Chicken Zoodle Pho {GF, Paleo, Low Cal}

Chicken Zoodle Pho made super simple in the crockpot and topped with spiralized zucchini noodles for a healthy version of a restaurant favorite. Make takeout easy at home with a comforting bowl of this gluten free and low calorie soup! Gluten Free + Low Calorie + Paleo

My poor crockpot. I love it, but I think it’s on its last leg. Both the button and handle falls off, the outer covering overheats and now the temperature only works on high. This is not good because I use my crockpot for everything when it’s triple digits and too hot to turn on the oven. That’s basically nine months out of the year that I use my crockpot.

Have I ever told you the story of how I got this crockpot? Oh, no? It’s really a funny story. I was just out college, living in an apartment in a teeny-tiny town called Del Rio, Texas. Del Rio is on the border of Mexico (I worked in Mexico and crossed the border every day) and let’s just say there’s not a whole lot going on there other than a lot of good Mexican food and beer.

So anyway, Mom came to visit over Thanksgiving and one day while I was away working in Mexico, boredom struck and she decided to walk to Walmart. It was about a mile or so from my house.

I’m not exactly sure what her plan was for going to Walmart without a car, but the story goes like this. She went to Walmart and came out with a shopping cart overflowing with a lot of stuff. When realized she had no way of getting all this stuff home (short of robbing Walmart’s shopping cart), she called a cab.

Amongst her Walmart shopping spree stuff, was this crockpot. I have no idea why she bought it. I had no idea what to do with a crockpot back then. This story still cracks me up to this day! What was she thinking?

So yes, while I’d be happy to own a newer, bigger and better crockpot, this crockpot holds a special place in my heart. Every time I take it out, I laugh thinking about Mom and her Walmart shopping spree and something delicious always seems to come out of it too. It’s magic! Like this magical Chicken Zoodle Pho.

Just like my crockpot, pho holds a special place in my heart. It’s one of my favorite foods and one that I haven’t been able to enjoy because one, I haven’t found a Vietnamese restaurant I like and two, I’ve had to avoid certain foods for awhile due to my food allergies, and grains particularly for my auto-immune disease.

So I made my own Chicken Zoodle Pho to satisfy my pho tooth! Thanks to the good ole crockpot, it could not have been simpler either. This will be one recipe I’ll be making all summer long. Fingers crossed the crockpot holds up, I don’t think I could bear parting with it!

P.S. Need a spiralizer? I use this one all the time. It’s very inexpensive!

Chicken Zoodle Pho

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

2 hours

Total time

2 hours 20 mins

 

Chicken Zoodle Pho made super simple in the crockpot and topped with spiralized zucchini noodles for a healthy version of a restaurant favorite. Make takeout easy at home with a comforting bowl of this gluten free and low calorie soup!

Author: Megan

Recipe type: Dinner

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3-4 zucchini, spiralized
• 12 ounces boneless chicken breast (2-3 chicken breasts)
• 6 cups bok choy cabbage, chopped loosely
• 1½ cups white onion, sliced in rings
• 9 cups bean sprouts*
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 10 cups organic vegetable broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 star anise
• ½ tsp minced ginger
• ½ tbsp coconut sugar
• optional toppings: basil, lime, jalapeno & Siracha

Instructions

1. To a crockpot, add chicken breasts, onion, oyster sauce, vegetable broth, salt, pepper, cloves, star anise, minced ginger and coconut sugar and turn crockpot on high.
2. Cook pho 90 minutes until chicken becomes tender and you can pull it apart with a fork.
3. Once chicken is loosely pulled apart, add bok choy and bean sprouts to the crockpot and cook another 60 minutes or until all vegetables are tender.
4. Divide soup into 6 bowls, add spiralized zucchini and top with additional toppings as desired.

Notes

Makes 6 large bowls, 210 calories each
*For a Paleo version, omit the beans
Total Fat: 1.7 g, Saturated Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 65mg, Sodium: 1,540mg, Total Carbs: 28.1g, Fiber: 9.9g, Sugars: 16g, Protein: 38.4g

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 Calories: 210

3.5.3217

What I Used For The Recipe
              

What’s something you could not bear parting with? Help me with crockpot suggestions!