With a simple, flavorful 3-ingredient sauce, tender stir-fried chicken, and plenty of colorful vegetables, this easy Chicken Lo Mein recipe is a perfect 30-minute meal! Kids love the homemade Chinese noodles served alongside egg rolls, dumplings, or extra steamed broccoli. Best of all, you don’t need any fancy, hard-to-find ingredients to pull together this quick weeknight dinner that’s better than takeout!
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How to Make Chicken Lo Mein | 1-Minute Video
Easy Chicken Lo Mein Recipe
The best chicken lo mein recipe is also the easiest! You don’t need any unusual ingredients, you don’t need to spend hours prepping in the kitchen, and you don’t even have to drive to the nearest Chinese restaurant for takeout. Instead, you can whip up this mouthwatering dinner from start to finish in about 30 minutes! The kid-friendly dish is a great way to mix up the regular routine, while still keeping everyone at the table happy.
What is Chicken Lo Mein?
This Chinese-American dish is made with egg noodles and a combination of vegetables, meat or seafood. The noodles are usually about an eighth of an inch thick (slightly thicker than spaghetti), so they’re much different than the wide American egg noodles that you might otherwise know. Lo mein noodles are cooked separately in boiling water, then tossed with the rest of the ingredients in a sesame oil and soy sauce-based sauce.
Chicken Lo Mein vs. Chicken Chow Mein
While some Chinese-American restaurants sometimes use these terms to describe the same dish, there are actually a couple of differences between lo mein and chow mein.
- Preparation: Chow mein, or chāu-mèn, translates to “stir-fried noodles.” Lo mein, lāo miàn, means “stirred noodles.” So, the biggest difference is in how they’re cooked. For chow mein, the noodles are par-boiled first, and then stir-fried in a wok to crisp up and finish cooking. By contrast, lo mein noodles are fully-cooked apart from the rest of the ingredients, and then tossed together with the sauce and other ingredients at the end.
- Sauce: The consistency of these dishes is also quite different. Lo mein typically has quite a bit of sauce, while chow mein is drier.
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Ingredients
This is a quick overview of the simple ingredients that you’ll need for a pan of homemade chicken lo mein. As always, specific measurements and complete cooking instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- Less-sodium soy sauce: the base of the sauce, which gives the dish a rich, salty, umami flavor. We like the low sodium soy sauce, but any variety will work.
- Sesame oil: adds a rich, toasted, unique flavor to the dish. This is a key ingredient in lo mein, so do not substitute with other types of oil.
- Brown sugar: to sweeten the sauce.
- Lo mein noodles: I use these lo mein noodles, which I can find in my local grocery store, in Walmart, or online on Amazon. If you can’t find lo mein noodles, feel free to substitute with spaghetti or soba noodles.
- Broccoli: fresh bite-size florets can boil right with the pasta so that they’re perfectly crisp-tender without any extra cooking time.
- Vegetable oil: to stir-fry the chicken and vegetables. You can substitute with other neutral oils that have a high smoke point, such as canola oil.
- Chicken breast: thinly-sliced into bite size pieces, the chicken cooks in a hot skillet in just a few minutes.
- Red bell pepper, green onions, carrots: extra veggies add color, flavor and nutrition.
- Garlic and ginger: for plenty of savory, zesty flavor. Tip: keep a fresh gingerroot in the freezer so that you always have it on hand for grating into dishes.
How to Make Chicken Lo Mein at Home
This chicken and broccoli lo mein comes together from start to finish in about 30 minutes. Have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go, because the process moves quickly!
- Shake together the lo mein sauce.
- Boil the noodles, adding the broccoli during the final 3 minutes. Drain.
- Stir-fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes, or until no longer pink.
- Cook the bell pepper, onion, garlic and ginger in the skillet for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the carrots and cook for 1 more minute.
- Stir in the cooked noodles and broccoli, the cooked chicken, and the sauce. Toss to coat.
- Cook for 1 more minute, just until everything is warmed through.
- Serve immediately and garnish with the tops of the green onions, toasted sesame seeds, chopped peanuts or lime wedges.
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What to Serve with Chicken Lo Mein
To round out the meal, try pairing the lo mein with steamed broccoli, oven-roasted sesame broccoli, ramen noodle coleslaw, or a sesame ginger snap pea salad. Don’t forget about spring rolls or egg rolls, too (pick up some prepared egg rolls in the frozen section at your grocery store).
Storage
Leftover homemade chicken lo mein will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze lo mein for up to 3 months; however, the texture of the noodles and the vegetables will not be quite as good when thawed.
To reheat lo mein, simply transfer the noodles to a warm skillet and cook, stirring regularly, until warmed through. If the mixture seems dry, stir together some additional sauce to add to the pan.
Chicken Lo Mein Recipe Variations
- If you can’t find lo mein noodles, you can substitute with spaghetti.
- Instead of cooking the chicken in the skillet, add 1-2 cups of cooked, shredded rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken from a previous meal.
- Chicken and Shrimp Lo Mein: use ½ lb. of boneless, skinless chicken breast and ½ lb. of large, peeled and deveined shrimp that are cut into ½-inch pieces. The shrimp will only need about 1 minute in the skillet, so add it to the pan after you’ve added the chicken. You can also use 1 lb. of shrimp and omit the chicken altogether.
- Use any vegetables that your family enjoys. Try water chestnuts, bean sprouts, zucchini, mushrooms, snow peas, sugar snap peas, corn, green peas, or edamame.
- Beef Lo Mein: thinly slice flank steak against the grain and cook for a total of about 1 minute.
- Vegetable Lo Mein: omit the chicken and add an extra 1-2 cups of vegetables.
- Use a cornstarch slurry with water or chicken broth to thicken the sauce if you like, or stir in some hoisin sauce to thicken and add sweetness.
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Tips for the Best Chicken Lo Mein Recipe
- Prep all of the ingredients in advance, because the cooking process moves very quickly and you want to be able to focus on the skillet.
- Make separate piles of the white/light green parts of the green onions and the darker top parts of the green onions. The white parts have an oniony punch and a more substantial texture, so they withstand longer cooking times better. Wait to add the dark green tops as a garnish at the end.
- Be careful not to overcook the chicken or it can quickly become tough or dry.
- Garnish each bowl with chopped peanuts, crunchy chow mein noodles, or toasted sesame seeds for even more flavor and texture.
More “Better than Takeout” Chinese Recipes to Try at Home
- Shrimp Fried Rice
- Moo Shu Pork
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir-Fry
- One-Skillet “Egg Roll in a Bowl”
- Dump-and-Bake Kung Pao Chicken
- Dump-and-Bake General Tso Chicken
- Healthy Chicken Chow Mein
- Sweet and Sour Chicken
Source: https://www.theseasonedmom.com/chicken-lo-mein/
