Low FODMAP at Chinese Takeout

Steamed Chicken with Broccoli (sauce on the side)

A staple of the 'diet/steamed' menu section: plain steamed chicken and broccoli florets with white rice, no wok oil, no sauce cooked in. Broccoli heads and plain rice are low-FODMAP-friendly, and with the sauce on the side you control every drop.

💬 Order it: Order from the steamed or diet section, say 'no garlic, no onion, sauce on the side.' Dress it yourself with plain soy sauce and a squeeze of the ginger that usually comes with it; skip the brown sauce cup if you did not confirm what is in it.

Steamed Shrimp with Mixed Vegetables (no onion)

Same steamed-menu logic with shrimp: plain protein plus vegetables over rice. The only catch is the standard veggie mix, which often includes onion, mushrooms, and snow peas.

💬 Order it: Ask for no onion and no mushrooms; request broccoli, carrots, bok choy, and water chestnuts instead. Sauce on the side, plain soy sauce to finish.

Egg Drop Soup

Traditionally just broth thickened with cornstarch (not wheat) and swirled egg, garnished with scallion greens — one of the gentlest starters on the menu. The variable is the broth base, which at some shops includes onion or garlic.

💬 Order it: Ask whether the broth is made with onion or garlic before ordering. Scallion green tops are fine; ask them to skip any white parts. Choose this over wonton or hot-and-sour soup, which carry wheat wrappers and mushrooms.

Beef with Broccoli (light sauce, no garlic)

The base is friendly — beef, broccoli, rice — and the classic brown sauce is mostly soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch, which stay low-FODMAP in a normal serving. Garlic is usually tossed into the wok per order rather than pre-mixed, so made-to-order kitchens can genuinely leave it out.

💬 Order it: Say 'no garlic, no onion, light sauce' when ordering; at shops that batch their brown sauce in advance, downgrade to sauce on the side and use it sparingly. Broccoli florets over stems is the gentler cut.

Beef Chow Fun (no onion)

The wide, chewy noodles are rice-based, making this the rare noodle dish without wheat as the vehicle. As standard it comes with onion and sometimes garlic in the seasoning, so the modification does real work here.

💬 Order it: Ask for no onion and no garlic, scallion green tops only. Confirm the noodles are the wide rice ho fun (they almost always are) and pick it over lo mein or chow mein every time.

General Tso's Chicken

America's most-ordered Chinese dish is a triple hit: chicken in a wheat-flour batter, deep-fried, then coated in a garlic-forward sweet sauce that typically includes hoisin (itself garlic-based) and, at many shops, honey or corn-syrup sweeteners.

Lo Mein

The entire dish is wheat noodles, and they are tossed through a garlic-and-onion seasoned sauce — there is no version of this to rescue with modifications. Chow mein has the same problem with a crispier noodle.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Reads light and fruity, but the chicken is wheat-battered and the neon sauce is usually built on ketchup or syrup bases sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, with onion in the mix at many shops.

Crab Rangoon

A double ambush from one little parcel: the wrapper is wheat wonton skin and the filling is cream cheese, so you get wheat and lactose together, often with garlic or scallion mixed into the filling.

Moo Goo Gai Pan

The classic 'safe-sounding' order — sliced chicken in a light white sauce — but the dish is defined by its mushrooms, and the white sauce is aromatics-heavy with garlic and often onion. The pale color hides more than the brown sauces do.