastier than the recipe I had been using. A keeper!
Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Super delicious! I actually used grilled chicken from the grill that I had leftover. It was very easy to whip up and was very flavorful!
Great idea, Christine!
Hey, what kind of chilies do you suggest to garnish the lettuce wraps?
Hi Nancy, It is up to what you have available. I like Fresno chilies or jalapeños.
This was a quick and easy meal that is phenominally tasty. It is easy enough that my son prepared this recipe for us as I was going to be home late (I did line up the ingredients for him to ease his passage!). I was blown away by how tasty this chicken was, and because of that it is a very satisfying meal and a nice change from all the other chicken dishes that sometimes tend to blend together in one’s mind. I enjoyed eating this with Boston lettuce and that was enough for me, but the guys in my house wanted something a little more substantial, so I served it with rice, and my husband made his into a wrap, which is kind-of his fall back thing. I will definately make this again! BTW I used store bought sauces just for ease of preparation and they worked out great! Thank you for the great recipe – a very nice addition into our rotation or recipes.
Just leaving a quick review of EXCELLENT! Best lettuce wrap recipe I have used and I have tried many. Just simple and so delicious.
I made this for dinner for myself, as I love eating them at restaurants. A wonderful Asian flavor. I used ground chicken. Looking forward to making again trying ground pork. These will be on my menu as an appetizer at all future dinner parties. So easy to prepare in advance.
Yay! Love it 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so tasty and delicious!😋 And a very easy, quick recipe! Served on romaine lettuce leaves and also had white rice as a side. I will definitely be making this regularly! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
That’s wonderful, Barb! Thanks so much for coming back and letting us know.
Thanks for the recipe. I’ve been trying to eat less red meat and have been looking for new chicken recipes that aren’t chicken breast. I haven’t had ground chicken before so I’m definitely trying this. Then I’m going to research chicken burgers and sausage!!!
Hi Joan, you are going to love these wraps 🙂