This ground beef stir fry with noodles is one of the highest volume recipes on my blog. If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology, it simply means you get to eat a beaucoup of food without consuming many calories. In this case, a 10-ounce portion barely has over 200 calories!
High volume meals can lean towards the boring side. Think: salad. But this stir fry with noodles is loaded with flavor. It’s sweet, salty, and spicy all at the same time. I’m pumped for you to try it.
Ingredient Notes for This Ground Beef Stir Fry with Noodles
As usual, I’ve opted for simple ingredients that require minimal prep time. Your core ingredients will be ground beef, frozen stir fry vegetables, and cooked noodles. Other than that, you’ll need the sauce ingredients:
- Chinese five spice powder and a granulated sugar substitute
- chili garlic and soy sauce
- beef stock
- rice vinegar
I’ll run through a few modification notes and ingredient questions below.
What is five spice powder?
The five spice powder I used for this ground beef stir fry is from Whole Foods and is a blend of cinnamon, fennel, cloves, star anise, and white pepper. You should be able to find this spice blend at just about any grocery store.
If you’re worried about never using it again, you can also make my five spice ground beef and eggs with it. And I never get tired of that recipe!
What are Palmini noodles?
Palmini makes their pasta from palm hearts and the entire package used in this ground beef stir fry has just 50 calories and 10 grams of carbs. I’ve used Palmini in recipes like my Low Carb Pasta Carbonara. I seriously love the product.
I’m commonly asked about texture or flavor, and I’ve described it as a blend between zoodles and a closer impasta like chickpea pastas. You can boil it to soften the texture, but you shouldn’t expect real pasta with something that has 10 grams of carbs.
That said, it’s the best impasta I’ve tried to date.
Where can I buy Palmini?
Palmini has a store locator to help you locate some unless you want to order online. I’ve added Palmini to my recommended products Amazon list if you’d like to order them there.
Trader Joe’s also makes a hearts of palm pasta now, and I’ve used it in recipes like my Mongolian ground beef and noodles recipe. If you have trouble finding either or want to use a different pasta, I’d use 10-12 ounces (cooked weight) of another pasta for this low carb pasta carbonara.
For another low carb pairing option, check out my air fried cauliflower rice.
Can I use a ground turkey or chicken?
Absolutely. Any ground meat should work for this dish. I’d even throw ground pork into the mix.
One important note will be the fat content. Not only will a fattier cut of meat affect the nutrition breakdown, the extra rendered fat in the pan could affect the viscosity of the sauce.
If you use a meat with more fat, you might consider draining some of it before adding the sauce in step 4 of the recipe.
You could even mix up the seasoning combo and swap the five spice beef for something like my firecracker ground chicken or chili coconut ground chicken.
Is it possible to make this ground beef stir fry with fresh vegetables?
Always. The frozen vegetables are steamable so if you wanted to use fresh, chop of your veggies of choice and steam before adding to the beef in step 5 of the recipe.
What if I don’t have rice vinegar on hand?
I’d go with apple cider vinegar or potentially white wine vinegar. Rice vinegar is on the sweeter side as far as vinegar goes.
Final Ground Beef Stir Fry Notes
I haven’t included them in the ingredient list, but you should definitely pick up some toasted sesame seeds for topping dishes. They add so much flavor and texture!
And not to throw too many optional steps at you, but I really think a bit of fresh grated ginger and garlic would go great in the sauce mixture. I considered adding them, but ya know, simplicity reigns supreme around here.
Okay, that’s it. You’ll find the printable recipe card below. Be sure to let me know what you think about your five spice ground beef stir fry with noodles!
Five Spice Ground Beef Stir Fry with Noodles
A 20-minute recipe that combines ground beef with frozen vegetables and palmini pasta for a flavorful low carb meal.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef (96/4)
- 1/2 C (120g) Beef Stock
- 2 Tbsp (30g) Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp (30g) Chili Garlic Sauce
- 2 Tbsp (30g) Rice Vinegar
- 2 tsp Five Spice Powder, I used Whole Foods version
- 2 Tbsp (24g) Granulated Sugar Substitute
- 16 oz bag Frozen Stir Fry Vegetables Mix
- 12 oz packet Palmini Pasta, or your choice of cooked noodles
Instructions
- Put the frozen vegetables in the microwave for 6-7 minutes according to its packaging. Drain the Palmini noodles and set aside.**
- Cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Mix the five spice, beef stock, soy and chili garlic sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar together in a bowl while the beef cooks.
- Once the beef is cooked through and no pink remains, add the sauce. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the vegetables and noodles, tossing everything together. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally.
- Top with optional toasted sesame seeds (not included in the nutrition facts), serve, and enjoy!
Notes
**You can soak the Palmini noodles in milk to remove any flavor. (I personally can't taste the noodles and think this is unnecessary.) And if you'd like a softer texture, you can boil them for about 5 minutes to soften the noodles.
Each serving has 3 Smart Points.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Servings Serving Size: 275 gAmount Per Serving: Calories: 215Total Fat: 5gCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 29g
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Melissa
Wednesday 22nd of July 2020
One of our favorites from Mason! We've struggled to find a good "stir fry" sauce recipe and now we use this one every time. I've used ground pork and diced chicken with this. I never have palmini noodles on hand so we normally use brown rice. Super quick and tasty!
Melissa S
Wednesday 29th of January 2020
I love this dish! It's really easy to assemble and is made of simple ingredients we always have on hand. I used Barilla protein plus spaghetti noodles and it was great!
Christina D
Wednesday 29th of January 2020
This can be adjusted so easily. We brown the meat and then split it and i make mine with my veggies and noodles as well as my significant other. It smells amazing and its something i crave!! Make sure you add water chestnuts!!
Danielle Gerke
Wednesday 27th of November 2019
Another Asian recipe by Mason that beats any restaurant in town. I use Banza fettuccine noodles In mine and I love it. I had never tried Chinese 5 spice before this recipe and I was skeptical. Now I’m a believer. It is amazing.
Holly B
Wednesday 27th of November 2019
made the filling of this recipe and served it over rice. WOW it was so tasty. The Chinese five spice is such a unique flavor, it brought me back to my time studying abroad in Beijing. It truly is so unique and flavorful! I made just the meat alone and then paired it with rice and frozen stir fry veggies for meal prep. So easy and so satisfying!