TikTok's Viral Egg Roll In A Bowl Is Actually Worth The Hype

TikTok trends come and go, but not all are as equally delicious or quick and easy as they sound. Luckily, there is a viral recipe that does live up to the hype, transforming a takeout favorite into your next customizable weeknight dinner. A TikTok user shared their take on the egg roll in a bowl, a perfect meal-prep or quick, yummy go-to dinner. With this latest recipe, the essential components of an egg roll — ground meat, onion, garlic, cabbage, and a few Asian spices and sauces — are combined to make a one-skillet meal.

@whatsmomcookin

Egg Roll in a Bowl is so good! It's great for meal prep or just for a quick and easy weeknight dinner! It's also low carb and low calorie! All around great! #eggroll #eggrollinabowl #cabbage #groundbeef #hoisin #veggies #dinner #lowcarb #lowcal #budgetmeals #easyrecipe

♬ Nice and Easy – Louis Adrien

To make prep time even easier, the TikToker uses a pre-sliced, pre-washed bagged mix of cabbage slaw. They also made sure to brown the ground meat first to create more fond in the pan, adding a savory, caramelized flavor to the whole dish. Then, they scrape up the delicious fond after adding the other ingredients, including sauces and spices, to finish off the easy but unforgettable egg roll in a bowl.

What makes this egg roll in a bowl recipe even more enticing is the endless ways to customize it. It's a great way to clear out the fridge, with the flexibility to add any leftover fresh veggies on hand before they go bad or subtract or substitute ingredients you don't particularly care for. But if you'd like to keep your bowl true to its namesake, there are a few ingredients you'll want to use to get the right balance of flavor.

Onion, garlic, and ginger are the aromatic base of the dish. But soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar heighten the meat, cabbage, and other vegetables to make it taste like a classic Chinese-American egg roll. The viral TikTok video even adds hoisin sauce, a thick, savory-salty condiment that imbues the bowl with deep, rich flavor. Other condiments like sweet chili sauce or duck sauce for topping or dipping can help bring you even closer to that just-like-takeout taste.

While the classic egg roll with ground pork or beef is already bursting with flavor, there's no reason you can't get creative and swap out different proteins to mix it up. A simple scrambled egg can create a delightful, savory mixture for vegetarians. Adding egg takes inspiration from fried rice, another Chinese-American takeout favorite, combined with the other elements of an egg roll. Ground tofu is a fantastic alternative for a vegan-friendly version; just make sure to brown the tofu just as you would ground meat, to develop browning and flavor.

But if you really want to amp up the dish, try swapping out the meat for some seafood. Take the ingredients of an egg roll with sweet and sour crab recipe, using lump crab meat to make this easy-to-put-together meal suddenly seem fancy. You can make it sweet and spicy with the addition of Sriracha and oyster sauce to enhance the fishy flavor. Top it off with fresh, thinly sliced scallions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. Play around with the foundations of the viral egg roll in a bowl, and you'll discover your own unbeatable better-than-takeout meal. The possibilities for unique, tantalizing flavors are endless.