- Calories
- 310
- Protein
- 30g
- Fiber
- 5g
- Sat. fat
- 3g
- Sodium
- 620mg
- Added sugar
- 2g
What this recipe does for you.
The inside of an egg roll, cooked properly: ground turkey browned hard, cabbage and carrot seared in two batches so they keep their bite, ginger and garlic grated rather than chopped, and the sauce added off the heat so it glazes instead of steams. Twenty-five minutes, 30g protein, holds four days, and it is good over rice or on its own.
Why this works
Every recipe on this site ships with an explanation of the technique decisions, why sear then braise, why the acid goes in at the end, why the fat renders before the aromatics. The method below is those decisions, in order.
Ingredients
Serves 4- 1 lbground turkey · 93% lean, or ground chicken
- 1 tbspavocado oil · or another high-smoke-point fat
- 1 tbspfresh ginger · grated on a microplane
- 3 clovesgarlic · grated
- 1/2 headgreen cabbage · about 6 cups, shredded
- 2carrots · julienned or coarsely grated
- 3 tbsptamari · or coconut aminos for soy-free
- 1 tbsprice vinegar · unseasoned
- 2 tsptoasted sesame oil
- 2 tsphoney · or leave it out
- 4scallions · whites sliced, greens reserved
- 1 tsptoasted sesame seeds
- sriracha or chili crisp · optional, to serve
- kosher salt · to taste, after the tamari
Method
Brown the turkey undisturbed before you break it up
Turkey is lean and it will steam itself into grey crumbles if you stir it the moment it hits the pan. A hot twelve-inch skillet, a spoon of avocado oil, the meat pressed flat, and three minutes of leaving it alone. Then break it into craggy pieces. The browned side is where the savoury depth comes from, and lean turkey needs that more than pork does.
Grate the ginger and garlic, do not chop them
A microplane turns both into a paste that dissolves through the whole dish rather than sitting in it as chunks you bite into. Push the meat aside, add them to the bare hot pan for thirty seconds until fragrant, then fold everything together. Thirty seconds is the limit before garlic turns bitter, so have the cabbage ready to go in.
Add the cabbage in two batches so it sears
Six cups of shredded cabbage all at once drops the pan temperature and everything stews in its own water. Half in, tossed for two minutes until it collapses, then the rest with the carrots for another three or four. You want wilted with a distinct bite left, not translucent. This is the entire difference between the good version of this dish and the sad one.
Sauce goes in off the heat
Kill the heat, then add tamari, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, and the honey if you want the faint sweetness of a real egg roll. Off the heat the sauce coats and glazes; poured into a raging pan it hits the surface, evaporates, and pulls water out of the cabbage. Taste before adding any salt, the tamari brings plenty.
Finish with scallion greens and sesame seeds at the table
Sliced raw scallion greens and toasted sesame seeds go on in the bowl, not in the pan. Raw allium and a bit of crunch are what make this taste finished rather than like a pan of cooked cabbage. Chili crisp or sriracha for anyone who wants heat, added per bowl so the leftovers stay flexible.
Serve it over rice or under a fried egg
On its own it is a light dinner at around 310 calories. Over a cup of brown rice it becomes a proper meal and the rice soaks up the sauce that pools at the bottom. A fried egg on top adds six grams of protein and a yolk that acts as a second sauce. Cooked rice on the side also stops the leftovers going watery, since the cabbage keeps releasing liquid in the fridge.
Reheat in a hot dry pan, never the microwave
Four days in the fridge, and it reheats properly only in a skillet over high heat for two minutes, which drives off the liquid the cabbage released and re-crisps the edges. The microwave steams it limp. Do not freeze it, cabbage thaws watery and there is no recovering the texture.
Variations
Substitutions and adaptations land with the photography shoot. The method holds across most reasonable swaps.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 to 4 days, sealed. Freezer: up to 3 months. Reheat covered to retain moisture.
Frequently asked
- What is egg roll in a bowl?
- It is the filling of an egg roll cooked as a skillet dinner, without the wrapper: ground meat, shredded cabbage and carrot, ginger, garlic, soy or tamari, rice vinegar and sesame oil. It takes about twenty-five minutes in one pan and gives you the flavour of the takeout item with a fraction of the work and none of the deep frying. Some versions add a scrambled egg through it, which is a good addition and takes two extra minutes.
- Can I use a bag of coleslaw mix instead of shredding cabbage?
- Yes, and it saves ten minutes. Use a 14 to 16 ounce bag of plain coleslaw mix, which is cabbage and carrot already cut, and check that it has no dressing in it. The one trade-off is that pre-cut cabbage is drier and finer, so it wilts faster, cook it for a minute or two less than you would fresh-shredded and keep the heat high.
- How is this different from the keto version?
- This is the everyday version: ground turkey, carrot in with the cabbage, tamari and a spoon of honey in the sauce, and it is built to be served over rice or with a fried egg on top. Our keto egg roll in a bowl, filed under the diet-specific guides, uses ground pork for the higher fat, drops the carrot and the honey to keep net carbs down, and swaps the tamari for coconut aminos. Same skillet method, different macros, so pick by which numbers you are cooking to.
- How do I make it without soy?
- Swap the tamari for coconut aminos one for one, then add a pinch of salt at the end since aminos are less salty and slightly sweeter. That also makes the dish Paleo-compliant if you drop the honey. Toasted sesame oil stays, it is not a soy product, and it is doing most of the aromatic work at the finish.
- Which meat works best?
- Ground turkey and ground chicken both work and keep it lean at around 30g protein per serving. Ground pork gives the most authentic egg-roll flavour and adds fat, which some people prefer. Ground beef is fine but reads more like a stir-fry than an egg roll. Whatever you use, brown it hard first, lean meats especially need that crust for flavour.
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