Moo Shu vegetables are a popular Chinese dish consisting of shredded cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, and other veggies stir-fried with eggs and seasoning. It’s typically served with Moo Shu pancakes on the side. Moo Shu veggies make a tasty meatless meal, but many people wonder just how many calories are in this veggie-based dish.
What Are Moo Shu Vegetables?
Moo Shu vegetables are a stir-fry made with napa cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and sometimes other veggies like snow peas or broccoli. The veggies are tossed in a seasoned stir-fry sauce and scrambled eggs. Traditional Moo Shu uses wood ear mushrooms, daylily buds, and cloud ear fungus. More modern versions substitute vegetables that are easier to find. The stir-fried veggie mixture is served with small, round Chinese pancakes called Moo Shu pancakes. Diners wrap the vegetables in the pancakes to eat them.
Calories in Individual Moo Shu Vegetables
To determine how many calories are in a serving of Moo Shu veggies, we need to look at the calorie counts for each of the main ingredients:
| Ingredient | Calories per 1 cup |
|---|---|
| Napa cabbage, shredded | 14 |
| Mushrooms, sliced | 21 |
| Carrots, shredded | 45 |
| Bamboo shoots, sliced | 14 |
| Bean sprouts | 31 |
As you can see, vegetables are very low in calories by volume. Even starchy vegetables like carrots only have 45 calories per cup when shredded. Leafy greens like napa cabbage have just 14 calories per cup.
Calories in Moo Shu Sauce
A typical Moo Shu sauce is made from:
– Soy sauce
– Rice wine
– Hoisin sauce
– Oyster sauce
– Sesame oil
– Ginger
– Garlic
– White pepper
The sauce ingredients are low in calories. One tablespoon of hoisin sauce has around 13 calories. One tablespoon of oyster sauce has about 10 calories. Soy sauce only has about 8 calories per tablespoon. So a few tablespoons of sauce over an entire veggie stir-fry add minimal calories.
The ingredients that contain the most calories are sesame oil and rice wine. One tablespoon of sesame oil has about 120 calories, while rice wine has about 100 calories per tablespoon. But most recipes call for small amounts of these ingredients, like 1 teaspoon. So they don’t make a big impact on the total calories.
Calories in Moo Shu Pancakes
In addition to the stir-fried veggies, Moo Shu is served with small pancakes for wrapping. These pancakes do contain a more significant number of calories:
| Food | Calories |
|---|---|
| 1 round 6-inch Moo Shu pancake | 83 |
The pancakes are made from flour, water, egg, and oil. A single 6-inch pancake has around 83 calories.
So if you eat 3 pancakes with your Moo Shu veggies, that’s an additional 249 calories.
Calories in Scrambled Eggs
Authentic Moo Shu vegetables also contain lightly scrambled eggs. Eggs add protein as well as more calories:
| Food | Calories |
|---|---|
| 1 large egg | 72 |
Most Moo Shu veggie recipes call for just 2-3 eggs for an entire batch. So the eggs add about 150-200 calories total.
Total Calories in Moo Shu Vegetables
Given the low calorie counts for the vegetables and sauce ingredients, a serving of Moo Shu vegetables is surprisingly low in calories for the large volume of food.
Here is an estimate of the total calories in a typical serving:
| Item | Calories |
|---|---|
| 2 cups Moo Shu veggies | 100 |
| 3 Moo Shu pancakes | 249 |
| 2 eggs | 144 |
| Total Calories | 493 |
So a large plate with 2 cups of stir-fried veggies, 3 pancakes, and some egg totals just 493 calories. That’s a pretty modest calorie count for the large volume of food.
Ways to Reduce Calories in Moo Shu
If you’re looking to lighten up your Moo Shu vegetables even more, here are some easy ways to reduce the calories:
– Use fewer pancakes. Each 6-inch pancake has 83 calories, so dropping from 3 to 2 pancakes saves 83 calories.
– Skip the egg or use just 1 egg. Omitting 1 egg saves about 70 calories.
– Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Regular soy sauce is high in sodium. Switching to a low sodium variety removes excess salt without affecting calories.
