Southern Style Cabbage Shrimp Stir Fry

Bacon and shrimp are a winning flavor combination and they’re made even more delicious when added to a big pan of sauteed vegetables and topped with a delicious Homemade Stir Fry Sauce. Leave the rice in the pantry and have a low carb meal on the table in less than 30 minutes.

I plan my grocery trips out based on my weekly meal plan, but I often have leftover pieces of vegetables from a few recipes. Sometimes the vegetables wind up in a delicious soup like my Sicilian Chicken Soup, but I love the flavors of Chinese and Japanese food and often saute everything together for a one pan meal.

When I’m looking for a dinner that’s on the table in less than 30 minutes Stir Fry is where it’s at! I based this off of my love of Southern Style Fried Cabbage. Add bacon and it’s suddenly a Southern Style dish, but the bacon can be omitted as can the shrimp if you’re looking for a vegetarian stir fry recipe.

Shrimp are always in my freezer, so I thawed and used them in this recipe, but fresh shrimp without the shell work well too. I use the medium size instead of the small salad shrimp or jumbo shrimp which is about 9 – 10 shrimp per person for a 3 ounce serving size. I don’t count them out I just know mentally about what I will need to have a satisfied family.

Any protein will work well for this dish so swap out the shrimp for your favorite meat or go vegetarian.

I hope that you’ll try this recipe today and leave a comment below. Also, follow @lifeabovethecafe on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest using the social media icons found on this page.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of medium size frozen shrimp, thaw enough for 4 servings
• 4 pieces of bacon
• Stir Fry Sauce (recipe link above)
• 3 – 4 cups of shredded cabbage or 1 small bag of coleslaw mix
• 1 bell pepper sliced into thin strips (I like yellow or orange)
• 3 celery stalks slice on a diagonal in thin pieces
• 1 large carrot sliced in matchstick pieces (or use 1 cup of bagged matchstick carrots)
• 1 small white or yellow onion sliced into thin strips
• 1 small zucchini sliced into thin strips
• 2 – 3 cups of broccoli pieces
• 1 Tbsp. of oil

Directions:

Make the stir fry sauce and set aside.  Wash and prep all of the vegetables by cutting everything except the broccoli into thin strips.  I used about 1/3 of a large head of cabbage but a bag of coleslaw mix works well too.

Over medium high heat, in a large non stick skillet or wok, cook the bacon until crispy.  Remove the bacon from the pan and chop it up once cooled, but keep the grease in the pan.  Add the thawed shrimp to the pan and cook until pink.  I don’t count out the shrimp, but generally have about 10 – 12 pieces per person.  Once the shrimp is cooked, remove it from the pan, but leave all of the juices in the pan.

Add the cabbage to the hot pan and stir fry it until it is wilted and has some browned spots.  Once the cabbage is wilted and cooked down add a little oil if needed to the pan and the bell pepper, carrots, onion, and zucchini.  Cook the vegetables, stirring often, for about 3 -4 minutes.

Add the broccoli pieces to the pan and cook for 3 – 5 minutes or until they are your desired level of tenderness.  Stir the stir fry sauce up so the cornstarch is distributed throughout the mixture, and pour it over the sauteed vegetables.  Allow the sauce to come to a boil and thicken while continuing to stir it with the vegetable mixture.  Once the sauce is thick add the bacon and shrimp back to the skillet and mix everything together and serve.

I use this as a low carb meal option, but it’s great served over steamed rice.