Who doesn’t love simple, tasty chicken chow mein? It’s loaded with egg noodles, succulent chicken, vegetables, and delicious savoury chow mein sauce. And the best part? It’s easier than you’ve imagined, and I’m sharing the best Chinese cooking secrets to make it perfect in under 30 minutes!
If you’re craving more Authentic Chinese restaurants and takeaway-inspired noodle dishes, try our Prawn Chow Mein and Singapore Chow Mein recipes!
Jump to:
- Watch How to Make Chicken Chow Mein Recipe Video
- Why does everyone love our chow mein recipe?
- What goes in Chicken Chow Mein
- Recipe Instructions for Chicken Chow Mein
- Expert Tips for making the best Chow Mein
- Storage and Reheating
- Frequent Questions and Answers
- More Easy Chinese Noodles Recipes To Try
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Reviews
Watch How to Make Chicken Chow Mein Recipe Video
Why does everyone love our chow mein recipe?
- Our chow mein recipe video is a great hit on our social media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok!
- It’s simple, healthy, and economical!
- Faster and tastier than ordering from takeaways.
- This is a quick one-pan noodle meal that you can whip up in under 30 minutes. It's a great meal to serve for busy days’ dinners.
- Bursting with authentic Asian home cooking flavour!
- Easy to customise to your own liking!
- Great for meal prep and school or office lunch bento!
What goes in Chicken Chow Mein
Following is a quick guide with photos, please scroll down and see the measurements on the recipe card.
- Egg noodles dried or fresh
- Boneless chicken breast or thigh
- Vegetables: Onion, garlic, spring onions, bell peppers, cabbage, and carrot.
- Cooking oil
- Sauce Ingredients: Lighty soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, white pepper, sugar, water.
- Chicken Marinade Ingredients: Light soy sauce, corn starch, baking soda, sugar, white pepper, sesame oil
What type of noodles should you use?
Chow mein noodles are yellow-coloured Chinese egg noodles made of flour, egg, water, and salt. They are thinner in texture compared to lo mein noodles. As chow mein is a Chinese stir-fry noodle dish you use most egg noodles, which are great for stir-fries. It doesn’t have to be written Chow Mein Noodles on the packaging.
Medium-thick egg noodles are ideal for making chicken chow mein. You can either use dried egg noodles or fresh egg noodles for this recipe.
Dried Egg Noodles
I used dried egg noodles in this recipe. They are easy to buy at our local supermarkets in the UK, are cupboard-friendly, and are perfect for making chow mein.
Chow Mein Sauce
Like other Chinese Stir-Fry Recipes, chow mein sauce is the key to making this delicious savoury Chinese noodle dish. The basic ingredients are light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, and sugar.
Chicken
You can either use boneless chicken thigh or breast. Thinly slice or dice the chicken into small, bite-size pieces. All chicken pieces should be cut or diced into same-size pieces so they cook evenly when you stir fry them.
You can swap chicken with prawns, beef, or minced meat, as I’ve shared in my Prawn Chow Mein, Beef Chow Mein, and Beef and Broccoli Noodle recipes.
Vegetables
Shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, green onions ( spring onions ), and carrots are the most used vegetables for chow mein recipes. You can also add baby corn, mangetout ( snow peas ), pak choy, bok choy, bell peppers, and green beans, according to your liking.
Recipe Instructions for Chicken Chow Mein
1. Start with Chicken Marinade
Before heating the wok, you first need to marinate the chicken. Cut the chicken into thin slices and marinate it with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, white pepper, cornstarch, sugar, and baking soda. Set it aside and let the velveting process go for at least 15 minutes.
2 Prepare Noodles and Vegetables
The next step is to prepare the noodles. Boil the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain the water, rinse it with cold water, and set it aside.
Also, wash and prepare the vegetables.
3 Mix Chow Mein Sauce
Do not add the sauces one by one while stir-frying. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl or jar, whisk everything well, and set it aside. This will allow you to pour the sauce evenly over the noodles without a hassle.
4 Stir Fry Chicken
Now let’s heat the wok over medium-high heat and stir fry the marinated chicken for 3-4 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Then, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
5 Cook Vegetables and Noodles
In the same pan, drizzle more oil if needed. Saute the garlic and onions until fragrant, then add the carrots, bell pepper, and cabbage.
6 Pour Sauce and Combine All Ingredients
Now add the noodles and cooked chicken and pour the chow mein sauce over them. Bring the heat to high and combine all the ingredients well. Once the noodles absorb all the sauces, add spring onions and make a final quick toss.
Expert Tips for making the best Chow Mein
Velveting Chicken is the Key
As I’ve mentioned in my previous chicken stir fry recipes, meat velveting is an important step in achieving tender and juicy chicken slices. Do not skip the chicken marinating step.
