Easy Beef Lo Mein Recipe with lo mein noodles, juicy tender beef steak, crisp vegetables and seasoned with homemade stir fry sauce. Quick and easy dinner ready in 20 minutes and incredibly delicious!
We can find this dish in most Chinese restaurants and one of the most popular noodles that we always loves to order again and again. In this recipe I'll share my homemade version of beef lo mein recipe with everyday simple ingredients but it tastes just like you've had at your favourite Chinese restaurant! Maybe better!
What is Lo Mein Noodles?
Lo Mein Noodles are basically made of flour and egg and thick round texture. In Cantonese, it means tossed noodles and you can add in your stir fry, soup or braised noodle dishes. The main difference with chow mein noodles is texture and preparation, chow mein noodles are thinner in texture and fried until slightly crisp. While lo mein is a wet stir fry dish tossed in loads of sauce, meat and vegetables.
You don't need any wok skills, special ingredients or equipment to create this dish. You can use wok, skillet or any large non-stick pan, just make sure your pan is hot and large enough to toss the noodles evenly. With our simple tips, you can create restaurant-quality beef lo mein, which taste way better than any takeout! Super fast and super budget-friendly too!
Ingredients you will need
Noodles :
Lo mein noodles are thick and chewy yellow noodles, made with egg, wheat flour and water. To taste like an authentic Chinese Lo Mein recipe, I recommend to use fresh lo mein noodles which can be find at Chinese/Oriental supermarkets fridge section. However, for those who can't get fresh lo mein, we can make it happen with the nearest substitute, like spaghetti, linguine, ramen, chow mein or any of your favourite egg noodles would works with this recipe. You just need to prepare the noodles by the packet instructions.
My tips to prepare noodles: if you use fresh noodles, blanch the noodles with hot water for 1-2 minutes and separate the noodles strands. Drizzle a bit of sesame or vegetable oil on the noodles, mix well and set aside. If you use dried noodles, boiling the noodles by the packet instructions, rinse with cold water, drizzle a bit of vegetable or sesame oil. Make sure you don’t over boil them since they still need to be tossed with sauce later.
Protein :
I usually use sirloin or ribeye beef steak for this recipe. However, it's up to you to use any of your favourite tender beef, chicken or seafood for this recipe.
My simple tip is to cut the beef into thin slices, against the grain to achieve the juicy tender result.
Vegetables :
Use any stir fry vegetables that you have in your fridge. I usually love to add, cabbage, carrot, mushroom, sweet large onion, snow peas and bell peppers in my lo mein. Bok choy, napa cabbage, broccoli, baby corn goes well too!
Lo Mein Sauce :
Like most Chinese stir fry sauce, lo mein sauce is simply mixed with light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, sugar, and white pepper. It might look like you have to add loads of sauce ingredients but, this homemade sauce mix tastes better than any store-bought stir fry sauce you have ever tried! It tastes sweet and savoury same time and gives the dish a mouth-watering result.
How to serve this dish
We normally have it crispy chilli oil and chopped spring onions on the sides. Pair it with Chicken Spring Roll or Crispy Fried Wonton as a starter and Hot and Sour Soup or Chicken Corn Soup and make it a delicious wholesome dinner. For drink, Chinese tea, jasmine tea or a can of cold drink would be perfect!
More of our family's favourite Chinese takeout recipes:
If you enjoy our recipe, please leave a comment and give us a rating! If you've tried this recipe, tag me on social medias, I would love to see your creations! Follow me on social medias Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for latest updates.
📖 Recipe
Beef Lo Mein
Ingredients
- 400 gram (14 oz) Fresh Lo Mein noodles ( or cooked egg noodles ) see in note
- 250 gram (9 oz) Beef sirloin tenderloin/rump or any tender meat cut
- 3-4 Mushrooms (sliced)
- 2-3 Spring Onions ( cut 2" pieces )
- 1 Bell pepper ( julienned )
- 2-3 Cabbage leaves ( thin slices )
- 5-6 Snow Peas
- 1 Small carrot ( julienned )
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
Sauce Mix
- 2 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 2 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (Or Water or Rice Vinegar) See in note
- ¼ tsp White pepper
Beef Marinade
- 1 tbsp Sauce Mix
- 1 tsp Corn starch
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
Instructions
- Blanch the noodles with hot water for 1-2 minutes, drizzle a bit of sesame oil mix well and set aside.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
- Prepare all the vegetables by wash and cut into slices. Cut the beef steak into thin slices against the grain.
- Marinate the beef slices with a tablespoon of sauce mixture for 10-15 minutes and set aside.
