Restaurant Style Chicken Chow Mein Noodles comes together quickly and tastes so delicious! Your favorite stir fry noodles in under 30 minutes. Simple savory sauce, tender noodles and lots of flavor, all in one pot. This will become your go to recipe! So tasty and easy for busy weeknights!
This quick and easy noodle recipe is a simplified version of a popular Chicken Chow Mein. Yet, this delicious recipe is loaded with delicious chicken, sautéed veggies and noodles. All in a tasty restaurant style stir fry sauce! I use sherry wine instead of Chinese cooking wine. This recipe is fool proof, not labor intensive at all, and you can make it with regular Spaghetti in a regular skillet. Without a wok! Better than take out!
How to Make Chicken Chow Mein Noodles
- Preparation is everything when you are making this bowl of noodles. Make sure everything is ready before starting. Cut up your chicken in cubes. Slice cabbage thinly. Finally, slice scallions lengthwise. And chop that garlic too. Chopped veggies are the best!
- Once you chopped everything, it's chicken time! You will fry chicken either in a large stainless steel skillet or in a wok, if you have one. What gives chicken this nice shiny brown color is a oyster sauce.
- You will cook cabbage and scallions together. So many veggies, infused with flavors from garlic, dark brown sugar, and sherry wine. Or, you can use Chinese cooking wine.
- Next, you will cook the noodles according to the package instructions. By the way, you can use regular spaghetti here. If you are unable to find Asian noodles or find it easier to work with spaghetti.
- Lastly, add your noodles to the chicken, cabbage and scallions.
- And make the most delicious stir fry sauce.
What Type of Noodles to Use
Wheat noodles with egg is the typical general type of noodles for Chow Mein. And you can use both fresh and dried egg noodles.
But let's be practical and more specific! If you are shopping in the supermarket, you may feel confused. Because of all different the packaging out there! Here's the list of most common names these noodles can go by. "Lo Mein", "Chow Mein", "Ramen", and "Yakisoba". Some might also be called "Steamed Egg Noodles" or "Cantonese Style Steamed Egg Noodles". If you can't find any of these, look for "Chinese Egg Noodles" or "Canton Noodles". Or, use "Hong Kong Style Noodles" or "Pan Fry Noodles".
They're all slightly different, but will still work for this recipe. I found this article from Serious Eats to be very helpful about how to choose, cook, and handle Asian noodles.
Will Spaghetti Work for Chicken Chow Mein?
Yes, I found that plain spaghetti will work too. First, you will boil the spaghetti as you normally would. Then, you will drain and lightly dry them. After that fry them. It is as simple as that! Just be careful to not overcook your spaghetti and they will make a tasty noodle dish! Try it out and see if you like it.
How to Make Chicken Chow Mein Sauce
The savory sauce is a combination of soy sauce, oyster sauce and sherry wine. Using sesame oil can help enhance the flavor of the dish with it's fragrant scent, but is not necessary if you don't have it in your cupboard. I didn't use it in this recipe, but if you decide to use it, add 2 teaspoons of sesame oil to the sauce.
What Kind of Skillet to Use?
Yes, you can. I didn't use a wok and it worked out very well. Just make sure that you are using a large skillet, such as this 12 inch Stainless Steel Skillet.
With that being said, there is a reason why wok is the preferred type of cookware for Chicken Chow Mein Noodles. The curvature of a wok allows you to easier toss foods. Another benefit of the wok is that the heat is concentrated at the bottom. This allows very high heat cooking for short duration as you toss the foods around. Another important factor is that the cooking oil concentrates at the bottom. This means you can use very small amount of oil to stir fry a relatively larger amount of food.
Sauce substitutions
Can't find oyster sauce? You can easily use fish sauce or Coconut Aminos instead.
Wine substitutions
Not a fan of sherry wine? Use rice wine instead.
Not a fan of alcohol? If you want to skip alcohol entire, simply add more liquid to the dish by using plain chicken broth.
Want to make Chicken Chow Mein gluten free?
Sauce. If gluten free, you can use tamari in soy sauce and as a bonus you get reduced sodium content with this substitution.
Noodles. You can also find gluten free brown rice noodles or use chickpea spaghetti instead of wheat noodles.
More variations to the recipe
Veggies. If you really want to load chicken chow mein with chopped veggies, use them all! I like celery, bok choy, bamboo shoots, carrots, and baby corn.
Protein. Finally, swap out the chicken for shrimp, beef, pork or fried tofu.
Flexible, customizable recipe that will provide you with all the nutrition you need! So skip the take out and see how easy it is to make your own chicken chow mein!
Restaurant Style Chicken Chow Mein Noodles
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Ingredients
Chicken
- ½ lb. chicken breasts cut in chunks
- 1 tablespoon avocado or canola oil
- 2 teaspoon oyster sauce
- Salt and pepper
Noodles:
- 10 oz noodles or spaghetti
Veggies:
- 2 cups cabbage thinly cut
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 3 scallions sliced lengthwise
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup sherry wine
Instructions
Preparation:
- Make sure your chicken is cut up in cubes, cabbage is thinly sliced, scallions are sliced lengthwise and garlic is chopped.
Noodles:
- Prepare noodles according to directions on package. Drain and set aside.
Frying Chicken:
- Preheat a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. Add oil and oyster sauce. Once the oil is hot, add chicken, seasoning it with salt and pepper right in the pan.
- Cook on medium high heat for 3 minutes without flipping. Reduce heat to medium, flip and cook for 3 additional minutes (for a total of 6). By the way, using oyster sauce while frying chicken is what gives chicken that nice brownish color. Remove chicken from skillet to preserve that nice color (you can also leave it if color is not an issue).
- Add thinly cut cabbage to the skillet and cook until wilted, add garlic only after cabbage is wilted. Next add soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark brown sugar and sherry wine - bring to low simmering point. Add scallions at the very end (they should be barely cooked for this recipe).
Adding Noodles and Chicken:
- Add chicken (if removed before) to the skillet. Mix with the cabbage and scallions and reheat for 1-2 minutes. Add noodles (or spaghetti) to the skillet with chicken, cabbage and scallions. Mix well. Serve in bowls.
More Asian Style Recipes
Easy Chicken and Vegetables Stir Fry
Low Sodium Asian Style Lettuce Chicken Wraps
Jake says
First time I attempted something like this and it was easy to follow and delicious to taste! Thank you for the great recipe!
Kathy Smith says
Hey,
Looks Yummy! Thanks for sharing this info. I get more ideas from it. I should try this at my home.