Chow Mein Recipe (15 Minutes!) - Lauren's Latest (2024)

FAQs

How do you make chow mein not soggy? ›

An expert chef's tip for perfect chow mein

Before frying them, it's best to steam the noodles rather than boil them, then dunk them in the hot water for just a minute. Remember to let the noodles cool down. When you're pan frying the noodles, let them cook and crisp up, and don't move them around too much.

The sauce: Chow mein is more of a dry noodle dish with an extremely light and delicate sauce — if any sauce at all. Lo mein is a saucy noodle dish that depends on a rich sauce for much of its flavor. The texture: Chow mein noodles tend to be crunchier than lo mein noodles due to the way they are cooked.

The sauce is what makes this dish so addictive. It's a simple umami filled mix of light and dark soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and a hint of ginger. It's super easy to make a batch of lo mein sauce and keep it in the fridge so you can easily make lo mein whenever the craving hits.

With chow mein, you cook noodles and add them to your wok of other ingredients, cooking everything together in one pan. However, with a chop suey recipe, you will cook the noodles or rice and other ingredients separately before combining them in a bowl, serving up the noodles or rice with the sauce served over the top.

All you need is soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar, oyster sauce, black pepper, and sesame oil. The flavor that is often missing in homemade chow mein is the tanginess. Black Vinegar is less harsh than regular vinegar, which gives the chow mein a subtle hint of tanginess that brings the dish together.

Combine soy sauce, light sesame oil, oyster sauce, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and chicken broth to make the signature sweet and savory sauce that makes chow mein taste authentic.

Yes, it is possible to substitute spaghetti for chow mein noodles by boiling it with a small amount of baking soda. The baking soda alters the pH level of the spaghetti, giving it a similar texture and flavor to chow mein noodles. They can then be used in any dish that calls for chow mein noodles.

Largely this is a matter of personal taste since both dishes can be made to your preference. If you prefer lightly sauced noodles with some crunch and vegetables with some snap, chow mein might be the way to go. If you like a more comforting noodle with richly flavored sauce, lo mein may be the better option.

In the American market, two types of chow mein include crispy chow mein and steamed chow mein. The steamed chow mein has a softer texture, while the former is crisper and drier. Crispy chow mein uses fried, flat noodles, while soft chow mein uses long, rounded noodles.

Let's Talk About Lo Mein Noodles

I could not find it at any of my regular places, so in its place I have used either dry ramen if you can find it (as long as you're hitting up Amazon for the soy sauce, grab a box of this ramen, too – affiliate link) and/or just regular spaghetti.

Why is my chow mein soggy? ›

Adding too much water to cook dry chow mein will make the noodles too soft and prone to deforming. It's important to ensure you're using the right technique based on which type of chow mein you and those sitting at the dinner table prefer most.

The sauce is what gives chow mein all of its seasoning and addictive flavors. It's a mix of oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and freshly ground black pepper. It's full of sweet and savory umami and seriously SO good.

CHICAGO CHOW MEIN: Slices of vegetables in a dark sauce with mushrooms, water chestnuts, and pea pods.

: a dish of Chinese origin prepared with a mixture of vegetables (such as peppers, water chestnuts, and mushrooms)

As char siu (barbecued pork) is used as one of the ingredients, some said it is actually originated from Guangzhou. Actually in Shanghai dishes, there is one using egg, pork or ham, chicken or shrimps which is quite similar. So instead of rice, you just change to noodles and you now have Yang Zhou chow mien.

For most noodles, this means cooking them for a few minutes in boiling water, but thinner noodles, like cellophane rice noodles, usually just need to be soaked. Young also notes that you'll get a better stir-fry if you shake the noodles after draining them in the colander until they're as dry as possible.

I use room temperature water as a default because it takes so long for them to over soak that I don't even have to set a timer. But if you're short on time, warm water will make the soaking go faster. However, the warmer the water, the faster they over-soak, which results in too-soft noodles, so check them often.

Pan Selection: Use the largest (preferably non-stick) pan you have to cook the noodle stir-fry over high heat, such as a wok or large frying pan. A big reason your noodles might be turning out soggy or mushy is because you aren't using a big enough pan!