Chow Mein – A Beautiful Mess

Chow Mein is a super quick and inexpensive meal that can be customized in many ways. I love to make chow mein with vegetables, making it a great vegetarian main course or a delicious side dish. But you could also stir fry some tofu, chicken, beef or pork along with this to add more protein.

‘Chow’ means stir fry while ‘Mein’ is noodles. As the name suggest this stir fried noodles with vegetables and a flavorful sauce. I like to use both light and dark soy sauce in this recipe, as it gives it that rich color and an almost caramelized favor. Absolutely anyone can make this—you don’t need chef-level skills or special equipment beyond a large skillet. Let’s stir fry!

Related: Next up learn to make the BEST stir fry sauce.

Ingredients

• Lo Mein noodles – or other egg noddles
• Onion
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• Garlic
• Sesame oil
• Light soy sauce
• Dark soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Hoision
• Granulated white sugar
• Green onions (scallions), optional

How to make Chow Mein

Prep the vegetables. Thinly slice the onion and carrot. Shred the cabbage. Mince the garlic.

Prepare the sauce. In a small bowl or cup combine the soy sauces, oyster sauce, hoisin and sugar. Whisk until the sugar fully dissolves.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Once cooked drain and toss in a teaspoon of sesame oil so they don’t stick together.

In a large skillet or wok, heat the sesame oil over medium/high heat. Cook the onions for 2 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the carrots and cabbage. Cook another 1-2 minutes until the cabbage begins to wilt. Then add in the garlic and cook for another minute or two.

Push all the vegetables to one half of the skillet and add a little more oil to the empty side. Add the cooked noodles to the empty area. Stir fry together with the vegetables. Then pour the sauce over everything. Stir fry for another minute or two. Serve hot with green onions sprinkle on top, if using.

Tips, Substitutions and Additions

• I like green cabbage, especially Napa cabbage for this recipe. But purple cabbage could work well too.
• You can add other vegetables like: bean sprouts, mushrooms, bell pepper, bok choy, broccoli or Brussels sprouts.
• Stir fry some chicken, steak, or pork before starting on the vetables and then toss it back into the pan before you add the sauce. Or make air fryer tofu or add some shredded rotisserie chicken. You do you! This recipe is super versatile. A great clean-out-the-refrigerator recipe.
• Light vs Dark soy sauce – If you aren’t familiar then probably the soy sauce you most often use is light soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is thicker, almost like a balsamic reduction in consistency. It’s super rich and flavorful and worth seeking out if you enjoy cooking asian food.
• If your skillet isn’t large enough to cook all the ingredients at once you can do this in batches. Simply divide the vegetables, noodles and sauce by 2 or 3 and stir fry in batches.

More Chinese and Asian Fusion Recipes

P.S. If you love Chinese and Asian-fusion recipes one cookbook I love is 168 Better Than Takeout Chinese Recipes by Mandy Fu.