One of my husband’s favorite Whole30 recipes is Whole30 Egg Roll in a Bowl. He literally asks for it by name! And it’s one of the dishes that I always recommend to Whole30 newbies because it proves that Whole30/Paleo foods can be exotic, flavorful and delicious. Seriously, what’s not to love about a deconstructed egg roll that’s Whole30 compliant?
For those of you not in the know, Whole30 Egg Roll in a Bowl is a combination of sauteed cabbage, pork sausage, ginger, garlic, coconut aminos, sesame oil and fish sauce…and sometimes mayo.
My only complaint with this dish being ‘deconstructed’ is that it’s not something that you can easily bring to a party…so I decided to make it portable by making it into meatballs!! This way I can bring this super yummy dish to holiday parties to share the Whole30/Paleo love with friends and family!
I always start by prepping all of my ingredients…garlic, ginger, carrots, onions, cilantro and cole slaw mix (if you are really motivated you could chop/shred your own cabbage!) and ground sausage (in this case I’m using Moink’s pork sausage, which I love…you can find a discount link here if you are interested in trying them out!).
And I grab the sauces that I’ll need (note, these are all Whole30 compliant)…
Then using my food processor, and it’s ‘S’ blade, I pulse the garlic, ginger, carrots, onions, cilantro and cole slaw mix until its fully combined. If you don’t have a food processor…I highly suggest investing in one! Or maybe ask Santa for one? This the one that I have, it’s heavy duty and meant to last…I love it: Cuisinart Food Processor
Next I saute the mixture from the food processor in a medium hot pan, along with the coconut aminos, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I cook the mixture until its cooked through and it reduces in size (it should reduce to about 1 ½ – 2 cups). Sorry…no photo of this step!
Once cooked, I allow the mixture to fully cool before moving on to the next step.
In a medium sized mixing bowl I then gently combine the cooled cooked mixture, the ground pork (which should be kept cold until ready to use) and 1 Tbs of sesame oil…
Then I form the meat mixture into meatballs (approximately ¼ cup of mixture makes a perfect size).
In 1 Tbs of sesame oil I then sauté the meatballs in a medium/hot pan, turning occasionally, until cooked through.
Once they are done, I serve them with sesame seeds, scallions, cilantro and a side of coconut aminos!
- ½ Tbs or 2-3 cloves of garlic
- ½ Tbs of fresh ginger
- ¼ cup shredded or diced carrots
- ½ cup red onion
- 1 handful of cilantro
- ¾ bag pre-prepared cole slaw
- 3 Tbs coconut aminos
- 1 Tsp fish sauce (I like Red Boat, and it’s Whole30)
- 1 Tsp rice wine vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- 1 Lb sugar-free ground pork (I LOVE Moink…get a discount link here!)
- 2 Tbs sesame oil, separated
- Sesame seeds, scallions and cilantro (for garnish).
- In a food processor, using the S blade, pulse the garlic, ginger, carrots, onions, cilantro and cole slaw mix until its fully combined.
- Sauté the mixture from the food processor in a medium hot pan, along with the coconut aminos, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Cook the mixture until its cooked through and it reduces in size (it should reduce to about 1 ½ - 2 cups).
- Allow the vegetable mixture to cool, you don’t want to add it hot to the meat.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl gently combine the cooled cooked vegetable mixture, the ground pork and 1 Tbs of sesame oil.
- Form the meat mixture into meatballs (approximately ¼ cup of mixture makes a perfect size).
- In 1 Tbs sesame oil sauté the meatballs in a medium/hot pan, turning occasionally, until cooked through.
- Use the remaining cole slaw to decorate your serving platter and garnish!