Slippery Lo Mein Noodles tossed in a Lo Mein Sauce with tons of veggies and protein of your choice. Takeout gold standard comes down to the right sauce and the right noodles – then you’re just 6 minutes away from noodle heaven!
Lo Mein Noodles
The actual noodles pictured above were my dinner last night, albeit I was a little heavy handed with a big dollop of chilli sauce that had me gasping and sweating (and swearing) through every bite.
Don’t fear, it was self inflicted torture. Those red strips you see are capsicum / bell peppers, not chilli. There is no sign of chilli in this recipe – Lo Mein is not spicy!!!!
What goes in Lo Mein Noodles
Here’s what goes into the noodles (see below for sauce):
• Lo Mein noodles – for takeout style, use fresh yellow noodles (usually labelled “egg noodles”) that are about 3mm / 1/8″ thick. By “fresh”, I mean the ones you get in the fridge section of grocery stores (Aussies – Coles, Woolies etc, find it in the pasta section of fridge). These noodles have the chewy, slippery texture you love about take out.
Next best is dried egg noodles, or vac packed “fresh” egg noodles.
But really, you can also totally make Lo Mein with any noodles – thick, thin, fresh, dried, egg or rice – or ramen noodles, or even spaghetti or other long pasta. Lo Mein doesn’t judge! This is going to be delish with ANY type of noodles (or pasta – trust me, no one will know!).
• Protein – use either chicken, pork, beef, turkey, prawns/shrimp or tofu. Directions on how to cut and cook with each of these included in the recipe (PS hard tofu is so delish in this!)
• Vegetables – I used capsicum/bell peppers, carrot and green onion. Use 5 cups in total (packed) of whatever vegetables you want. Plus 1/2 an onion and garlic – these are part of the flavour base!
Lo Mein Sauce
A gold standard Lo Mein calls for a great Sauce – and here’s what you need for truly takeout grade Lo Mein! You see these ingredients in virtually every one of my stir fries and noodles – they’re the holy grail of Chinese cooking!
- Dark soy sauce is labelled as such on the bottle, and sold at most large grocery stores nowadays. It adds colour and flavour to the dish – notice how my noodles are nicely bronzed? Thank you Mr Dark Soy!
- Soy Sauce – the other one can be any generic soy sauce or light soy sauce (bottle will be labelled as such). This soy sauce adds salt and some flavour to the dish, but it doesn’t stain the noodles like dark soy.
- Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) is an essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Asian noodles. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic substitute – sub both the cooking wine AND water with low sodium chicken broth/stock, reduce light soy sauce to 1.5 tbsp.
Lo Mein making TIPS!
The making part is a breeze – and moves super fast, so make sure you have all the ingredients ready to toss into the wok!
Here are some tips to make your Lo Mein cooking life a breeze, even if you’re a first timer:
- Be prepared! As with all stir fries and noodles, have everything chopped and ready to toss straight in because once you start cooking, it moves FAST! You’ll be done 5 – 6 minutes.
- Double duty sauce – whatever protein you use, season it with some of the Sauce before cooking. Makes it extra tasty!
- TWO wooden spoons will make your tossing life a whole lot easier
- Wok or skillet – you don’t have to cook stir fries in a wok, but it does make it easier to toss enthusiastically, as is called for with stir fries. If you don’t have a wok, just use a very large skillet, preferably one heavy based that holds heat well.
- Keep things MOVING! Once you start cooking, keep stirring for the whole time otherwise things will start stewing i.e. leeching liquid. This will make your vegetables soggy and your noodles watery.
- CRISP tender vegetables – all stir fries and noodles are supposed to have “crisp tender” vegetables, meaning the vegetables are just cooked but are still a tiny bit raw inside. This not only retains their flavour, colour and nutrients better, but also is integral to the dish because overcooked vegetables leech water which waters down the flavour of the sauce.
These Lo Mein Noodles have enough vegetables in them to make it a complete meal, but if you’re really busting for some extra greens, you can either cram in another 2 cups or so of vegetables (ideally something like shredded cabbage, spinach or bean sprouts that are “noodle shaped” once cooked so they kind of disappear into the noodles), or add a Side Salad like one of these:
Side salad suggestions
And with that, I get to sign off. It’s your turn. Go forth and be a Noodle Master! And remember, toss with abundance! That is the very essence of stir fried noodles. Toss, toss, toss!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Lo Mein Noodles
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced (Note 1)
- 1/2 onion , finely sliced
- 300g / 10oz chicken or other protein , sliced 0.5cm / 1/5" thick (Note 2)
- 2 medium carrots , peeled and cut into 4 x 0.75cm / 1.75 x 1/3" batons
- 1 large red capsicum / bell pepper , sliced (or 2 small)
- 6 green onions , cut into 5 cm/2” lengths
- 500g / 1lb Lo Mein, Hokkien or other medium thickness egg noodles, fresh, , prepared per packet (Note 3 for dried)
- 1/4 cup (65ml) water
Sauce:
- 4 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 4)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or light soy sauce (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or Mirin (Note 5 subs)
- 1 tsp white sugar (omit if using Mirin)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil , toasted, optional (Note 6)
- 1/4 tsp white pepper (sub black)
Garnish (optional):
- Green onion , finely sliced
Instructions
- Sauce: Mix cornflour and dark soy until lump free, then add remaining Sauce ingredients.