Choose the Right Noodles
Many recipes mention using any type of noodles for chicken chow mein. Do not use any type of noodles! Do not use pasta or sticky noodles like rice noodles. Using pasta and spaghetti won’t give you an authentic Asian chow mein flavour or texture.
If you are using dry noodles
Follow the packet instructions, but it’s important not to overcook the noodles. Reduce the cooking time by 1-2 minutes to prevent overcooking, as once you’ve boiled them, you add them to the stir fry again. Drizzle some cooking oil and toss the noodles to prevent them from sticking to each other.
For Fresh Noodles
You can just add them straight to the wok. If the noodles are sticky, you can rinse them with hot water to loosen them up. Then, rinse with cold water and drain the water out.
Prepare Ingredients Before Cooking Start
Preparation takes more time than actual cooking time, but once you’ve prepared all your chicken, veggies, and sauces, it’s super fast to cook the noodles.
Use a Large Wok or Pan
Chow mein shouldn’t be soggy and mushy. To ensure perfect cooking, use a large wok, pan, or skillet. If you are cooking for a crowd, do not dump all the ingredients in a big batch; cook only 1-2 servings at one time.
I used a ceramic wok, and it works really well, just like a traditional carbon steel wok.
Do not Dumb All Ingredients at One time
Do not add vegetables in chunks; cut them into small strips or pieces uniformly. If you are adding hard vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower, you might want to blanch them in the hot water for 2-3 minutes first before adding them to the stir fry.
Make sure to add the hard vegetables first before adding the soft ones like cabbage and spring onions. So they all cooked evenly. If you like your vegetables crispy texture, quickly toss on high heat and add noodles straight away.
Storage and Reheating
Chicken chow mein can be simply reheated in the microwave or over the stove. Add a tablespoon of water to prevent the noodles from drying while reheating.
You can store the leftover chicken chow mein in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Make extra chow mein sauce and keep it in a clean storage jar in the fridge for later use. It lasts in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Frequent Questions and Answers
Use traditional Chinese wok if you love the wok-hei flavour like you’ve had from Chinese restaurants.
If you can’t handle it or do not have enough time to season and clean the wok, use a regular non-stick wok or pan. Just use simple non-stick pans for busy days, which is easy to clean up.
You can add more protein like cooked prawns/shrimp, beef, tofu, etc.
If you find the soy sauces and oyster sauce salty, you can use low-sodium soy sauces, which are available in Lee Kum Kee or Kikkoman soy sauce brands. You can also reduce the light soy sauce ( regular soy sauce ) to your taste.
Chow mein is one of the most authentic Chinese noodle stir-fried dishes with meat and vegetables in the Western world. It was introduced by Chinese immigrants in restaurants and takeaways and is popular in the USA, UK, Europe, Australia, and around the world. In Chinese, ‘ Chow ‘ means fried, and ‘ Mein ‘ means noodles. Every family, restaurant, and takeaway has its own version.
It’s savoury in taste and healthier than other deep-fried dishes. It is a perfect combination of meat, carbs, and veggies.
As many of you've asked, dark soy sauce is an essential sauce if you love appetising brown-coloured noodles. It’s thicker in texture and perfect for staining the noodles with a natural soy sauce colour. If you haven't tried it before, I highly recommend using dark soy sauce in your chow mein recipes. I’m sure you’ll love the colour of your noodles!
Lucky Boat No1 is the best-dried egg noodles used in UK Chinese takeaways and restaurants, but it comes in only a large pack. If you are lucky, you might find small packs in local Chinese or Thai grocery stores or Amazon online.
Sharwood egg noodles, Blue Dragon, or Tesco, as well as Asda Supermarket's own brands of dried noodles, are the second-best options.
You don’t have to use the brands mentioned above; you can use any of your favourite dried noodles, which are available at your local store.
It depends on your liking. If you wish to taste like Chinese restaurants and takeaway chow mein, do not use instant ramen noodles. They won’t look or taste like your favourite takeout chicken chow mein.
Because you didn't add any ' Umami '! You need umami ingredients like oyster sauce, MSG, or chicken powder ( chicken bouillon ). Chow mein won't taste like real-deal chow mein if you don't add any of those ingredients.
Chinese restaurants and takeout's secret is adding the right amount of MSG in the marinade and stir-fry.
You can add various types of seasonings. There are also vegetarian seasonings like dashi powder, mushroom extract vegetarian stir fry sauce, etc.
More Easy Chinese Noodles Recipes To Try
My family calls me the Chow Mein Specialist because I love making it with various meats and veggies. Here are more of my multiple-time tried-and-tested chow mein recipes that you can experiment with at home!
