Egg Roll in a Bowl – low carb, whole30, keto, paleo, AIP

by Adrienne 397 Comments Published January 26, 2017 Updated: May 16, 2020

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This Healthy Egg Roll in a Bowl (aka Crack Slaw) has all of the great flavor of Egg Rolls, but it’s a sure to please Easy One Pan Meal with all the taste, but without the carby wrappers.

You’re absolutely definitely going to want to add this kid-friendly dish to your rotation–it’s that easy and that good!

Sooooo excited to share a recipe today that has become a fast favorite in our home.

“Egg Roll in a Bowl?” you say. “What’s that?”

To which I respond, “One of the best easy meals you will ever have.”

Seriously. You take all of the goodness of an egg roll and remove the outer wrapper and you’ve got a huge bowl of goodness.

Plus you can make it all in just one pan.

Easy meal clean up.

You’re welcome.

I’ve always loved foods from other countries. You can see some evidence of this on my site in these recipes:

Pakistani Kima (a fave of family and everyone else too– aka Ground Beef Curry)
Mild Curry Powder
Chaat Masala (a literally amazing Indian Spice you will want to put on EVERYTHING!)
Homemade Taco Seasoning (never go back to packets again!)
Thai Chicken Soup
Thai Curry Chicken Thighs (with a great technique to make them just right)

This Egg Roll in a Bowl is the perfect addition to the mix.

The Origin of This Dish

I found the inspiration for this recipe about a year or so ago. Someone had shared a recipe for Egg Roll in a Bowl in a Facebook group and I was super intrigued. What a concept! I’d always loved egg rolls but hadn’t had one in a long time due to our going gluten-free and even leaning grain-free.

Too many carbs in those egg roll wrappers, you know?

So I just had to make the recipe. It was pretty tasty, but it needed something. So I poked around the internet and found more Egg Roll in a Bowl recipes, then studied a bunch of regular Egg Roll recipes to see what might be good additions to the dish.

So I worked on it (and worked on it and worked on it) tweaking it with different seasonings and such, and made this recipe so many times that my family thought I was a little nutty, but I ended up with a recipe that’s a real winner in our home.

This recipe is great not only because of it’s great taste, but also because it works for so many special diets.

So–Is it Egg Roll or Eggroll?

Answer: Both

You can write it either way. It doesn’t matter since both spellings are correct.

So go ahead and spell your Eggroll in a Bowl or Egg Roll in a Bowl anyway you wish. Well, maybe writing eggrollinabowl would be a bit crazy :).

Nutritional Benefits of This Recipe

This Whole30 Egg Roll in a Bowl Recipe is rich with loads of healthy ingredients including:

Cabbage: cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable. The whole family of cruciferous veggies have loads of health benefits including being rich in vitamins and folic acid and minerals such as iron, potassium, and selenium.
Note – some say that cruciferous vegetables might be problematic for the thyroid.

Carrots: full of beta carotene and vitamins. You can read more about the health benefits of carrots including an apparent reduced risk of cardio vascular disease.

Onions: loaded with polyphenols, flavanoids including quercetin (note that more are in the outer parts of the onion – see more about this in my Baked Onion post)

Garlic: contains lots of selenium, which is important for many things included thyroid health. Might help regulate fat cells, improve iron metabolism as well as having cardiac benefits. (Source)

A Great One Pot Meal for Busy Families

If you’re like me, you’re busy. You often find yourself at 4:00 or 4:30 wondering “What’s for Dinner?!”

I already have some recipes on my site that are perfect for getting dinner on the table in a flash including Super Fast Lentils, Homemade Hamburger Helper, Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets, Gluten-Free Chili Mac (and more easy recipes), and more.

But I could always use more easy meals as I’m sure you could too.

The leftovers of this dish are great! We even like eating it cold. Egg Roll insides for breakfast–YES!

The dish freezes well. I haven’t frozen and reheated it myself yet, but many readers have tried it and told me it worked great!

I’ve also had readers tell me that this cooks well in a slow cooker or the Instant Pot!

You can even serve it as a side dish by omitting the meat completely. Any way you serve it up, it’s a great way to get more veggies into everyone in the family.

Serving Options

This dish is great on its own, but we love serving it with cauliflower rice for a low-carb meal. It’s great on regular rice as well. You could also put the filling in wraps, temaki style, or gluten-free egg roll wrappers for fun without having to roll them up perfectly. These keto / low-carb wraps would be perfect as well.

Special Diet Options

This Healthy Eggroll in a Bowl is already a clean-eating recipe, but it’s more than just that–it’s easily adaptable for special diets.

