Caramelized extra lean ground beef and crunchy coleslaw mix are mixed with your choice of instant ramen to make high protein noodle bowls in about 20 minutes. Every serving has 28g protein with just 41g carbs, 7g fat, and 350 calories. Not too shabby for a dish that looks like this:
Ingredients and Substitutions
I’ve wanted to make something with Trader Joe’s squiggly knife cut noodles for a while now. Before any TJ’s detractors head for the hills, it can be made with ingredients from any grocery store.
Products like Momofuku Soy and Scallion Noodles or the Rice Ramen from my crispy chicken ramen work as substitutes. TJ’s noodles come with a sauce packet. So you may want to add a bit of toasted sesame oil and extra coconut aminos or soy sauce to any plain noodles you use.
The sauce for the crispy beef uses standard ingredients like sriracha, rice vinegar, frozen garlic and ginger cubes, and Chinese five spice.
Coconut aminos are a soy sauce alternative that can just be swapped for low sodium soy sauce.
Hoisin sauce is a sticky sweet and aromatic sauce that can be swapped for some honey, extra Chinese five spice, and a bit more coconut aminos. My beef and eggs over rice use a similar combo with oyster sauce instead of hoisin. And my firecracker beef might be worth checking out if you’re interested in a sweet and spicy sauce made with maple syrup, buffalo sauce, and aromatics.
Coleslaw mix adds volume and extra crunchy texture to the dish. Feel free to omit if you have picky eaters or just keep it separate and mix into individual servings. You can also swap coleslaw mix for broccoli slaw, TJ’s cruciferous crunch mix, or homemade shredded carrots and cabbage.
Tips for Making Crispy Ground Beef
Yes, it can be done even with extra lean ground beef.
My number one tip is to get the beef in a hot pan and leave it alone. You want to properly brown both sides for a few minutes until a crust forms before breaking the beef apart.
A nonstick pan is helpful so you don’t have to cook in oil or deglaze the pan. If you’re cooking in a stainless steel or cast iron pan, you will just need to deglaze with water to get sticky bits off the pan more frequently.
Once the beef is fully cooked and minced, the sauce goes in and everything is stirred together. Then the strategy is to, you guessed it, leave the beef alone. The sauce will reduce and caramelize on the bottom of the beef. Stirring too often will impede the caramelization, and you’ll end up without crispy beef like a loser.
Just to reiterate, crispy beef takes patience and a cold shoulder. Let the ground beef brown longer than you think you should. And let the sauce fully reduce without stirring.
Serving, Storing, and Reheating
I like to take some of the crispy beef out of the pan before mixing the sautéed coleslaw mix, cooked noodles, the sauce packets the noodles come with, and a bit of the water the noodles were cooked in together. That way you can mix everything together and top each serving with crispy beef crumbles like you see pictured here.
Admittedly, it’s a bit extra and mostly for aesthetic purposes. If you want to just throw everything in the drained noodle pot and toss together, your practicality is commendable.
I garnished my noodle bowls with sliced scallions and Trader Joe’s Crunchy Chili Onion Sprinkle (swap for toasted sesame seeds or similar seasoning blend). Chili oil is always an exceptional choice for dishes like this, but you may not want the extra fat.
Not all noodle dishes reheat well, but I really enjoyed this one after microwaving for 2-3 minutes from the refrigerator. I’ve not tried them from frozen, but I’ll be sure to update this post when I hear back from readers that do.
Which is a great segue to tell you how much recipe reviews and comments on recipes are always appreciated. Either way, I hope you enjoy these noodle bowls and crispy beef as much as Vanessa and I did!
If you do, I bet you’ll wanna bookmark my chili crisp beefy cauliflower skillet or Japanese sweet potato bowls to make next. Until then. – Mason
Crispy Beef Noodle Bowls
Ingredients
- 3 cups Coleslaw Mix
- 2 teaspoons (10g) Olive Oil
- 1 pound Ground Beef 96/4
- 2 packs Trader Joe's Squiggly Noodles or Momofuku Noodles, instant ramen, etc.
For the Crispy Beef Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Coconut Aminos or low sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Sriracha
- 1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
- 4 cubes Frozen Crushed Garlic or 4 cloves garlic
- 2 cubes Frozen Crushed Ginger or 2" piece fresh ginger
- ¼ cup Water
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the noodles in the boiling water after adding the sauce to the ground beef in step 4.
- Heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the slaw mix and cook until the veggies pick up a bit of color, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the ground beef to the same pan and brown on both sides for 2-3 minutes each until a crust forms before breaking apart and fully cooking.
- While the beef cooks, mix the sauce ingredients together. Add the sauce to the cooked ground beef, stir everything together, and reduce until no liquid remains and the beef is crispy on the bottom. Avoid stirring too often and give the beef time to get crispy. (Start cooking the noodles while the sauce reduces.)
- Reserve about ½ cup of the water from the noodles before draining the rest. Add the sauce packets that come with the noodles, the crispy beef, and the slaw mix to the noodles. Toss everything together and serve with sliced green onion and toasted sesame seeds (or TJ's chili crunch seasoning).