Stay updated on new recipes:
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📖 Recipe
Chicken Chow Mein Recipe
Equipment
- Large wok/pan or skillet
Ingredients
- 300 grams Dried egg noodles Or 2 servings noodles, see details in note
- 250 grams Chicken breast Boneless chicken breast or thigh
- 1 Onion Cut thin slices
- 2-3 cloves Garlic Finely chopped
- 2-3 Spring onions Cut 2" pieces
- 1 Bell pepper Red or green, cut thin slice
- 1 Carrot Julienned
- 2-3 Cabbage leaves Cut thin slices
- 2-3 tbsp Cooking oil Neutral flavour oil, add more oil if needed.
Chow Mein Sauce
- 2 tbsp Light soy sauce or regular all-purpose soy sauce
- 2 tsp Dark soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1 tbsp Brown sugar or white sugar
- 1 tbsp Water
- ¼ White pepper
Chicken Marinade
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce Regular all-purpose soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Corn starch
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Brown sugar or white sugar
- ¼ tsp White pepper
- 2 tsp Sesame oil or cooking oil
Instructions
- Cut chicken into thin slices and marinate it with light soy sauce, cornstarch, baking soda, white pepper, sesame oil, and sugar. Mix it well and set it aside. Prepare all the vegetables before heating the wok.
- Boil the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain water and rinse with cold water. Set it aside. ( If you are using fresh noodles, you can skip this step. )
- Combine chow mein sauce ingredients in a small bowl/jar and set it aside.
- Heat the wok/pan over medium-high heat stir fry the marinated chicken and set it aside.
- Drizzle more oil in the pan and saute garlic and onions. Follow with the hard vegetables first.
- Next, add the noodles and pour the stir-fry sauce over them. Then, add the cooked chicken.
- Toss everything well and finish it with spring onions.
Notes
- Do I need salt? You don't need to add salt to this recipe because the soy sauce and oyster sauce already contain salt but you can add more salt to your liking.
- How to make my chow mein sauce less salty? If you find chow mein sauce is salty, you can reduce the light soy sauce and oyster sauce or use low-sodium soy sauces instead of regular ones.
- What can you use instead of oyster sauce? Oyster sauce can be replaced with hoisin sauce (made from fermented soybean paste ), vegetarian stir-fry sauce ( mushroom sauce ), MSG, or chicken bouillon powder.
- Dried Egg Noodles: Do not overboil the noodles, and rinse them with cold water once they've boiled. If the noodle strands are sticky, toss them with a bit of cooking oil.
- Fresh Egg Noodles: If you are using fresh egg noodles, you will need about 400-450 grams of noodles for 2-3 servings.
- Cooking oil: suggest using neutral flavour cooking oil like sunflower, peanut oil, canola, vegetable oil, etc.
- Nutritional facts are calculated approximately per serving, and they can be varied according to the products you use.
Alli says
Absolutely delicious, definitely a keeper.
Cleve says
Absolutely delicious! I made it per the recipe instructions only adding some sliced crimini mushrooms and my wife and the couple we invited to dinner were throwing me complements left and right. Alas it takes SO much oyster sauce which is pretty expensive here in Costa Rica.
Jon says
Didn’t have cabbage, baby corn or red pepper so I used brown onion and it worked really well. I’ll try adding beansprouts next too. Plus i’d reduce salt to 1/4 tsp to suit my taste. Sauce was lovely!
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed our chow mein recipe, Jon. Thanks for trying out and sharing feedback.
Diana says
Absolutely delicious! Even my picky husband thought it was great! I didn’t add any salt as soy sauces already have it. Such a good flavor!
Khin says
It's absolutely fine to skip as the soy sauces contain salt content. Thanks for trying out, Diana. I am so glad that you and your husband enjoyed this recipe.
Ryan says
You’ve changed my life for the better! Every recipe I have done of yours have been superb.
Khin says
Thank you so much Ryan.
John Cumberland says
Why does the dialogue say baking soda yet the recipe says baking powder
Khin says
Hi John, instructions corrected to baking powder. Thank you so much for pointing out.
Gary says
Thank you for showing us how to make this lovely food
Michelle Cairns says
Hi ! Your recipe looks wonderful and I would like to try. Could you tell me what noodles you use ? I can’t ever seem to buy the right ones. Thank you. X
Khin says
Hi Michelle, we usually use medium-thick egg noodles for this recipe. You can find it in most supermarket Asian aisle or Chinese Asian grocery stores.
Emee Escalas says
Nice recipe and will definetely try this but im just quite confused if how much salt i need to put. On the written ingredients it says that it needs 1 tsp salt but on the instructions its 1 tbsp though.. Can you enlighten me please which is which..? And if im going to use a superior dark soy sauce will it affect the taste and add black pepper too?
Khin says
Hi Emee, salt is 1 teaspoon ( edited in the recipe card ). As soy sauces and oyster sauce already has salt intake, you can add or exclude salt according to your taste. Hope you enjoy making it!
josee jacob says
j adore vos recette
Khin says
Thank you Josee!