THM: If you are on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, this is an S, E, or FP. It’s an S with beef or pork, and E or FP with lean chicken or turkey. Serve with rice, if you like for an E. In my opinion, it tastes best as an S. Use lean meat and reduce the fat to 2 tsp, and use fat-free broth to make it an E and of course you can add extra carrots if you like. You might want a bit more broth but I think it will be fine without doing that. This meal can be any type of fuel. With rice, it’s a crossover. With cauliflower rice, or plain, and with beef or sausage, it’s an S.
Keto: sub in more cabbage or another low carb veggie for the carrots.
For AIP or Paleo, substitute coconut aminos for the tamari. Use coconut sugar or maple syrup (read Choosing Maple Syrup) or honey for the sweetener.
For a vegan option, omit the meat (obviously!) and use a vegetable broth like this one. Here is my Vegetable Broth Mix for a make-your-own option. If you choose to use a broth that contains sodium, you may want to reduce the salt in the recipe.
Meat: For the ground beef, you can substitute ground or finely-chopped chicken. Pork can be substituted as well. It can also be omitted for a vegan main dish or for a vegetable side. I HIGHLY recommend using quality meat–grass-fed if possible.
Tamari: You can substitute either soy sauce or liquid aminos for the tamari.
Stevia / Sweetener: 1/16 tsp is equivalent to 2 scoops stevia (see How to Use Stevia). Also, instead of stevia, you can use 4 Tbsp of almost any other sweetener.

Recipe Notes

Sesame Oil: For sesame oil, you want to buy a raw version, since cooking with toasted sesame oil makes the oil bitter. You would only want to buy toasted sesame oil if you would like to drizzle it on top of the egg roll after cooking it.
Homemade Garlic Powder: For a nifty idea, here’s Homemade Garlic Powder if you would like to make your own garlic powder to use in the recipe.
Homemade Broth: If you’d prefer to make your own broth, see Homemade Broth Tips.
Cabbage Buying Tip: One medium head of cabbage yields about 8 – 8.5 cups so plan accordingly.
Soy Sauce / Tamari Notes: Personally I like tamari more than soy sauce. Tamari is richer tasting and has less gluten than regular soy sauce. You can even buy gluten-free tamari, which is the best of both worlds! Since soy is almost always GMO, if you are going to use soy sauce, I recommend choosing an organic soy sauce.

Some readers have asked me what kind of a pan I use for this dish. This is the pan I use. I use it for all sorts of healthy recipes, such as my Honey Bunches of Oats Coconut Chips, Healthy Chili Mac, and Caramelized Coconut Chips.

The pan is light and on the thinner side so it heats up fast. I love that it’s wider than most pans, giving it a greater surface area for heating, but it also holds quite a bit more than most pans of this type, so you can fit a lot of whatever you are making into it and not have to dirty up multiple pans.

Less cleaning–happy mom!

OK–with that, let’s get to the recipe!

This Egg Roll in a Bowl has all of the great flavor of Egg Rolls, but it's an Easy One Pan Meal without the grain wrapper!

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (turkey or chicken or game meat may also be used)
2 med onions (finely chopped / minced)
1 1/2 Tbsp unrefined sesame oil (use another oil for AIP)
1 1/2 tsp ginger (powdered)
1/2 tsp black pepper (omit for AIP)
1 tsp garlic granules (or 4 cloves garlic, minced)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/16 tsp stevia extract (optional - See Recipe Notes)
1/2 Tbsp crushed red pepper (optional. Omit for AIP)
2 Tbsp white wine (omit or substitute more broth for AIP)
1/3 cup beef broth (see vegan option above)
9 cups shredded cabbage (see notes)
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
4 tsp tamari (or to taste - see substitute options above)
Green onion for garnish (optional)
Cauliflower Rice (or rice)

Instructions

Place meat in large pan and cook until browned.
On medium high heat, add the onions and sesame oil. Cook until lightly browned.
Reduce heat to medium.
Add spices, sweetener, red pepper, wine, and broth to the pan and stir well.
Add the cabbage and stir to coat.
Cook, stirring frequently until the cabbage slightly wilts.
Add carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft.
Add tamari to taste and adjust flavorings as desired.
Serve plain or over rice or cauliflower rice.
Garnish with green onions if desired.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Mention @wholenewmom or tag #wholenewmom!

The above nutrition facts are estimates only. Please read my Nutrition Disclaimer here.

I’m sure this Healthy Egg Roll in a Bowl will be a dish that you will want to add to your family’s menu often.

I’d love to hear what you think about this recipe!
Please share in the comments below!

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About Adrienne

Adrienne Urban is the Founder and Owner of Whole New Mom. She has a background in research, journalism, insurance, employee benefits, financial markets, frugal living, and nutrition. Seeking a better life for herself and her family, she uses research and consults with many physicians and other practitioners to find solutions to the variety of issues they have dealt with including life-threatening food allergies and thyroid and adrenal concerns. WholeNewMom.com is the result of her experiences and knowledge gained throughout the process. Posts are reviewed and verified by the Whole New Mom team.