- Season Chicken: Transfer 2 tsp Sauce into bowl with chicken. Toss to coat.
- Heat oil in a wok or large heavy based skillet over high heat until smoking.
- Add onion and garlic, stir 30 seconds.
- Add chicken, stir until white on the outside, still raw inside - 1 minute.
- Add carrot and capsicum/bell peppers, cook 2 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
- Add noodles, Sauce and water. Use 2 wooden spoons and toss for 30 seconds.
- Add green onions, toss for another 1 minute until all the noodles are slick with sauce.
- Serve immediately, garnished with extra green onions if using.
Recipe Notes:
- Beef, pork, turkey - slice and cook per recipe
- Ground / mince meat - cook garlic and onion per recipe, then cook ground / mince. Once cooked, add 1 tbsp sauce, stir, then proceed with next steps in recipe.
- Hard tofu - cut into 1 x 4cm / 1/3 x 1.5" batons, cook per recipe.
- Prawns/shrimp - use small peeled, cook per recipe.
- More veggies - use another 2 1/2 cups chopped veggies.
- Dark soy sauce is labelled as such, provides colour and gives more flavour to the sauce than other soy sauces. Sold at Aussie grocery stores nowadays. Fallback: sub with more ordinary or light soy (below)
- Soy Sauce - ordinary all purpose soy sauce, they just say "soy sauce" on the label (eg. Kikkoman). Can also use Light soy sauce - bottle is labelled as such.
Nutrition Information:
Noodle Lovers – wait!
Your life will not be complete without these noodles too!
Life of Dozer
You wouldn’t believe how often people ask me if I crimp his ears…. NO I DO NOT!!! 😂
(Though I cannot blame anyone for asking, being the crazy Dog Lady that I am)
Help Nagi! I’ve tried this twice – I used fresh hokkien noodles and had to double the recipe but they ended up having a funny coating on the noodles. Maybe from the corn flour? Can you tell me what I’m doing wrong? Thanks
Hi Jackz, sorry you had issues – not sure what you mean by a funny coating? Were they powdery? Could this be the brand of noodles you were using? N x
Yes, it was kind of a powdery texture. I was using Fantastic hokkien noodles. Maybe I didn’t add enough water?? Everyone else has given great reviews so I must be doing something wrong!
Made this for tea tonight, was a massive hit with hubby and 2 kids 6 and 13. Will definitely make again soon, added broccoli as had some in fridge otherwise followed the recipe. Absolutely delicious.
I am going to make this soon. I found fresh noodles in my Asian grocery. Do I have to boil water and cook it for 3 mins and run it in cold water before I use it?
Love your recipes. I have been us8ng your fried rice recipe for my family.
Thanks
Hi Shirley, what are the instructions on the back of the packet? N x
Hi Nagi-I made this using one pound of dried Chinese noodles. Package said to boil 3minutes, drain and rinse in cold water. It was so much noodles! I only used 1/2 noodles, but not enough sauce. Should I only use 8 oz of noodles or double sauce? I used all sauce ingredients and it was delicious sauce. But not enough sauce? The recipe made about 1/2 cup of sauce. I used chicken breast and 5 cups of veggies. What did I do wrong? I love your recipes. Thank you.
Hi Kathleen – that would have been your problem – you used dried rather than fresh noodles (I note fresh in the ingredients). You need significantly less if using dried as they swell! N x
Thank you! I went back and read the notes about noodles. I am going to make more sauce and use on my leftover lo mein. Have a great day!
Awhhhh. He is sooooo beautiful….and the crimping part made me laugh out loud. Of course even his ears would be special😊
Yum! Thank you Nagi for another easy tasty recipe! My whole family loved it including my 1 and 4 year old. You’re the best
I absolutely love these noodle dishes but I’ve had to go completely gluten free. Would these dishes work with gluten free noodles?
I’ve made Lo Mein on numerous occasions and I can tell you it’s not Lo Mein without chopped celery that is slightly cooked leaving some crunch. That and the sesame oil make it Lo Mein at least what we are accustomed to in the US
Can I add chilli to this recipe? I’m South Asian and LOVE chilli in my dishes, do I add chilli powder or chilli flakes to the sauce? Apologies, I know you said lo mein isn’t meant to be spicy but I love some spice! ☺
Hi Tuba, I hear you! I love spice – I would add some chilli flakes into the sauce or even some sriracha will work perfectly here. N x
Can I make the sauce several days in advance? We’re going on vacation. I’d like to make the sauce before we leave so I don’t have to take all of the sauce ingredients with me. Thanks
Hi Rhoda, yes definitely! You can store this sauce in the fridge for a couple of weeks if need be 🙂 N x
Can you just make the noodles and sauce
Sure can Billy, you may need to withhold a little of the sauce though (or add slightly more noodles) N x
Do you think doubling the recipe would be ok or would that be filling the wok too much? Thank you!
Tried and really liked this dish, even found dried lo mein noodles at a local grocery store in an area not known for ethnic food (US). Question about soy sauce – light and dark. Not distinction that I can find here in my area. Would tamari be considered dark and a brand like kikoman be considered light?