– Increase the proportion of veggies. Bulk up on low calorie napa cabbage, mushrooms, bean sprouts and reduce higher calorie carrots.
– Sauces are already low cal, but use sparingly. Limit rice wine, sesame oil, and hoisin sauce to a teaspoon each.
– Opt for steamed rice rather than fried rice. Steamed brown rice has only about 100 calories per 1/2 cup serving compared to 230 calories for the same amount of fried rice.
Health Benefits of Moo Shu Vegetables
Despite the modest calorie count, Moo Shu vegetables pack a nutritious punch. Some health benefits of this veggie stir-fry include:
– Cabbage has vitamin C, vitamin K, fiber, and antioxidant compounds. It may help lower inflammation and reduce cancer risk.
– Mushrooms provide B vitamins like riboflavin and selenium. Studies show mushrooms can boost immunity.
– Carrots offer vitamin A for eyesight, vitamin K for bone health, and the antioxidant beta carotene.
– Bamboo shoots contain vitamin C and potassium. They may help lower cholesterol too.
– Bean sprouts are a source of folate, iron, vitamin C and fiber. They support detoxification and heart health.
So Moo Shu is far more than an empty carb meal. With all those power-packed vegetables, it provides a big nutritional boost in a low-calorie, veggie-licious package.
Comparison to Other Chinese Foods
Compared to some other popular Chinese takeout options, Moo Shu vegetables are relatively light:
| Chinese Food Item | Calories (per serving) |
|---|---|
| Moo Shu vegetables with rice and pancakes | 493 |
| Beef with broccoli | 670 |
| Sweet and sour chicken | 850 |
| Chicken fried rice | 575 |
| Egg roll (1 roll) | 350 |
Moo Shu has the lowest calorie count per serving compared to other popular Chinese dishes. All that napa cabbage and mushrooms provides volume and satiety, without all the deep fried ingredients that pack on calories.
Low Calorie Moo Shu Recipe
Try making this lighter veggie version of Moo Shu at home for a meal that’s around 300 calories:
Ingredients:
– 2 eggs
– 2 cups shredded napa cabbage
– 1 cup sliced mushrooms
– 1⁄2 cup shredded carrots
– 1 cup bean sprouts
– 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp rice wine
– 1 tsp minced ginger
– 1 tsp minced garlic
– 2 green onions, chopped
– 1 Moo Shu pancake
Instructions:
1. Beat eggs and cook gently until scrambled. Set aside.
2. In a wok or large skillet, stir-fry the cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, and bean sprouts over high heat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Push veggies to the side. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, ginger and garlic to center of wok. Cook briefly until fragrant.
4. Toss everything together including green onions and cooked egg.
5. Serve veggie mixture with 1 Moo Shu pancake. Wrap mixture in pancake to eat.
Makes 1 serving with about 300 calories. To reduce calories further, skip the pancake.
The Verdict on Moo Shu Vegetables
Moo Shu vegetables provide a hearty, filling, veggie-packed meal that’s lower in calories compared to other takeout options. A serving with pancakes and egg totals just around 500 calories. Load your plate with low calorie napa cabbage, mushrooms, sprouts and carrot. Drizzle sparingly with egg, sauce and limit pancakes to keep calories down. While modest in calories, this tasty veggie stir-fry delivers a nutritional punch with its variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Conclusion
So in summary, a typical serving of Moo Shu vegetables contains approximately:
– 100 calories from 2 cups of assorted stir-fried vegetables like cabbage, mushrooms and carrots
– 249 calories from 3 standard 6-inch Moo Shu pancakes
– 144 calories from 2 scrambled eggs
This brings the total calories per serving to around 493 when you combine the veggie stir-fry, pancakes and egg.
Moo Shu makes a satisfying, lower-calorie Chinese meal compared to many takeout options due to its volume of vegetables and modest amounts of rice wine, oil and sauce. Bulk up your plate with napa cabbage, mushrooms and sprouts to maximize nutrition and flavor while limiting calories. Drizzle sauces sparingly and limit pancakes to 2 to reduce the calorie count by 100 or more calories per serving.
