These tasty lettuce cups are filled with flavoursome, savoury Chinese mince to create Keto San Choy Bow – your new favourite weeknight meal! So simple to make but impressive and loaded with flavour. Give this a go, you will thank me later!
Before you scroll to the recipe, below I’ve tried to answer any questions you may have, including storage tips, sourcing ingredients and substitutions
If you make this recipe please leave a review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Keto San Choy Bow Summary
- Ingredient tips
- Recipe tips
- Substitutions
- Storage tips
- How many carbs in Keto San Choy Bow?
There are many variations on how to spell ” Keto San Choy Bow”, as it comes from China and this is the English very rough translation!
To me, it translates to mouth watering, tangy, spicy rich pork mince with fresh bean sprouts wrapped in a crisp lettuce leaf.
Usually served as an appetiser at Chinese restaurants, we love the flavours of this Keto San Choy Bow recipe so much we have it quite often as a weeknight meal.
It is quick and simple, and if you have a few of the ingredients on hand you can whip this up in no time. A quick easy Chinese Keto dish should be in everyone’s go to recipes.
Ingredients for Keto San Choy Bow
This recipe uses traditional chinese flavours but with simple ingredients most people have in the pantry.
The ingredients you will need are;
- Pork mince
- Brown onion
- Oil
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Chilli Flakes
- Hoisin sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Fish sauce
- Bean sprouts
- Cos lettuce
- Fresh lime and chilli to serve (optional)
As always, using the highest quality ingredients is super important. With a simple recipe like this Keto San Choy Bow recipe, the quality of the ingredients is what makes it delicious.
A few notes about particular ingredients and substitutions;
Pork mince
I sometimes use beef or chicken mince if thats what I have handy, but pork mince gives the best flavour in my opinion!
Pork mince has a naturally fatty flavour and texture that works really with with the sweet and sour flavours of Keto San Choy Bow. You could also use vegetarian mince for this recipe.
Oil
I generally use coconut oil or avocado oil if I don’t feel like the coconut taste. Avocado oil is virtually flavourless and has a high smoke point, perfect for cooking on high heat!
Garlic and Ginger
If you can bothered, fresh is best and finely crushed. Grate the garlic. I use the jarred stuff, it’s so much easier and less messy!
Hoisin, oyster and fish sauce
These are the three major flavours of the sauce so are pretty important. Hoisin sauce is pretty heavy in the sugar so we only use a little bit.
If you wanted to leave it out, you could add more oyster sauce and put in a bit of your favourite keto sweetener. I use Changs Oyster sauce which is 10% carbs.
You could also make your own Keto Hoisin sauce, here’s a recipe I like.
The sweetness balances out the salty and sour tastes in the Keto San Choy Bow sauce so is important to include.
Cos Lettuce
Traditional San Choy Bow uses iceberg lettuce, but I find it’s hard to get those perfect cupped leaves and you often end up with juices going everywhere!
Cost lettuce cups tend to be a bit firmer and evenly sized, so there is less waste as well.
Fresh Lime and Chilli
While these are optional to serve with Keto San Choy Bow, I strongly recommend them!
It makes it a bit of fun to add your own toppings and dial up the spicy and sourness, and adds an element of freshness to the dish.
Tips for making Keto San Choy Bow
This is an easy dish to prepare, but make sure you’ve got everything chopped up in advance. Once you’ve made it once, you’ll see it comes together quickly and is on the table in less than 30 minutes.
Here’s some recipe tips for this easy keto chinese dinner.
- Chop, separate and wash your cos lettuce first. I like to dry with some paper towel so they aren’t too wet
- When frying the oven, get them a little bit brown for more flavour
- Chop and prepare everything before you start cooking so you can throw it all in together
Storage tips for Keto San Choy Bow
- Fridge – keep the cooked mince in an air tight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave with fresh cos, lime and chilli or serve with some cauliflower rice. Perfect for work lunches!
- Freezer: freeze the cooked mince in an air tight container or a zip lock bag for up to 3 months
How many carbs in Keto San Choy Bow?
As you will see in the nutrition panel below, this Keto San Choy Bow has 9 grams total carbs and 0 grams fibre so 9 grams net carbs.
Given this would be a main meal for the day, this is a reasonable amount of carbs. If you want to keep very low carbs, say under 20 grams per day, I would introduce this on an already low carb day.
SAVE KETO SAN CHOY BOW TO PINTEREST FOR LATER
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Enjoy!
Keto San Choy Bow
A delicious Chinese inspired dish bursting with fresh flavours and texture, this Keto San Choy Bow will become a regular weeknight meal. This is higher in carb than some keto dishes, so enjoy in moderation or on a day when your other carbs have been very low.
Ingredients
- 500 Grams pork mince, you can use chicken or beef, but I prefer pork
- 1/4 small brown onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, or olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
- ½ tablespoon ginger, crushed
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes, or 1 deseeded red chilli
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce, check for sugar levels, I use Changs
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 100 grams bean sprouts
- 1 head baby cos lettuce, washed and cut into cups
- Fresh lime to serve
- Fresh Chilli to serve
Instructions
- In a large frying pan or wok, place coconut oil, ginger, garlic and chilli and saute over medium heat for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add chopped onions and fry for a further 2 minutes until slightly browned.
- Add the pork mince and stir through the onion mixture, breaking up into small pieces with a wooden spoon as you go.
- Cook through until the meat is lightly browned and there are no more visible pink areas.
- While this is cooking, prepare your lettuce. Cut the bottom of the Cos lettuce off and remove the outer leaves. You want to use the largest leaves and keep them all in one piece, so wash and dry them gently to remove any grit. Save the inner leaves for your next Caesar salad!
- Once the meat is lightly browned, stir through the hoisin, oyster sauce, fish sauce and bean sprouts.
- Serve with fresh lime and chilli on the side to squeeze over.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1 gAmount Per Serving: Calories: 405Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 12gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 869mgCarbohydrates: 9gSugar: 4gProtein: 22g
If you enjoyed this recipe, don’t forget to rate and review it or share on social media! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not sure how to start Keto?
Here’s some resources to help you!
- What is Keto?
- What Can I eat on Keto?
- How Much Should I Eat on Keto?
- What To Expect On Keto
- Ketogenic 21 Day Meal Plans
- Preparing for the Ketogenic Diet EBook
- Understanding Net Carbs and Total Carbs
Jacqui
Saturday 13th of August 2022
This recipe is easy to make and absolutely delicious! I make sure my carbs are low the rest of the day to allow me to eat these. Very tasty and refreshing!
Saturday 13th of July 2019
Simple and delicious
Amy
Sunday 26th of May 2019
This recipe was amazing, it had the flavour you would find at a Chinese restaurant!! We added snap peas and grated carrots to the recipe as we wanted it to be a bit fuller. Absolutely Delicious!!
Rachel
Tuesday 4th of June 2019
Thanks so much for your lovely comments Amy! I always aim to recreate that restaurant taste without all the sneaky nasties and sugar :)