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
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Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Best home made chow mein I’ve ever had! Tastes just like the Chinese take out but waaaay cheaper!
Hi Kathryn! I’m so happy to hear that you loved this recipe.
I pulled up this recipe to get the sauce ingredients. I also followed the cooking steps but substituted broccoli stir fry veggies and left over smoke ham from Christmas. I ised egg white noodles i got from the Asian market. It was delicious!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Gigi!
I can’t find light sesame oil. Can I use pure sesame oil. Thank you.
Hi Nancy! As long as it’s not “toasted or dark sesame oil” it should be fine to use.
Hello, I’m also having trouble finding “light sesame oil” I have sesame oil that is dark in colour, which I had used the first time I made this recipe, would this cause a very “peanutty” taste?
Hi Charlene! Yes. Toasted sesame oil is not ideal for frying due to its strong nutty flavor and low smoke point which can alter its taste. It’s used as a finishing oil to drizzle on top of cooked food for flavor. It’s best to just use a higher smoke point oil like canola, vegetable, and drizzle on some toasted sesame oil before serving.
This meal came together so quickly and was very good!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Pls also use metric units like gms and kgs for the rest of us who are with the times 😄
If you go to the recipe card (click Jump to recipe) then click Metric, the ingredients will be changed to grams.
Thank you for sharing your recipe. It was so delicious and super easy to make. By far the best Chow Mein I’ve made to date.
This is very good. Family loved it. How much is a serving with regards to the posted nutritional value?
I Kelly, The serving size can be found at the beginning of the print-friendly recipe card (located at the bottom of the recipe post). The nutrition label shows counts “per serving.” Hope that helps!
Why can’t you use toasted sesame oil? Toasted sesame oil is all I have…would it ruin the recipe if I used the toasted?
Hi Arlene! Toasted sesame oil is used to drizzle on finished food not sautéing due to its lower smoke point which can cause it to become bitter if it burns.
This was really delicious. The only other thing I would suggest is ‘velvet’ your chicken before cooking it to make it moist and tender. It makes it even more like takeout. There are a couple of ways to velvet meat. I used the baking soda method.
Very simple and quick without compromising flavour. Yes, it’s a delicious as my local take out. Thanks
Hi Natalyia, I made your Chicken Chowmein Recipe the other night, and boy did my wife and I really enjoy it. It went together perfectly! The taste was every bit as good as takeout but even better. I’ve made a few of your recipes now and each one is as easy to follow as the most recent one. Thank you!
Warren McCoy
Hi Warren! I’m so glad it was enjoyed. Thank you for the feedback.
Just cooked this lovely and easy
Probably needs a bit of a kick to it I seasoned my chicken first and added some chili
Other then that very nice and easy dish
This was absolutely delicious! Very quick to put together. The amount of sauce was perfect and my family says this is going on the rotation of meals to make frequently.
Absolutely delicious and very easy to make. This will be in regular rotation. Thanks so much
You are very welcome. So happy you loved it!
Hi, thank you so much for this recipe! Question : What can I sub the oyster sauce with? Since there’s already chicken broth and soy sauce in the recipe, I’m not sure what to replace it with and how much of it?
I need this option to be gluten free also (no gluten free oyster sauce in my area)…
Thank you very much in advance for your help! 🙂
Hi there! You can try Gluten-Free Soy Sauce (Tamari) + Hoisin Sauce, mushroom soy sauce or coconut aminosAdd it according to your preference.
Want to make this but all I have is toasted sesame oil. Does it make a big difference if I use this.
Hi Robin. You can just use regular oil instead. If you would like to drizzle some toasted sesame oil on top the finished product for taste, that would be fine but it’s not recommended to use it for cooking.
Can you use chicken thighs instead of breasts?
Hi Danielle! Yes, that would be fine.
Made your chicken chow mein and it was delicious all my family love it
Made this tonight & it was awesome. I added it to my list. Yum.
Six tablespoons of oyster sauce? Are you kidding me? There is no recipe in the world that calls for this much oyster sauce. I don’t know who is leaving these comments but just for fun I made it your way and it tasted horrible. It should be one tablespoon. Petooo!
Hi Rick, this recipe does make a pretty large batch so it requires more sauce. If you were making less noodles or wanting to scale the recipe down, you could but make sure you cut everything down proportionally.
I made this today. After reading your comment I put three tablespoons and tasted it first. The six tablespoons is absolutely perfect. One tablespoon wouldn’t have any flavor
I agree! Six Tablespoons is perfect! Thanks! The grandkids love it!