Best Chinese Dishes for Low Carb Diets

Now that its cutting season and summer is right around the corner, we need to watch what we eat. That means cutting down carbs so we burn fat and do not store it. This is where it becomes really difficult when you are too lazy and want to order in some food. Most peoples go to is pizza but since that is obviously off limits, lets look at the next best option...Chinese Food! 

We are not talking about boring steamed chicken and broccoli Chinese dishes. We are talking about an amazing tasting, full of flavor and sauce Chinese dishes. You are not in prison because you are cutting so enjoy your food...and if you don't care then go for that steamed tasteless version (we will cover the macros later).

This article is going after dishes low in carbs but keep an eye out for the salt contents. Chinese dishes tend to have lots of sodium (salt) in them so drink plenty of water before, during, and post your meal. By tend to, they always do. The only way to prevent this is to go steamed and no sauce, but like we said...that's no fun! 

Here are three awesome low carb options when ordering Chinese:

1. Moo Shu (pork or chicken)

This dish usually comes with a pancake and a side sauce. We hate to do this to you but low carbs and pancakes do not go together...throw it out! The main dish Moo Shu usually comes with chicken or pork, mixed with  Shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, snow pea pods, bell peppers, onions, and celery are sometimes also used, and dry sherry is often substituted for the huangjiu. The vegetables (except the daylily buds and bean sprouts) are generally sliced into long, thin strips before cooking.

MyFitnessPal "generic" Moo Shu Dish Macro: 

As you can see this says its 4g of carbs and TONS OF PROTEIN!!!! Let's say this is off by even 20%, you are still less than 15g of carbs per serving. 

2. Chicken and Broccoli (brown or garlic sauce)

We went to look this dish up so we can "spoon feed" it to you like the product above but c'mon...do we really need to? Its just meat and broccoli and brown sauce. There are three things that can have carbs here. The chicken is all protein, the broccoli has about 6g of carbs per 100g, and the brown sauce, if made properly should not have sugar or carbs in it. That's pretty awesome and this is a staple dish when ordering. Like we said above, it can always be healthier if you steam the food and do sauce on the side.

Yes, that is 1lbs of this dish and only 12 carbs. Also, check out that protein number...healthy gains. 

3. Egg Foo Young

Honestly, ordering this just sounds fun to say. Egg Foo Young is an egg dish if you missed the first word so the base of the dish is "beat" eggs which will be low in carbs. Egg Foo Young is made with various vegetables such as bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, sliced cabbage, spring onions, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. You can then add any meat to this. Chicken is going to be your leanest option. 

As you can see again, low in carbs but PACKED in protein. When you add the power of eggs and the meat in the dish (chicken), you get some great macros. Here we did 2 servings which are less than 1000 calories. This dish has 13g of carbs and 54g of protein. Like the other dishes, if you overdo it, it won't even be that bad. 

In Conclusion: 

Chinese can be dangerous if you want to lose weight but if you are smart about it, it does not have to be. It also can be enjoyable. These are just three dishes but they are our favorite. What is your favorite Chinese dish? Comment below! 

BONUS:

Looking for other healthy LOW CARB snacks, check out these amazing products: