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.Â
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.Â
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!Â
- 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.Â
- Hot tip: Hosting vegetarians also? Use vegetable broth and set some of your noodles aside to toss them with cubes of baked tofu.Â
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.Â
- Cook noodles according to package instructions, set aside.Â
- 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.Â
- 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.Â
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 corn starch
- 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. 
Made this for the first time tonight and cannot wait to make it again. Perfect amount of sauce. Flavor is really lovely. 10/10!
Loved this recipe. I cut the recipe in half for the two of us. I had to substitute teriyaki sauce for oyster sauce because that is all I had on had. Very good! Leftovers for tomorrow.
That’s great to hear, Jo! Thank you for the feedback.
Fantastic recipe! I just added a bit of onion and celery–otherwise, exactly as written.
Can we use toasted Sesame oil? I only have toasted in my spice cabinet.
Hello! I imagine that will be just fine, just use a bit less first then add as you like.
Too much oyster sauce! Came out very very fishy tasting
Hi Shannon, this should not tasty fishy. Did you change anything else in the recipe or sauce ingredients – any substitutions?
This recipe is so good and perfect as is. I have made it a number of times and added or changed a few things. I have added ginger and varied the vegetables using either celery, mushrooms or broccoli.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Carole!
The flavor was good but I would cut the sauce at least in half. It was too salty and too much liquid for my liking.
Made this and loved it. I added fresh bean sprouts also. Loved the sauce.
Made this twice in the last two weeks and it is absolutely divine. I couldn’t find LO MEIN noodles anywhere, so I improvised….spaghetti works wonderfully. Natasha never fails me! Thanks Natasha!
I’m so glad you made it work! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
God bless you for sharing your recipes. My husband and I love them they are amazing. Thank you so much.
This recipe is so delicious! My family and friends all love it. (I doubled the amount of cabbage.)
I made it and it had waaaaaay too much sauce. Everything was drenched and soaking in the sauce, I was pretty turned off. As another user said, this recipe already has a TON of sodium and the fact that it required me to make an unnecessary amount of sauce was very disappointing. Be careful when adding the sauce, don’t just dump it all in like I did. The sauce could have probably been cut in half, or at least 3/4 of called for amount. That still might have been too much.
Hi Danielle, I don’t recall reports of this having too much sauce – did you add less noodles or make any other adjustments where there would be extra sauce?
Hello Natasha, I followed the recipe. It looks like a recent reviewer after me commented the same now, though.
I always feel like there is never enough sauce!
Hi Renee, we feel like we found the perfect balance here, but you’re welcome to make/add more sauce to your preference.
I just made myself the most authentic chicken chow mein of my life and I’m freaking out. The combination of oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, sesame seed oil, cornstarch, and sugar was pure magic.
*i velvetted my Chicken it just added that extra authentic experience to the meal.
Also did away with the juilen carrots, added mix of brocli, carrot, bean, baby corn, red and yellow capsicum.
Hey Anton! i was just wondering.. did you cook the baby corn in with the cabbage or carrots or did you just add them without cooking?
Noodle soup. The liquid at the end just sat at the bottom, I had to ladle the sauce into bowls.
Hi Jo, I haven’t had that experience and I don’t recall that in previous feedback on this one. Did you change anything in the process or ingredients?
Can I use olive oil instead of sesame oil?
You can, however, it will slightly change the flavor profile. You can add a small amount of toasted sesame oil later in the cooking process to retain the flavor. Hope you love it!
This was a hit with my family. I added a red pepper and used some julienned snow peas as well. It came out great.
This was a hit, I skipped the carrots and used julienned snow peas..
Very yummy! Very similar to what you’d find at a Chinese restaurant ! My 14 year old is super picky, and she loved it!
That’s so great to hear!
Made it tonight and the Family raved about it. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Bonnie!
Another great recipe from Natasha! I have cooked many of her recipes and they have all been great and this one is no exception. I made my own noodles for this dish and the family really enjoyed it.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Phil!