Chinese Lo Mein

Lo Mein is a Chinese noodle dish that is easy to prepare at home. Thick egg noodles in a savory light sauce with vegetables is a simple dish that is less salty than the take-out versions.

With Lunar New Year just around the corner, I found myself craving the taste of this simple dish and decided to make a Vegetable Lo Mein.

Growing up, I ate this dish a lot, but it’s not something I cook very often even though it’s one of the simplest dishes to make.

I really should make it more often though because I rarely like the versions served when we dine out or get Chinese takeout, finding most of them far too salty.

The main reason why I’ve avoided making Chinese lo mein stems from the “never-ending noodles” story of my mom’s cooking.

You see, for some reason, whenever my mom cooks my family any sort of noodle dish, she always overestimates how much we are capable of eating and how filling noodles can be.

The end result is her serving us far too much, and me and my siblings sitting at the table for hours because we simply can’t finish.

We joke that her noodles are magical because it seemed like no matter how much we try to eat, the dish seems to automatically replenish, leaving us with even more than what we started with.

Homemade Lo Mein

Everyone has their own version of homemade lo mein, so don’t feel obligated to follow the recipe exactly.

You can use thick or thin egg noodles. I prefer thick ones and I buy the fresh packaged ones for their chewier and bouncier texture.

You can make beef lo mein or chicken, but I chose to do a vegetable medley because I had a fridge stocked with vegetables and especially wanted to use these purple snow peas I had.

I really love the deep purple color.

Ingredients

• Chinese egg noodles
• Minced garlic
• Minced ginger
• Low-sodium soy sauce
• Oyster sauce or vegetable stir fry sauce
• Sesame oil
• Granulated white sugar
• Vegetables of your choice – I used green snow peas, purple snow peas, mushrooms, green bell peppers, and baby spinach. Carrot, onion, green onions, baby bok choy, and broccoli are other veggies you might like.

Recipe Steps

Boil noodles in a large pot according to package instructions and drain them. Combine the ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and sugar in a small bowl.

Heat a wok or large pan/skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil or spray it with cooking spray. Once the pot is heated, add garlic and cook it for about 30 seconds.

Add the vegetables and cook them until they are almost cooked through. Add the lo mein noodles and then sauce and stir-fry and toss them together for a few minutes until sauce is evenly mixed in and everything is hot.

Tips

You can also add a protein like cooked chicken breast pieces, cubed cooked pork, or thin-sliced cooked flank steak.

I see some lo mein recipes that call for Italian pasta which isn’t really the same. Lo mein noodles have a bouncy, chewy texture. Most grocery stores carry Chinese egg noodles, but if you can’t find them and need to use pasta I recommend using a thick long pasta shape. Thick spaghetti or even bucatini would be best.

This dish really hit the spot and I don’t know why I didn’t make it sooner. I limited myself to one 16 oz pack of noodles for both of us, which was just the right amount.

I really loved the flavors in this dish and fortunately (or unfortunately?) my noodles didn’t regenerate after I ate them. I’ll be making this again soon.

More Chinese Recipes

• Fried Rice
• Chop Suey
• Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
• Black Pepper Beef

Or see all of my favorite recipes in my post about essential Chinese ingredients.