Slippery Lo Mein Noodles tossed in a Lo Mein Sauce with tons of veggies and protein of your choice. This takeout mainstay 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!
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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!
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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.
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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:
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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.
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Double duty sauce – whatever protein you use, season it with some of the Sauce before cooking. Makes it extra tasty!
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TWO wooden spoons will make your tossing life a whole lot easier
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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.
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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.
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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)
Christine Kopas McRae says
Sooooo good, my husband loved it, said just like getting take-out!
Brenda says
Should I boil the noodles first according to package instructions? I made this recipe and boiled the noodles first. The sauce was not enough, even though I only used 454 grams fresh steamed thick chow mein noodles. I would have to make the sauce again and add to it.
Evie says
Made this for dinner tonight, absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
ahp says
Made this a few times now with different veggies. Always a hit and even warms up great for leftovers (I learned to double the recipe after the first batch was gone in a flash). Highly recommend!!
Alan Vanartsdalen says
LOVED IT! For me, everything is about the sauce. I’m a sauce guy and this recipe surpasses any other Asian recipe I’ve tried.
Leah says
My husband loved this but I did find that my sauce sort of congealed when I added it to the pan. Do you think I had my heat too high? The end result was very thick and sticky, rather than slippery. I want to try again and see if I can make it more wet like your video. I killed the heat and added some boiling water to help loosen it up and that helped some.
Dominique says
Tried it, loved it … as we do all your recipes! You are a treasure trove, keep us your marvellous work and THANK YOU !
Georgia Gesner says
First recipe on your site I’ve tried 😋 My family really loved this, can’t wait to make many of your other creations!
Sandra Shahwan says
Yes this is the second time I have made it I change it up a little bit every time. I had a little Housin sauce and pickled red peppers and whatever veggies I have on hand. Also a tbl of Siracha. Plus I used firm tofu for the protein. It taste delicious
Nares says
Made this for dinner tonight. I used tofu puffs as my partner is vegetarian. Turned out Amazing! Even our fussy Little Miss smashed an entire bowl Thankyou sooo much for the recipe 😊🥢🍜
Leslie says
My girlfriend kicked me out of the house after trying this. The texture was thick and slimy!!! The dogs wouldn’t even eat it.
ingrid marino says
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. I’ve made quite a few of your recipes and my family just loves them.!!!
Sabrina says
Yummm! Lots of veggies (cabbage, carrots, broccoli, green beans, corn) and used soba noodles because that’s what I had on hand. This, along with the general tso tofu made a lovely lunch! Thanks Nagi!
antonia says
i made this tonight for me, my mum and my dad and it was super quick and easy to make! it tasted really good too! thank you for this recipe, i will be making it again 🙂
Maria says
I made these noodles for Christmas and they were amazingly delicious. I added some chopped bok choy and shrimp to the noodles! Thank you and will definitely be making again.
amy says
This is delicious. I’ve made it 3 times now. The dark soy sauce is essential!
Nagi says
I’m so glad you love it Amy! N x
Linda says
Delicious. Yum.
Love this dish.
Easy. Tasty.Quick.
On the menu for this week dinner.
Thank you for sharing your cooking world with your tips and photos.
I have tried so many of your receipes and have we loved all of them.
Kate says
So delicious, as always! I love the way you break down the recipe and include so much detail.
I like a bit of kick in my noodles so I added about half a tablespoon of Siracha to the sauce as you suggested in one of the comments and the flavour was amazing
Lia says
Just tried this today for our dinner. Me and my kid loved this but hubby told that it was less flavourful. I think I’ll add more white pepper and salt next time. Thanks for another easy and tasty recipe, Nagi!
Jackz says
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
Nagi says
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
Jackz says
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!
Anna Billinger says
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.