Chicken chow mein is probably already one of your favorite Chinese takeout dishes. This one-pan dinner is so satisfying with chicken, vegetables, classic chow mein noodles, and the best homemade chow mein sauce. Also, it’s way healthier than ordering takeout.
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I can’t wait to share this recipe for chicken chow mein with you because it hits all the marks!
Chicken Chow Mein
Chow mein is a traditional Chinese dish made with egg noodles and stir-fried veggies. We love adding a protein and our favorite is chicken, but you can try different meat or tofu. This dish is pan-fried so the noodles get a nice crisp to them and then tossed in a yummy sauce. Chow mein is perfect for those nights when you don’t want to dirty too many pans or make a big mess of the kitchen.
Chow mein gets its signature flavor from the thick, dark homemade sauce the noodles are tossed with. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and salty and makes putting down your chopsticks absolutely impossible.
Ingredients for Chow Mein:
- Chow Mein Noodles: Chow mein noodles are made with wheat and egg. They are very similar to Italian pasta noodles and have a wonderful bite to them. Most grocery stores carry dry chow mein noodles in the Asian aisle. But, if you are lucky, you will find pre-cooked chow mein noodles in the refrigerated section that can be thrown straight into your pan.
- Vegetables: Carrots, cabbage, green onions, and bean sprouts are the perfect combination of veggies to use for chow mein. However, they can easily be replaced with other veggies like bok choy, celery, broccoli, spinach, kale or baby corn. Feel free to get creative and use what you like or whatever you have hanging around in your fridge!
- Meats: Great quality chicken breasts are your best bet for slicing into chow mein-ready strips. If you like, feel free to swap chicken out for beef, shrimp or pork.
- Hot tip: Hosting vegetarians also? Use vegetable broth and set some of your noodles aside to toss them with cubes of baked tofu.
The BEST Chow Mein Sauce:
The homemade chow mein sauce is amazing in this recipe! 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.
How to Make Chow Mein:
- In a small mixing bowl, combine ingredients for chow mein sauce: oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, chicken broth, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- Cook noodles according to package instructions, set aside.
- Heat a large wok or pan. Add a bit of oil to the pan and cook chicken until it’s golden brown. Remove chicken and set aside.
- Add carrots, cabbage and pressed garlic and saute for a few minutes until veggies are slightly softened.
- Add chicken back to the pan, followed by cooked noodles and pour the sauce right on top. Cook for about 2 minutes, distributing all that saucy goodness around evenly.
- Add chopped green onions and remove from the heat. Serve hot!
We love recreating popular takeout recipes. Noodles are king in Chinese cooking! This Homemade Chow Mein Recipe is simple to make and oh-so-satisfying, these stir-fried noodles are sure to become a part of your weeknight dinner rotation.
More Quick Asian Recipes
- Chicken Stir Fry with Rice Noodles – Make this amazing dinner in just 30 minutes!
- Chicken Stir Fry– so much better than takeout.
- Beef Stir Fry Recipe with 3 Ingredient Sauce– So Easy- perfect weeknight dinner.
- Korean Stir-Fried Glass Noodles a.k.a Japchae– You will be going for seconds!
- Yakisoba Noodles Recipe– A Classic Yakisoba, made in one pan
Chicken Chow Mein with the Best Chow Mein Sauce

Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast, boneless, skinless
- 3 tbsp oil
- 12 oz chow mein noodles, (uncooked noodles)
- 2 cups cabbage
- 1 large carrot, julienned
- 1/2 batch green onions
- 2 garlic cloves
Chow Mein Sauce
- 6 tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tbsp light sesame oil, (not toasted)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, use a whisk to combine oyster sauce, granulated sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, chicken broth and cornstarch. Set aside.
- Cook your noodles according to package instructions then drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
- Heat a large wok or pan with olive oil over medium-heat. Cut your chicken breasts into bite-sized strips and cook them in the oil until golden brown. Remove strips and set aside.
- Add carrots, cabbage and pressed garlic and saute for a few minutes until veggies are slightly softened and the cabbage is a bit translucent.
- Add chicken and noodles back into the pan. Pour sauce over the top and continue cooking all the ingredients together for another 2 minutes.
- Garnish your chow mein with chopped green onions and serve the noodles straight from the pan and piping hot!
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This recipe is easy to make, has amazing flavor, and is now a family favorite!
Made this tonight…..I used bok choy…added a lil celery and sno peas…bean sprouts
Absolutely delicious recipe…..will make again
You need to make this……
Great recipe and easy to prepare. I added grated ginger root to the sauce mixture and threw in some roasted cashew nuts for that Fakeaway flavour. Very successful.
Yum yum Made this about 8 times now.Family love it. It is a winner
That is the best when the family loves what we parents make. That’s so great!
I made shrimp chow mein with your chow mein recipeand it was delicious. I knew it would be. I have followed your cooking style for a while and think it’s great. Easy to follow directions.
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. I’m glad you liked the recipe!
Fabulous!!!! Will be making this again . Shrimp would be good in it too
In MA we’d call this recipe lo mein. Chow mein noodles are about an inch long already cooked and crispy crunchy.
I’m going to try it
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Carolyn!
If you have a gluten sensitivity, can rice noodles be substitutes?
Hi Bea! You can use other noodles here too. Many of my viewers do.
It was good, I added onion, red pepper and snow peas. Used hoisin sauce instead of clam !!!
I already gave a 5-star rating awhile back – because this is the best chow mein sauce ever – but last night I served this chow mein with rice instead of noodles – and it was even more delicious. Had to comment.
Hi Alice! I’m so glad you’re loving the recipe!
Made this and OMG it was delish!! I added bean sprouts.
my husband is allergic to oysters, what can I use in place of oyster sauce?
Hi Dianne, I haven’t tried a substitute, but here’s what one of my readers wrote: “I too have a shellfish allergy…I used the soy sauce and hoisin (no sugar though) and it was delish!”
This is so good! I did change the veggies like another commenter to broccoli slaw(still did garlic) to cut down on prep time. And added shrimp because we like it. I thought the sauce might be too salty but once it was all put together it was perfect! Thank you for a great recipe. Bonus is that it took less than 30 minutes from start to plates on the table.
Thank you SO MUCH for the delicious sauce recipe, you never fail me.
Have made a lot of your recipes and they always turn out great recipes.
Thanks Natasha x
WOW! I just made this for my family. I was feeling lazy though so I used a bag of Broccoli slaw and a bag of bean sprouts in place of the veggies. My family raved!!! It is so tasty and very quick to put together. Thanks for another amazing recipe!
I made this for dinner today. Sooooo good and easy to follow instructions. Will definitely be making this again.
How do you prepare the cabbage?
Sliced, chopped, shredded?
I look forward to making this recipe!!
Thanks ☺️
Hi Lorrie! See the image reference above, it’s shredded, but you can do slice it with a knife to your preferred thickness. I hope you love the recipe!
I coarsely chopped mine and it was just fine.
I have followed your recipes before and enjoyed them. This one was good up until adding the sauce – way too much sauce for the noodles and veggies. Made it basically inedible due to the salty taste. I would say divide the sauce by 2 or dilute, at the least. The high reviews given for this recipe cause me to question the reviews given on this site.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
i’m only a kid and i made this and my family loved it so much
That’s awesome, Brooke! Thank you for sharing that with me.
i made it for my family and it’s so good!
That’s great to hear!