Ever since the Low Carb/KETO diet phase became popular, one of the most common dishes to come out of the kitchen was the Egg Roll in a Bowl. It's typically made from ground pork, a bag of shredded coleslaw mix, and a few seasonings for flavor. It has a high fat content while still maintaining almost zero carbs making it fit everyone's daily macros. Well, here we are several years later and that recipe is still making it rounds, despite being somewhat bland and boring. Today's recipe, Spicy Chicken Cabbage Bowl, is a new spin on that worn out Egg Roll in a Bowl with a ton more flavor yet still healthy and low carb. You don't have to be on any sort of diet to enjoy this recipe because its flavors are Asian inspired covering the traditional salty, sweet, sour, and spicy notes common in most Thai foods. Whether you are trying to watch your diet or just enjoy a delicious bowl of protein and veggies, give this one a chance as I demonstrate how quick and simple it truly is...Let's Get Cooking!
Thankfully this is yet another recipe with basically no prep work so we can jump right in and start cooking. Heat some oil in a sauté pan and cook the ground chicken over Medium to Medium-High heat. We will keep things extra simple and just season the chicken with some soy sauce and fish sauce. It should only take about 8 minutes to get the chicken mostly cooked, so that gives you a quick break to measure out any other seasoning ingredients and cut up your green onions and cilantro for later. This is one of the few times I will suggest trying to do prep work while already cooking.
After the chicken has been sauteed for about 8 minutes, we can move on to the next step as it finishes cooking. Add your other seasoning ingredients at this point. Let the garlic, ginger, basil, and lemongrass paste merry with the ground chicken for 2 minutes or so, until fragrant. You can certainly use fresh herbs, but I happened to have ginger, lemongrass, and basil pastes in my fridge so I was a bit lazy on this one and just used those handy little time savers.
Now that the chicken has cooked at least 10 minutes or so, we can finish up flavoring everything without worrying too much about anything burning. Add the sriracha for that bit of heat and the green onions you should have already diced up earlier. Give the chicken mixture a quick stir and we can move on to the next step already.
Keeping the simple and lazy theme in mind, tear open that bad of shredded coleslaw mix and dump it in with the chicken. You can certainly use freshly shredded cabbage, but those coleslaw mix bags are perfect and cheap so why not save the hassle, eh? Drizzle some sesame oil over everything and give it a good stir to mix the cabbage and chicken together. How long you cook the cabbage at this point is entirely up to you and your personal preference. If you prefer more crunchy, raw cabbage, then only cook it about 2 minutes before removing the pan from the heat. Let it sauté with the chicken closer to 4 minutes if you prefer softer, full cooked cabbage. I like mine somewhere between cooked and crunchy, so I pulled mine off the stove after 3 minutes. It will continue to slightly cook from residual heat so stay within that 2 to 4 minute range for this step. Plus, it's always easier to heat something a bit more, but once you go past the point of no return you are stuck with your mushy mess, just sayin'!
After your remove your pan from the stove, add some rough chopped cilantro and voila....it's time to chow down! This Spicy Chicken Cabbage Bowl can be easily altered to fit just about anyone's taste so go wild and add or remove anything as you please. For spice levels, I went with 2 tablespoons of sriracha per pound of ground chicken, which is around that middle ground of heat to me, but you can increase or decrease that as you wish. Additionally, try and get your hands on some fried garlic bits. Those things are absolutely amazing on top of this Spicy Chicken Cabbage Bowl giving it a little extra flavor and crunch! Otherwise, that pretty wraps this simple recipe up so give it a try and enjoy saving those extra calories as well...Just Keep Cooking!
SPICY CHICKEN CABBAGE BOWL
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