This deconstructed egg roll recipe is a light, delicious take on a Chinese classic. It’s also an easy weeknight dinner the whole family will love!
Deconstructed Egg Roll Recipe
This deconstructed egg roll turns everyone’s favorite Chinese appetizer into a complete meal using fresh ingredients and Asian-inspired flavors. This dish is composed of everything you’d find in an egg roll minus the fried wrapper. It’s made with ground chicken, cabbage, carrots, water chestnuts, and then tossed with a savory hoisin ginger sauce. I promise you won’t miss the deep-fried wrapper as this stir fry is absolutely delicious on its own.
Healthier Version
Unlike a traditional egg roll, this deconstructed egg roll is neither wrapped nor fried, making it a lighter, healthier meal. It’s packed with vegetables and protein and will keep you feeling full and satisfied. Best of all, this recipe is an easy meal with minimal effort. It’s simple to make for a weeknight dinner and leftovers can be enjoyed all week.
Health Benefits Of Cabbage
Cabbage isn’t the most exciting vegetable. However, it’s extremely versatile, affordable and offers lots of nutritional benefits. Cabbage is a part of the cruciferous vegetable family along with broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and brussels sprouts. Cruciferous vegetables contain powerful antioxidants including polyphenols and sulfur compounds that protect our cells from disease-causing damage and help fight inflammation.
Cabbage is low in calories but a good source of potassium, vitamin K, folate, iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C. In addition, cabbage is a good source of fiber, helping you stay full and maintaining a healthy digestive tract.
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Ingredients For Deconstructed Egg Roll In A Bowl
The ingredients are simple but super flavorful. Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe:
- Ground meat of choice- I use ground chicken, but other substitutions include ground turkey, ground pork, or ground beef.
- Cabbage- to make this egg roll bowl quick and easy, I use prepackaged coleslaw mix. You can also shred your own cabbage.
- Carrots- I add extra shredded carrots for more vegetables and to bring color to the dish.
- Water chestnuts- adds a great crunchy texture to the dish
- Scallions- colorful garnish
- Garlic and ginger- use fresh garlic and ginger for a zippy punch of flavor
- Stir fry sauce- a savory sauce made up of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and honey
How To Serve This Deconstructed Egg Roll
This deconstructed egg roll is a great stand-alone meal. To make it even heartier and filling, I serve it over rice or cauliflower rice. It can also be topped with edamame, julienned cucumbers, sesame seeds, snow peas, or snap peas. Add in your favorite cooked noodles when serving to a larger crowd.
Add Ins And Variations
This recipe is delicious as is, but you can easily make it your own. Here are some suggestions to change up your egg roll:
- Substitute the protein. Swap the ground chicken for turkey, beef, or pork.
- To make this meal vegetarian, substitute crumbled tofu.
- Add other vegetables: mushrooms, snow peas, or bell peppers.
- For some heat, add garlic chili sauce, sriracha or spice of your liking.
- Chopped peanuts or cashews add a great crunch.
- For gluten free, substitute the soy sauce for coconut aminos or tamari sauce (just be sure the label clearly states gluten free for tamari sauce)
- Add wonton strips for crunch.
Want More Easy Recipe Ideas? Here are some of my favorites:
Deconstructed Egg Roll
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground chicken
- 1 Tablespoon light olive oil
- 14 oz bag coleslaw
- 1 big carrot shredded
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 can water chestnuts drained, rinsed, and diced
- 6 scallions thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped (optional)
Sauce:
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- ⅓ cup hoisin sauce
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1-2 Tablespoons fresh ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic chili sauce or gochujang (optional)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the ground chicken and cook until browned. Be sure to break up the meat as it is cooking so there are no big pieces. When chicken is completely cooked, drain liquid and place chicken in a bowl and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the same large skillet. Once heated, add the coleslaw and carrots and sauté until it cooks down and softens, ~5-7mins, stirring occasionally.
- As the coleslaw mixture is cooking prepare the sauce. Add all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until well combined.
- To the skillet, add the garlic, stir, and cook for an additional minute. Add the water chestnuts and cooked ground chicken to the skillet and stir to combine.
- Add the sauce to the pan and stir well, let cook for another 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally. The sauce should reduce and coat the mixture well. When ready to serve, take off heat and stir in scallions and cilantro.
Nutrition Facts
263 Calories, 13 gram fat, 20 gram protein, 17 gram total carbohydrate, 3 grams of fiber, 8 gram sugar, 630 mg sodium Notes • Substitute the protein. Swap the ground chicken for turkey, beef, or pork. To make it vegetarian use crumbled tofu. • If you like your food spicy add garlic chili sauce or gochujang (a Korean chili paste) to the sauce. • Add wonton strips, crushed peanuts or cashews for added crunch
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Made this dish a month ago for my husband & me. Amazing!!! Rachel has once again created the perfect sauce which can be used on so many other dishes. Followed the recipe and could not improve it! It was delicious! The water chestnuts gave it the perfect crunch. I am visiting my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters now and made this dish for them last night. I doubled the recipe and needless to say, there were no leftovers! I did serve it both times over jasmine rice. A great summer meal. Thank you once again , Rachel for creating delicious, easy and healthy recipes!