Low carb pho has the comforting, soul warming flavor that you love in a really good pho but without the carbs. Is it an exact replica? No, but it has the bright, fresh flavor and similar textures; something I love when I am craving Asian food on a chilly day.
For this recipe you will need: ground beef, thinly sliced cabbage, onion, star anise, beef stock, fresh ginger, garlic powder, cinnamon stick, soy sauce, scallions, serrano pepper, lime, fresh cilantro, ?fresh basil, hot sauce, chile sesame oil
If you are in a hurry click here to go straight to the recipe.
I’d tell you that I love Asian food but y’all would just laugh at me because I say that about every kind of food… The truth is that I just love food – it’s all my favorite. Asian flavors are a balance of salty, sweet, and umami that I have to have on a more or less regular basis. Asian food is not known for being low carb, at least not here in the United States — I can’t speak for anywhere else. It’s relatively easy to create a low carb copy of a stir fry dish but when it comes to noodle dishes?
Not so much.
I do miss pasta and those Miracle noodles make me gag for some reason so….
I tend to use cabbage to replicate noodles. Someday I will join the modern world and get a spiralizer (and y’all will be the first to know, I promise) but for now it’s cabbage cut in varying sized strips. Wide for wide egg noodles, medium for casseroles, and thin for Asian type soups. Usually I use white cabbage but on the day I was working with the low carb pho I only had purple for some reason so purple it is. You can feel free to use what you want.
Now, traditional pho is made with thinly sliced beef but here again, I didn’t have any for my low carb pho. If you want to use sliced beef then go ahead – just slice it super thin and add it to the simmering broth about 1 minute before serving. The broth is the thing — the actual ingredients are easily substituted as long as you stay with low carb items. I’ve added thinly sliced radishes, spinach, chopped broccoli… so feel free to adapt it to your preferences.
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This is my preferred oil for Asian cooking. It’s spicy with good sesame flavor.
House of Tsang Chili Sesame Oil Hot 5.0 OZ
Here’s that easy low carb pho recipe!
Low Carb Pho
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound Ground Beef
- 1/4 cup Onions chopped
- 2 cups cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 quart beef stock I like Pacific brand
- 1 each star anise very strong flavors
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 each jalapeno sliced with seeds removed
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped
- 1 each lime
- 1/8 teaspoon chile sesame oil drizzle on for a nice kick and great flavor
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a heavy saucepan.
- Just before the ground beef is all the way cooked add the onion, cabbage, and ginger.
- Saute until onion is tender.
- Add the beef stock, anise, cloves, garlic powder, soy sauce, and pepper.
- Simmer for 10 minutes or until the cabbage is thoroughly cooked and tender.
- Stir in the cilantro and basil.
- Taste and add salt if necessary (May need it if you used low sodium soy sauce).
- Remove the cinnamon stick and the star anise.
- Add to 4 bowls, squeeze a lime wedge over each serving.
- Drizzle with the hot sauce and chile oil as desired.
Pho Good ! Ha