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
- 4 Tbsp oyster sauce, or added to taste*
- 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
*Oyster sauce can vary in salt content and if you use regular soy sauce rather than reduced, you will want to adjust the oyster sauce to taste.
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
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
Just made for dinner and it was a hit. Soooo good. Thank you Natasha for yet another delicious recipe 🙂
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Lori!
This is the chow mein recipe I’ve been searching for! Thank you. Turned out great.
I’m happy you enjoyed that, Reshania! Thank you for that wonderful review!
I doubled this recipe because I have a big family. Everyone loved it and ate a second serving. You are my favorite cook and baker!❤️
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Wow this is soooo delicious. And cooked in short time. Its gonna ge one of our fav dishes ☆☆☆☆☆
Thank you for the wonderful review, Nicole!
I cannot even explain how ridiculously delicious this is! I’m truly in love with this recipe and it is definitely going in our lost of favorites. Next time I will add double the amount of veggies though, I felt like there were way more noodles than veggies, but I probably grabbed the wrong size pack of noodles. Anyway, sauce was on point.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Elizabeth! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Can you freeze this dish if you have leftovers or would it get ruined?
Hello Joyce, I haven’t tried freezing this for a long period of time, please let us know how it goes if you try it!
I added thinly sliced red pepper and sugar snap peas. A great meal with tons of flavor from the delicious sauce. I served it with veggie egg rolls. It will be made again and again. After work, it was easy.
Hello Karen, that is great! Thank you for your good comments and feedback. I think this is going to be one of your favorite recipes!
This recipe was super easy to follow and super delicious. I was looking for a good chow mein recipe because my husband really doesn’t like any of the ones from our local restaurant. And I’m so glad i found this recipe! The sauce recipe included was perfect for 2 packs of dried chow mein noodles plus meat and veggies. I used chicken and beef with cabbage, carrots, and broccoli. It was so good, everyone got seconds! I will definitely be making this again. Next time, i think I’ll make it with shrimp.
Hello Oly, thanks for sharing your experience making this recipe. Great to hear that you and your family enjoyed it! Please share how you liked it with shrimp, also curious to know.
This was an easy and quick recipe. I added bean sprouts too. It was delicious! This one is a keeper.
Fantastic! So nice to know that, Selinda. Thanks for your good comments and feedback.
Do you recommend using light or dark (toasted) sesame oil for this recipe?
Hi Linda, I stick with light sesame oil usually when I am cooking with it.
Can you omit the oyster sauce?? My family is allergic to shellfish.
Hi Judy, others shared this “I follow the recipe As it is but instead oyster sauce used Worcestershire and 1 tbsp of vinegar. It turned out well.” I hope this helps.
Hi,what can I use instead of oyster sauce
Hello Hema, you may use the regular soy sauce or hoisin sauce too.
Hi I really want to try this recipe. But can you use Lo mein noodles instead??
Hello Lyndsee, I haven’t tried that yet but I imagine that should too. Someone else shared that they used lo mein and it was delicious!
Great thank you Natasha I’m trying it tonight
That’s so great!
What kind of cabbage did you use? nappa or just plain green cabbage?
Hi Michelle, we used regular green cabbage.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I made it for my family tonight and we all loved it, especially the kids 🙂 The only change I made was to add some snow peas.
You are so welcome, Estelle. So happy to know that your family enjoyed this recipe!
This looks lovely How do you go from making it from 8 servings to 4. ?
Hi Bella, if you scroll down to the bottom of the recipe post, there you will find the recipe card where you can select the number of servings you would like to make for this recipe. I hope that helps.
This was really good. I only used half the amount of sesame oil because it’s an aggressive flavor, and that was plenty. Added broccoli and mushrooms. Will definitely make again. Super good. Super easy.
Thank you for your good comments, Kittie. We appreciate it!
Delicious! Super easy and it made more than my husband and I could it. Decided to try and reheat. I put in an oven proof dish added some chicken broth to keep moist. Heated in the oven for twenty five minutes at 350. Just as good as if freshly made.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me Kim!
This chow mien is So delicious.
I will say I “”kicked it up” a notch by adding 1/2 teaspoon of “hot” sesame oil.
Love all you recipes and your presentation.
Wow, I love it spicy too, so I usually add a little more as well. Thanks for your great feedback!
One of the best and so easy to make! I used spaghetti noodles and it worked out great! Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Rachel!
Help. It calls to cook chow mein noodles. I bought the crunchy ones. Are they correct, or is there other ones?
Hi Susan, did you possibly purchase the dry ones that are intended to be used as is, like the salad topping ones we used in our Asian Salad? See the photo of the ingredients above which should help.