Paleo Shrimp Chow Mein
April 2, 2012 in Main Dishes, Stir Fries and One-Pot Meals
I love Asian flavors and learned to cook simplified versions of my favorite dishes when I was still a teenager living at home. Some of these dishes can be fairly easily modified for a paleo diet. The trick with this paleo chow mein is to use kelp noodles instead of the usual chow mein noodles. Kelp Noodles can be easily found in any Asian grocery store but are also available online from amazon (which is where I buy mine using Subsribe & Save
). They have a flavor that works brilliantly in asian dishes, hold up well to the high heat cooking, and are so fun to eat that my kids beg for chow mein just for the noodles (my husband and I think the shrimp is the real treat here, but to each his own!). They are also high in iodine, which is great for anyone dealing with thyroid issues.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound raw shrimp, deveined (tail on or off, it’s up to you)
- 3 Tbsp dry white wine
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil (or other good cooking fat)
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 cups snow peas (about ¾ pound)
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 5oz can Sliced Water Chestnuts
- 1 5oz can Sliced Bamboo Shoots
- 3 large Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- ¾ cups bone broth
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Aminos
- 1 pound Kelp Noodles
- 1 green onion, chopped
1. Soak dried mushrooms in warm water for 30 minutes (or follow the package directions). Rinse and then slice into thin strips.
2. Rinse and dry shrimp. Toss with wine and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Slice carrots into 1” rounds, flip the rounds over and then slice into 1/8” rectangles. Wash and trim stems off snow peas. Slice onion into ½” wedges. Mince garlic. Drain and rinse water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. Remove kelp noodles from package and rinse with cold water (or follow package directions).
4. Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Add coconut oil to hot walk. Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
5. Add shrimp and wine to wok. Cook, stirring frequently, until shrimp are cooked (until they just turn pink). Remove shrimp from the walk (leave any juices in the wok though) and set aside.
6. Add onion and carrot to the wok with bone broth and coconut aminos. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes (just giving them a head start on the other vegetables). The broth should be boiling. If not, turn up to high heat.
7. Add the remainder of the vegetables to the wok. Cook ,stirring frequently, until the vegetables are cooked but still al dente, about 6-8 minutes.
8. Add the shrimp (and any juices) back to the wok. Stir to combine.
9. Push the shrimp and veggies to the side of the wok to create a little hole in the middle. Place the kelp noodles in the hole. Let them simmer in the broth for 2-3 minutes, then start stirring to break up the kelp noodles and distribute throughout the chow mein (another 1-2 minutes).
10. Garnish with chopped green onion and enjoy!







































Is the 3 (three) pounds of dried shitakes really correct? Even 1 pound seems like a lot. Anyway it looks great!
Thank you SO much for pointing out that typo!!! It’s fixed now.
Aren’t kelp noodles highly processed? I’m just wondering if I should be eating that. I don’t think kelp noodles come that way so there must be some kind of process, chemical or otherwise, that makes kelp into noodles. Do you happen to have any info on that? I’m going to try the AIP because I have Celiac disease and I still get sick. Most recently I have been getting sick from eggs, out of the blue, been eating them without a problem and now I get stomach cramps and diarrhea when I eat eggs. So frustrating. I think I’m doing well eating all paleo and giving up so many foods that I like but something is still not right with me. I just want to cry.
They are very minimally processed, basically just stripped of outer skin and preserved with a seaweed derived salt called sodium alginate.