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!
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)
Brilliant recipe as always.
I added another carrot, used a whole onion and used white wine as a substitute. I used 600g of udon noodles. Served 3 for the night and probably have 2.5 servings for leftovers. Delicious – I will definitely be making this again
I’m so glad you loved it Sophie – it’s one of those dishes you can customise to suit 🙂
Omg!!! Amazing. Couldn’t find egg noodles so made this with hokkien which was great but can see how the thinner noodles would have been better, still so amazing I couldn’t stop eating. We had 500gm chicken and added more veggies (cauliflower and broccoli) so made double the sauce bit didn’t use it all …just wanted to make sure it was still saucy with the added ingredients. So good, thank you for again for an amazing recipe!
Hi I used fresh lo Mein noodles in the fridge of an Asian store. The package said to dip in hot water for 40 seconds. I put two packs in a large pot for maybe a minute and drained. The texture was very sticky and gummy. Waste of all my veggies. Any suggestions plz???
Hi Nina, sorry you had issues with the noodles – they vary depending on the brand. Which brand were you using? N x
Sorry I threw out the package I don’t remember the name. I had one pack left and I was determined to get it right. I broke up the noodles Today I put little sesame oil in the water timed it exactly 30 seconds then rinsed in cold water sprinkled a little more sesame oil and broke it up. Left it alone till the afternoon and added to veggies and sauce came out good with those changes
My boyfriend said this was the best stirfry he’d ever had! Used brown rice noodles because that’s all I had, but soooo good
That’s awesome Sam!
Wonderful recipe. I do double the Moreno and add some ginger. Just like the restaurants!
I have yet to find a recipe of yours that is not delicious, but this one was AMAZING! It was the first time we’ve cooked Asian at home and it tasted like we had ordered in. You are right, the cooking wine was key, so was mixing the cornstarch into the sauce, so smart! We made with tofu and it was so, so good!
That’s great to hear Cammie – you wont need take out again!
This was delicious – the way that sauce glazes those noodles so perfectly! I’m not the most confident guy in the kitchen, but with your brilliant instructions and guidance I think I pulled it off! Thank you, Nagi!
Made this last night so so good Nagi another brilliant recipetineats recipe
Thanks so much Kym!
Nagi, this dish is so good! I am making it again this week. Not a noodle was left on a plate. Thank you. x
I LOVE hearing this!!
Hi! Can’t wait to try this out, I was curious though, would I be able switch the dark soy for Coconut Aminos instead or the soy sauce?
Hi Krisi, it’s slightly different – having not tried it I can’t let you know exactly how it will be. Would love to know if it works though! – N x
Hi Nagi, I cooked this tonight. The taste was delicious but the noodles were gluggy and all stuck together. I used fresh egg noodles from woolies, soaked in boiling water for 1 minute,tossed with a fork and drained as per packet instructions. The same thing happened with the chow Mein last week. Can you give me any tips? I am cooking lots of things from your website. I love it! Thanks Rebecca
Hi Rebecca, ensure the noodles are drained really well and try putting a little oil on the noodles after, that will stop them from sticking together. – N x
Made this tonight for the family. It was really delicious. I’d already had all the ingredients at home so I didn’t have to go anywhere. I added a little of lime and pepper flakes in mine as the family like it with a little spice and sour to it.
Sounds fab Brenda, I’m so glad you loved it!
AMAZING!
Thanks so much Dalila!
Do you use Chinese cooking wine or mirin for this. If so, what brand do you usually use?
Hi El, I use Phoenix Shaoxing 🙂
Hi Nagi. Is it Double Phoenix Chinese Cooking Wine sold at Woolworths? If so, red label or Blue label. If neither PLS send me a picture of yours PLS?! Tks.
Yummy noodles !
I used hokkien as that’s all I could find , chicken tenderloins and some pkt stir fry veggies as well as the capsicum . Delicious.
I’m so glad you still enjoyed it Sue!
Hi, Nagi yet another winning recipe, this was delish and appreciated by my family. I used boneless chicken thighs, with my next try I will increase my veggies., spinach was added to the mix.
I have tried the ramen noodle recipes and love it just as much. Keep up the great work as you continue to make my cooking versatile and extremely delish.
Much appreciated
Nagi can I sub arrowroot for cornstarch. I don’t have corn flour and the starch is very high in carbs. Thanks M Forde
Sure can Mark!
Hi Nagi. Fantastical name ;-). I’m using your char sui pork that I cooked for your singapore noodles on Friday. When would I add the precooked pork? Love your recipes so far. Super good. X
I saw it with another comment. Thanks
Hi Nagi is it ok to use gluten free wok ready noodles for this dish?
Thank you
Hi Julie, you can, although they are slightly different in texture 🙂
Hi Nagi, this receipe is great. It is been a long time I was searching for a nice blog re Asian food and I stay here. Will not be looking further. Great job. Thanks for sharing your work 🙂 All the best.
That’s the best feedback Anita! Thanks so much – N x
Hi Nagi ,a great fan of your recipes , always on the lookout for your mails .Thank you .