Authentic Chicken Lo Mein Recipe

This Authentic Chicken Lo Mein Recipe is the best you’ll ever have. You’ll quit every Chinese take-out once you make this easy Chicken Lo Mein at home. Today’s recipe is just like P.F. Chang’s Chicken Lo Mein. Perfectly cooked noodles smeared in the Best ever Lo Mein sauce tossed with veggies & tender juicy chicken bites. Don’t miss the Video & the tips.

How to make Chicken Lo Mein like Chinese Restaurants?

Best Chicken Lo Mein Recipe (P.F.Chang’s style)

Today’s Chicken Lo Mein needs no introduction. It’s one of the Chinese take-out favorites, the most ordered, the most craved & the most loved recipe ever.

At least I know none who doesn’t salivate with the smell & sound of Lo Mein 😀

If you love Chinese take-out Lo Mein than do not miss today’s Spicy Chicken Lo Mein recipe.

Looks just like Take -out but tastes much BETTER!

It’s extremely easy, super delicious, quiet addictive & a pretty quick recipe. You can make it during busy weeknights too.

And you don’t need to go out & buy a wok for cooking today’s recipe, you can cook the Best Chicken Lo Mein on a large skillet pan as well.

The trick of cooking the restaurant style Chicken Lo Mein recipe lies on a few things.

1. The Lo Mein sauce.
2. Kind of Noodles & how it’s cooked.
3. The Cooking temperature.
4. The Chicken.

The taste depends a lot on the Lo Mein Sauce. Once, you have that right you may move on to other factors like noodles, the veggies, the chicken & the cooking temperature.

I will cover each step in details so that you know all the right techniques & approaches to nail today’s Spicy Chicken Lo Mein and make it the Best.

Cooking Chinese take-out style food is not complicated once you know the right technique & of course the right recipe 😛

With these two things it’s very much doable at home and within a short amount of time & today’s Chicken Lo Recipe is no different.

30 minutes is all you need to make it. Let’s learn about the Easy Chicken Lo Mein Recipe together 🙂

What’s Chicken Lo Mein?

Chicken Lo Mein is made of cooked egg noodles tossed or smeared in a delicious lo mein sauce & mixed with stir fried veggies & proteins of your choice like chicken, shrimp, pork or beef.

It’s a delicious Chinese take-out classic that’s ordered the most.

What is Chicken Lo Mein made of?

An Authentic Chicken Lo Mein Recipe is made of 5 components:

1. Boiled Chinese egg noodles.
2. Homemade Lo Mein Sauce.
3. Stir fried Veggies.
4. Protein of your Choice (chicken, shrimp, beef, pork)

Chicken Lo Mein Ingredients

1. Chinese Egg Noodles: I got them from Asian store. You may also use any stir fry noodles, Lo Mein Noodles (from the regular American Supermarket) or even Udon Noodles.
2. Chicken Breast: Cut into thin strips about 1.5″ long.
3. Veggies: Red Bell pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Carrot, Scallion, Bean Sprouts.
4. Garlic
5. For Lo Mein Sauce: Dark Soy Sauce, Light soy sauce, Chili Garlic sauce, Sesame oil (not in the above pic).
6. For marinating the chicken: Dark & light soy sauces, cornstarch & brown sugar (marinated chicken breast pieces in a zip lock is shown in the above picture).
7. Cooking oil: I used Canola oil. You may use Sesame oil for an intense nutty smoky flavor.

What is Lo Mein Sauce made of?

Lo Mein sauce is made of a few handy ingredients and you can find each one of them in your nearest Asian store.

Let’s check out each ingredient that goes in this sauce to make it the Best one ever.

1. Dark Soy Sauce: It’s the flavor bomb for today’s Chicken Lo Mein recipe. It’s way more darker, thicker & concentrated than any light Soy sauce variety. It’s the best & the only secret of the Chinese restaurant Lo Mein recipes. It adds tons of flavor, depth of color & body to the egg noodles & get things yummier. Do not skip adding it. I got mine from an Asian store.
2. Light Soy Sauce: You can use any brand of your preference & you can easily spot a light soy sauce in the American stores as well. It’s much more lighter in color, it’s less concentrated as compared to a dark Soy sauce. You can use Kikkoman.
3. Oyster Sauce: It adds tons of Umami to the dish. It’s thick, looks brownish and has real oysters in it.
4. Sesame Oil: This nutty toasty oil can change things pretty fast. Packed with great flavor that gives the best depth of flavor to any Chinese dish. You don’t need much for today’s recipe.
5. Chili Garlic Sauce: This is the secret sauce to make things spicy. If you prefer spicy Chicken Lo Mein add it or else skip it totally. We love spicy Chicken Lo Mein and I add it always to my Lo Mein Sauce. This gives tons of body, thickness, a garlicky kick, chili kick to the Lo Mein sauce. The sauce becomes slightly thicker and sticks better to the noodles.

What noodles are used for Lo Mein?

Chinese Egg Noodles are used for Lo Mein. They are wheat flour noodles that have egg added.

Egg Noodles are our first choice too whenever we crave for Lo Mein dishes & we source our packets from the Asian Stores.

Egg noodles are chewy, looks yellow.

However, whenever I run out of egg noodles I get a packet of Lo Mein noodles from the regular supermarket (available in most American stores).

They look flat & white. These Lo Mein noodles also make a great bowl of Chicken Lo Mein. Boil the noodles according to the package instruction always.

The boiling time depends on the thickness of the noodles.

