Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps Meal Prep

A copycat version of P.F. Chang’s vegetarian lettuce wraps, which can be made ahead for your weekly meal prep. These flavorful wraps are easy to make, taste better, and are cheaper than take-out.

I was inspired to make vegetarian lettuce wraps for a few reasons:

• I rarely have ground chicken just sitting in my fridge when I am craving lettuce wraps so I always have to plan ahead to either go shopping or defrost it from my freezer. On the other hand, I almost always have a block of tofu in my fridge since it has such a long shelf-life.
• I went to a new doctor a few weeks ago and she was asking me about my blog. Her first question was whether it had vegetarian recipes and it made me realize how few I’ve shared over the years.

So here is my vegetarian-friendly version of P.F. Chang’s lettuce wraps. Tofu is used as the meat substitute. Tofu works well as a meat substitute because it contains a lot of protein and has a similar texture to ground chicken.

Choosing the Right Type of Tofu

There are many different types of tofu including silken, soft, firm, extra firm. For this recipe, you will want to use firm or extra-firm tofu. Anything softer than firm tofu will break too much when it cooks.

How to Crumble and Cook the Tofu

• Rather than slicing or cubing the tofu, you crumble it with your hands so that it resembles ground meat.
• The tofu is then cooked with a little oil in a non-stick skillet. The tofu will initially release a lot of liquid when it cooks, but it will soon evaporate. The tofu should be cooked until all the moisture has evaporated.
• You want the exterior of the tofu to develop a light golden sear so that it is crispy-firm on the outside and soft on the inside. To do so, let the tofu cook a few minutes on each side until lightly browned and then flip and repeat. This works best in a non-stick skillet, otherwise the tofu may stick to the skillet.
• You may have come across some recipes that recommend pressing the tofu beforehand to drain the moisture but it is not necessary for this recipe. It takes about an hour or more to drain the tofu through the pressing method but it only takes a few minutes on the stove for the moisture to evaporate during cooking.

Kinds of Lettuce for Lettuce Wraps

You can use any lettuce for these wraps. I prefer using butter lettuce because they are round in shape and have a crispy and soft texture. P.F. Chang’s serves theirs with iceberg lettuce.

Tips for Storage

For visualization purposes, I assembled all the lettuce wraps and places them in the meal prep containers but I don’t recommend storing them that way. If you are storing these for meal prep, you will want to keep the lettuce and filling separate.

• I use these Meal Prep Containers*
• Stack the lettuce leaves on one side of your meal prep container. Add scallions on top.
• On the other side of your container, add your filling.
• When ready to eat, remove the stack of lettuce (and scallions) from the container. Heat only the filling. Then assemble your lettuce wraps.
• If you plan on freezing your meal prep, do not place lettuce or scallions into the containers. Also keep in mind that the texture of the tofu will change if frozen. Some people enjoy the texture and some do not.

More Recipes to Try

• Chinese Lettuce Wraps

*Some of the product links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).

Tofu Lettuce Wraps Meal Prep

Servings: 5

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

A vegetarian and copycat version of  P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps. These are great for weekly meal prep.

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 18 oz firm or extra firm tofu drained and crumbled
• 1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts drained and diced
• 3 shiitake mushrooms diced
• 1 head of butter lettuce leaves removed and washed
• 3 scallions thinly sliced

SAUCE

• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tsp fresh grated ginger lightly packed
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 shallot diced see note

Instructions

• In a small bowl, add all sauce ingredients and whisk together.
• In a large nonstick skillet, add 1 tbsp sesame oil and bring to medium-high heat. Add in crumbled tofu and cook until all moisture is evaporated and tofu is lightly browned on the exterior. 
• Stir in water chestnuts and mushrooms and cook until chestnuts and mushrooms are cooked.
• Reduce heat to medium. Pour in sauce and stir into ingredients until ingredients are evenly coated in sauce. If ingredients are getting dry, add a few tbsp of water. Cover skillet with lid to cook a few minutes and allow ingredients to absorb sauce. Remove lid, taste and make any adjustments as needed. If you prefer a little sweeter, you can add a little bit of brown sugar. If you prefer saltier, you can add a little more soy sauce. When finished, remove from heat.
• Stack a few lettuce leaves on one side of your meal prep container. Place some scallions on the top lettuce stack. Add tofu filling to the other side of your container. Seal containers and store in fridge. When ready to eat, remove stack of lettuce leaves and scallions. Heat the filling. Then assemble your lettuce wraps.

Notes

• You can substitute the shallot with 1/4 of a small onion.
• I use these Meal Prep Containers*
• For this recipe, you will want to use firm or extra-firm tofu. Anything softer than firm tofu will break down too much when it cooks.
• Rather than slicing or cubing the tofu, you crumble it with your hands so that it resembles ground meat.
• The tofu is then cooked with a little oil in a non-stick skillet. The tofu will initially release a lot of liquid when it cooks, but it will soon evaporate. The tofu should be cooked until all the moisture has evaporated.
• You want the exterior of the tofu to develop a light golden sear so that it is crispy-firm on the outside and soft on the inside. To do so, let the tofu cook a few minutes on each side until lightly browned and then flip and repeat. This works best in a non-stick skillet, otherwise the tofu may stick to the skillet.
• *Some of the product links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).

Nutrition

Serving: 0.2of recipe, Calories: 196kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 11g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 447mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 6g, NET CARBS: 14

The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.

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