Bean Sprout

Why bean sprout is rated low

Bean sprouts come in low at 1 cup (75g), and the published serving data records no raised FODMAP subgroup at that amount, so there is no single carbohydrate pushing the number up. Sprouts are mostly water held in crisp cell walls, which is why a full cup still sits comfortably in the low range while the mature beans they grew from do not. That one cup is also the only serving with data behind it, so a bigger heap is not measured here rather than proven fine, and the sensible way to use them is to treat 1 cup (75g) as the amount you can plan a meal around. In practice the sprouts are rarely the risk on the plate: the sauce they arrive in usually is.

What changes your risk

• Serving size 1 cup (75g) is the tested serving and the only one published for bean sprouts, so it is the figure to build around. Sprouts compress when they are tossed into a hot pan, so a cup measured raw looks like much less on the plate, and it is easy to keep adding handfuls past the tested amount without noticing.
• The sauce, not the sprout Bean sprouts almost always turn up in stir fries, pho, pad thai and spring rolls, and the base of those dishes is usually onion, garlic, a stock powder or a ready made sauce blend. Those ingredients carry far more FODMAP load than the sprouts do, so read the label on the sauce jar and cook the aromatics out of the recipe rather than trimming the vegetables.
• Canned sprouts want a drain and a rinse FODMAPs are water soluble, so anything that has leached out of canned sprouts is sitting in the liquid. Tip the can into a sieve, run cold water over the sprouts for a few seconds and shake them dry, instead of pouring the canning liquid into the pan with them.
• Stacking across the whole plate A low serving is per serving, not per meal. A bowl that pairs the tested cup of sprouts with a pile of other vegetables, a wheat noodle base and a sweetened sauce adds up to a much bigger total FODMAP load than the sprouts alone, so look at everything in the bowl rather than one ingredient.
• Cooking does not remove anything Blanching, stir frying, freezing and blending do not destroy FODMAPs. A wok does not turn a double helping into a single one, so the serving that matters is the one you measured before it hit the heat.

What else works

Bean sprouts are already low at the tested serving, so the useful comparison is with what sits beside them. Cucumber, bell pepper, green beans, zucchini, bok choy and choy sum all bring the same fresh crunch or bulk to a stir fry or a salad roll and are low at their own tested servings, and carrot works well shredded through the same dishes. The lookalike to be careful with is the bean the sprout came from: cooked mung beans, and chickpeas, lentils and kidney beans generally, are not low at ordinary servings, so a sprouted seed and a cooked legume are not interchangeable. The usual stir fry companions that are not low FODMAP swaps are onion of any colour, shallot, leek bulb, the white part of spring onion, garlic, mushroom and cauliflower. For the savoury depth garlic would give, garlic infused oil with no solid pieces left in it, the green tops of spring onions, chives or a pinch of asafoetida do the job honestly.

How to keep it low

Buy sprouts that snap rather than bend, with white stems and no slimy patches or sour smell, because they turn fast and a tired sprout is both unpleasant and short lived. Keep them in the fridge in a container lined with a paper towel, or submerged in cold water changed daily, and use them within a couple of days. Measure the cup while they are still raw and crisp, since sprouts collapse to a fraction of their volume in the pan and portioning after cooking always overshoots. Add them in the final minute of cooking so they stay crunchy, and build the flavour on garlic infused oil, ginger, spring onion greens and a splash of soy or tamari rather than a ready made stir fry sauce. Ordering out, the sprouts are usually the least of it: ask for no onion and no garlic and for the sauce on the side, and add raw sprouts yourself at the table.

Common questions

how much bean sprouts can i eat on a low fodmap diet

1 cup (75g) is the tested serving and it comes in low. That is the only amount with published data behind it, so it is the portion to plan around rather than a starting point to climb from.

are bean sprouts ok on the elimination phase

Yes, at the tested serving of 1 cup (75g) bean sprouts sit in the low range with no raised subgroup recorded. The part of the dish to watch during elimination is the sauce or stock they are cooked in, not the sprouts.

are canned bean sprouts low fodmap

Drain the can in a sieve and rinse the sprouts under cold running water before using them, because water soluble FODMAPs leach out into the canning liquid. Keep to the tested 1 cup (75g) and leave the liquid behind.

if bean sprouts are low are mung beans low too

No. The tested serving of 1 cup (75g) applies to the sprouts, and cooked mung beans at ordinary servings are a different food that is not a low FODMAP swap for them.