Summary: If you cannot manage Lo Mein noodles or egg noodles than you may cook today’s recipe with any Noodles meant for stir fry. It should be mentioned on the package. Do Not Use Ramen noodles (for todays recipe).

Prepping the Chicken for Chinese Chicken Lo Mein Recipe

For homemade Chicken Lo Mein recipe I always use chicken breast pieces cut into thin strips about 1″ long.

You can also use chicken thighs.

Chicken breasts when cooked becomes slightly chewy & rubbery. They dry out fast as they are so lean.

In order to keep them extra soft & juicy I used a simple technique of marinating them in a soy sauce based marinade.

Soy sauce ( both dark & light varieties), cornstarch, brown sugar are mixed together to make the simple marinade.

Then the chicken pieces are given a good rub with the marinade until well coated.

They are than allowed to rest for at least 30 min and maximum over night.

I generally pop them in a zip lock bag, seal and than keep them in the fridge overnight.

Result? Absolutely tender & juicy chicken pieces just like the ones you get in the Chinese restaurant.

7 Tips to make the Best Authentic Chicken Lo Mein Recipe

1. Cook the noodles just right: This is so important, you need to cook the noodles just right according to the package instruction. The cooking time of noodles varies according to their thickness. Over cooked noodles will completely ruin the whole dish. Mushy noodles is not what we want for todays recipe, the noodles has to retain enough elasticity. Cook them Al dente.
2. Chop the veggies same thickness & length: This makes the dish aesthetically pretty and also helps the same veggies get cooked uniformly together.
3. Do not dump all the veggies to the wok at the same time: Hard veggies requiring longer cooking time like carrots goes to the wok first and soft veggies with minimal cooking time like bean sprouts & scallions goes last. This method keeps the veggies crunchy and cooked just right. The veggies won’t turn mushy & super soggy. So dump the veggies according to the order Hard to soft.
4. Get things going fast once you start cooking: Get everything ready and arrange the ingredients just beside the stove before you begin cooking. Chinese dishes are meant to be cooked fast, at high heat. There’s no pausing or waiting in-between ingredients. Begin stir frying and get going fast. This will ensure that each ingredient gets fried and not steamed.
5. Always stir fry at high heat: You don’t need a wok for cooking an authentic Chicken Lo Mein recipe. A large deep bottomed skillet would just do the job. Always stir fry at high heat. This will ensure that the veggies are not steamed but fried.
6. Never cook a huge batch of Chicken Lo Mein in a single skillet or wok: Do not fill up the skillet or wok more than 1/3 rd capacity. In a large wok of 12″ cook Lo Mein for only 2 persons at a time. Cooking a large batch of lo mein in a wok or over crowding the wok will result in steaming the ingredients rather than stir frying. You won’t get an authentic stir fried taste ever! Cook in small batches for authentic restaurant style chicken Lo Mein taste.
7. Get the Lo Mein sauce right: A great sauce recipe will definitely make a delicious chicken lo mein provided you cook the noodles & the veggies right. The sauce is quiet important for todays recipe and it imparts huge flavors to the dish. Follow the exact measures of the sauce ingredients mentioned in todays recipe.

Noodles that work great for Easy Chicken Lo Mein Recipe

1. Chinese Egg Noodles.
2. Lo Mein Noodles.
3. Any Noodles meant for stir fry.
4. Udon Noodles make a great substitute for egg noodles.

Summary: You can make a cheat recipe with ramen noodles but the recipe will be different. Do not try making it with today’s recipe. If you are gluten intolerant you may even use rice noodles but the cooking time will vary a lot and also the instructions. Not meant for today’s recipe.

Best Vegetables that work well for Spicy Chicken Lo Mein

Here’s the list of veggies that work well for today’s recipe. You can add them all or add what you prefer.

1. Carrots
2. Bell Peppers.
3. Mushrooms.
4. Broccoli.
5. Baby Bok Choy.
6. Snow peas.
7. Bean Sprouts.
8. Scallions both white and green part.

Here’s what I used to cook today’s authentic chicken Lo Mein recipe.

Pro Tip: Slice them thin. Also same length and same thickness preferred for even cooking.

Left over easy Chicken Lo Mein storing tips

You can store this easy chicken Lo Mein recipe in an air tight container for 4 days in the fridge.

You can also freeze it in proper freezer safe bags or containers for 2 months.

Reheating tips

From the fridge: Reheat in the microwave oven until warm. The veggies might wilt.

From the Freezer: Thaw over night in the fridge. Than grease a wok and toss until warm. You may also reheat in the microwave oven.

Note: The veggies will wilt when reheated. They won’t retain the original crunch.

What is the difference between Chicken Lo Mein and Chicken Chow Mein?

I tried to bring together the differences between Lo Mein & Chow Mein under one roof in the form of a small table. Hope it’s helpful to you 🙂

This is the difference that I noticed whenever I order these dishes in the restaurants of USA.

Lo Mein Versus Chow Mein

Comparison Factors	Chow Mein	Lo Mein
Intro	Crispy stir-fried Chinese noodles with veggies or protein of your choice.	Tossed soft noodles with stir-fried veggies and protein of your choice
Texture	Crispy	Soft
Meaning	Stir Fried	Tossed
Method	Par boiled Noodles are fried first sometimes into a noodles pancake and then topped with veggies or protein.	Noodles are boiled and then tossed in with veggies or protein and sauces.
Literal Meaning	Chow = Fried Mein = Noodles	Lo = Tossed Mein = Noodles
Type	Egg Noodles with added egg

Spicy Chicken Lo Mein – FAQs

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How to make Chicken Lo Mein? Step by Step

Steps in words below pictures

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