Copycat PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps Sauce Recipe

The dipping sauce for P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps is a sweetened soy and rice vinegar base with chili garlic sauce and Chinese hot mustard stirred in to taste. This copy uses three tablespoons of soy sauce, two of water, one of rice vinegar, two teaspoons of sugar and a teaspoon of sesame oil, plus two teaspoons of chili garlic sauce and half a teaspoon of mustard. Five minutes, four servings.

What is known about P.F. Chang's lettuce wrap sauce

P.F. Chang's was founded in 1993 by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang, and Chang's Lettuce Wraps are listed among the special items on its menu. What exists in public for the sauce that comes with them are copies, not a recipe from the restaurant.

Published copies agree on the parts and differ on the amounts. Jason Farmer's version simmers sugar, water, light soy sauce and rice vinegar with chili garlic sauce and Chinese hot mustard, and he notes that at the restaurant the servers adjust the sauce at the table with chili oil or hot mustard, to each guest's taste. Erin Lynch's version leaves out the sugar and gives the heat as a range: one to three teaspoons of chili garlic sauce, half to one teaspoon of mustard.

The recipe here sits between the two. It is a reconstruction, and MakeFoodLovely is not connected with P.F. Chang's.

Recipe

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps Sauce

A reconstruction of the dipping sauce served with P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps — a sweetened soy and rice vinegar base with chili garlic sauce and Chinese hot mustard. Four servings.

5.0 (1)Print

Prep

5 min

Total

5 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

Chinese-American

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese hot mustard
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Stir the sugar into the water in a small bowl until it has dissolved.
2. Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil and stir.
3. Stir in the chili garlic sauce and the hot mustard until no streaks of mustard remain. This is the medium version; the table below the recipe gives mild and hot.
4. Scatter the green onion on top. Serve in small bowls and spoon the sauce over each filled lettuce cup.

Nutrition

Calories:

30

Calculated from the ingredient quantities above using the USDA FoodData Central database, then divided by the number of servings. It is an estimate and will vary with the exact products you use.

Mild, medium or hot

Heat	Chili garlic sauce	Chinese hot mustard
Mild	1 teaspoon	none
Medium	2 teaspoons	1/2 teaspoon
Hot	1 tablespoon	1 teaspoon

The two kinds of heat are different. Chili garlic sauce burns on the tongue and builds with each bite. Mustard goes up the nose and is gone in seconds. Add the mustard a little at a time.

Chinese hot mustard and chili garlic sauce

• Chinese hot mustard is mustard powder mixed with water, with no vinegar to tame it. To make it from powder, stir equal parts mustard powder and cold water and let it stand for ten minutes. Dijon and yellow mustard are not substitutes; both are milder and sour.
• Chili garlic sauce is the coarse red sauce sold in jars next to the sriracha. Sambal oelek is the same thing without the garlic; add a small grated clove.
• Soy sauce: regular, not dark. With low-sodium soy sauce, leave out one tablespoon of the water.
• Rice vinegar: unseasoned. Seasoned rice vinegar already contains sugar and salt; with it, halve the sugar.

What the P.F. Chang's sauce goes on

It is spooned over the filling once the lettuce cup is in the hand, not cooked into the pan. It also works as a dip for dumplings and potstickers, and as a dressing for cold noodles with a little more sesame oil.

For the rest of a P.F. Chang's dinner at home, there is the P.F. Chang's sweet and sour chicken.

Other dipping sauces on this site are the omakase sauce and the Bell dipping sauce.

Keeping it

Without the green onion, the sauce keeps a week in a jar in the refrigerator. The heat of the mustard fades after a day or two; stir in a little more before serving.