- Heat the wok or pan over medium-high heat, drizzle 2 tablespoon of oil, add the beef slices. Flatten the beef and sear for 1-2 minutes and continue stir fry for another 1-2 minutes.
- Then follow with the vegetables, start adding from the hard one. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Make a space in the middle of wok, add the noodles and pour the sauce mixture in.
- Toss all the ingredients and noodles well to combine evenly for 2-3 minutes until cook through.
- Remove from heat and transfer to serving plate. You can topped with extra chopped spring onions and chilli oil according to your taste. Serve immediately! Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Lo Mein Noodles - you can buy fresh lo mein noodles in most Chinese/Oriental groceries fridge section. It's also known as Hokkien noodles in some of the packagings. You can use any fresh, frozen, or dry egg noodles for this recipe. Prepare by the packet instructions before adding in a stir fry.
- Shaoxing Wine - is a Chinese cooking rice wine that brings more aroma to the noodles. As Shaoxing If you want to avoid cooking wine and make a non-alcohol version, you can substitute it with water or rice vinegar.
STEPHANIE says
Omg this is delicious, the perfect lo mein recipe. I have a couple authentic ones, but this one knocks it out the park!! Yum!!
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed our recipe, Stephanie. Thank you so much for trying out and sharing feedback.
Jane says
Tried this over my recipe, and this blew me away! Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for sharing. This is now a family favourite, even my fussy 7 year old likes it! 😄
Khin says
So glad that you and your little one enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for trying out and sharing lovely feedback.
John says
This is a great recipe. My only comment would be that it is missing that slightly smoky flavor from the restaurant. I’m wondering if it might be because roasted sesame oil should be used instead of regular sesame oil? Thoughts?
Khin says
Hi John, the smoky flavour that you mentioned might be a wok flavour. If you love the wok flavour like the restaurants, stir fry the noodles with seasoned Chinese wok carbon steel wok or a large skillet. And highly recommend adding toasted sesame oil too. Hope this helps.
Mary Frances says
I added fresh ginger and garlic. Eliminated the sugar and addeD hot peppers. Yum!
Khin says
I am so glad you enjoyed it Mary. Thank you so much for trying my recipe.
pam says
loved this.
JayChe says
Excellent!Will try n post!
Khin says
Thank you JayChe! Hope you enjoy trying it out!
Saura82 says
This was good. The only issue I had, and it might be because I used spaghetti and not the correct noodle was that it didn't have enough sauce. I doubled the sauce batch and then added more by eye. This is my personal issue, it didn't have the color the picture has. Don't know if you took the pic yourself but it's stupid that I always feel the need to make it look exactly like the pic provided. I served this dish immediately. Although it was good it didn't taste like the restaurants. But I have to say I ate more like 2 hours later and I guess as it sat it tasted even better. I will make this again with the correct noodles. Also a box of spaghetti is 16oz unlike the recipe which called for 14oz. So I believe that is the culprit.
Thank you. Will try again and it did turn out good
Khin says
Hi Saura, Suggest using egg noodles, fresh egg noodles taste best! And stir fry the noodles with traditional Chinese wok ( for example, seasoned carbon steel wok ) if you like Chinese restaurants like wok flavour. Thank you so much for taking the time and sharing feedback.
Saura82 says
Since then I have made this 3 times since my last comment, today being my third. And I did make it with stir fry rice noodles and It was perfect tasted like the NY restaurants I’ve missed so much (living in NC now) Everything I added an extra veggie. Today I have added bok choy and water chestnuts with think steak slices. This is for sure my go to. I usually have to double the sauce just because I add extras.
Thank you
Khin says
Thank you so much for trying my recipe Saura. I am really happy that you enjoyed it.
Dee says
Delicious & super easy to make.
Khin says
Thank you so much for taking time and sharing feedback, Dee! So glad that you enjoyed our Beef Lo Mein recipe.
Pitto says
Very nice 🤤
Khin says
Thank you Pitto! Happy that you like.
Michelle says
Made this for the first time and it was awesome. Had to add extra sugar and some water to the sauce because it was a little salty for our taste but we will definitely have it again.
Maged says
Very useful information
Excellent job
Khin says
Thank you so much Maged! Happy that you enjoy this Lo Mein recipe.
Nenia P. Casino says
Yummy thank for sharing your recipe.
Rating
5 stars
Mhairi says
Love this recipe. I have actually used several this week. Even my partner us trying the dishes.
Khin says
Thank you so much for lovely feedback Mhairi! So glad that you enjoyed our beef lo mein recipe!
Stacey says
What to use in place of oyster sauce for sauce?
Khin says
You can substitute with sweet soy sauce or vegetarian oyster sauce if you could not find oyster sauce.
Irfan says
Very nice.
Khin says
Thank you!