Easy Lo Mein
by Chungah
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This easy lo mein comes together in 15 min with the most flavorful sauce and all the vegetables! So much better and healthier than take-out!
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Why you’ll love this easy lo mein
- Quicker than delivery. Believe it or not, this takeout favorite comes together faster than takeout or delivery. We’re talking 15 minutes, start to finish, perfect for those busy weeknights!
- Healthier than takeout. Making lo mein at home gives you full control over all the ingredients, allowing for lower sodium, controlled heart-healthy oils, more veggies, and better protein choices.
- Flexible recipe. You can customize this dish completely and clean out the fridge with all kinds of leftover vegetables and proteins, making this so economical and budget-friendly for the family.
- Leftovers taste even better. Similar to lasagna, the leftovers taste even better the next day, really allowing all the flavors to meld and marry into the noodles overnight.
What is lo mein?
This is a popular Chinese-American takeout dish typically made with soft egg noodles mixed with protein such as chicken, pork, beef or shrimp and various vegetables in a savory soy sauce mixture.
How to make easy lo mein
- Make the sauce. Combine the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, ginger and Sriracha.
- Cook the noodles. Add the egg noodles to a large pot of boiling water and cook according to package instructions.
- Cook the vegetables. While the noodles are cooking, sauté the garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper and carrot in a large skillet over medium high heat until crisp-tender, about 3-4 minutes. Then stir in the snow peas and spinach until the spinach has wilted, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the noodles and sauce. Stir in the cooked egg noodles and sauce, gently tossing until the noodles are evenly coated.
- Serve. Serve warm.
variations and substitutions
- Noodles: Yaki-Soba, dried egg noodles, spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine
- Protein: chicken, beef, shrimp, pork or tofu
- Vegetables: broccoli, baby corn, baby bok choy or cabbage
- Soy sauce: tamari or liquid aminos for a gluten-free substitute
What to serve with easy lo mein
- Vegetable Potstickers
- Easy Hot and Sour Soup
- Chinese Orange Chicken
- Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli
- PF Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Tools For This Recipe
Easy Lo Mein: Frequently Asked Questions
Lo mein noodles are boiled and soft, gently tossed in a savory, thicker sauce whereas chow mein noodles are stir-fried in a wok until crispy and crunchy with little to no sauce.
While fresh egg noodles are ideal for their bouncy, springy texture, Yaki-Soba, dried egg noodles, spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine can also be used in a pinch.
Always add the hard vegetables (ex. carrots) first as they need more time to cook through, adding in softer, leafy greens (ex. snow peas and spinach) at the very end to avoid overcooking them.
Yes! Lo mein is highly versatile. Add any leftover protein such as shredded rotisserie chicken.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Easy Lo Mein
Video
Ingredients
- 8 ounces lo mein egg noodles
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, julienned
- 1 carrot, julienned
- ½ cup snow peas
- 3 cups baby spinach
For the sauce
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce, or more, to taste
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, mushrooms, bell pepper and carrot. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in snow peas and spinach until the spinach has wilted, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in egg noodles and sauce, and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Notes
- Make ahead of time. Cut the vegetables one day in advance, stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Prep the ingredients beforehand. Have the sauce already mixed and vegetables cut and ready to go once you start cooking. This recipe comes together lightning fast!
- Coleslaw mix is the best time-saving hack. To cut down on prep time even further, use bagged coleslaw mix. It’s already pre-shredded cabbage and carrots, cooking very quickly in about 1-2 minutes.
- Hard vegetables get cooked first. Add dense, hard vegetables first (for example, carrots and bell peppers), then add soft, leafy vegetables last (for example, snow peas).
- Avoid overcrowding the pan. Cook the vegetables in batches if needed. An overcrowded pan will steam the veggies instead.
Did you make this recipe?
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Have used this recipe for years!! Definitely a family favorite!! When I went to make it tonight I discovered I only had regular soy sauce, which we normally only have light soy sauce… Will that make a difference in the taste?
Hi Kelly! Regular will be much saltier so I would taste as you go and use a little bit less to start. Hope that helps!
The smell lit up our home! Delicious!!
I should have doubled or tripled the sauce bcuz while it was really good it was very dry
This was super easy and quick. Hubby loved this. I used leftover spaghetti noodles, and for the sauce, I used 3 tablespoons liquid aminos ( lite soy sauce) , 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp regular soy sauce, 1 tsp ginger paste, apprx 1/4 tsp coarse ground pepper and 1 tsp sesame oil. I skipped the sugar since hubby is diabetic. For veggies, I used 1 c. broccoli and 1/2 of a medium onion (chopped) since I had no spring onions, along w sliced mushrooms and matchstick carrots. Finally, I added shrimp at the end and a tbsp of chopped garlic ( not fresh, but the jarred kind.) Point being, I used what I had on hand, and it was still delicious and hubby has 2 helpings :-)!
My wife calls that Jarlic
Can you freeze leftovers?
Yes, it’s delish to not have ay, but it’s only me eating this.
Thanks
Great recipe, so tasty…and easy! It was so good, we had it two nights in a row.
I have been making this recipe for a while now. Everyone loves it. I use whatever veggies I have available, broccoli, cauliflower and peanuts at the end. Then I top it with scallions. Delicious!!
I love how easy and fast this recipe is, definitely adding it to my weekly rotation
Loved it. Took me more than 15 minutes, but worth the effort!
Just made this tonight- amazing!!!
Like every recipie from this site turned out perfect and everyone in the house loved it!
Will be in our regular rotation.
Make four times the sauce proportions listed here! Without the amount here, you’ll get bland pasta.
Made this with spaghetti and fresh Bok choy. Absolutely delicious! Tastes like a restaurant from home. I’m also going to confess I used freeze dried garlic. Make this and treat yourself!
we eat this at least once a week.
Let me tell you, this is very very good. I love vegetables! Today,I was multitasking, which I’m not very good at! So the vegetables and sauce were on/off all morning…and it still came out delicious. Thank you!
PS) I added peanuts at the end.
Used bagged snow peas and matchstick carrots. Yummy!
My computer acted up right in the middle of my comment so here I go again. We love, love, love lo mein here and I have always used the dry lo mein noodles. Next time I am going to try spaghetti noodles and some bok choy as one of my veggies.
Love all your recipes and now we ae going to LOVE this one also!
Bok choy sounds like an amazing addition!
So good and customizable! I used spaghetti noodles, because it was what I had. I will never buy frozen boxes of Lo Mein again. It was a hit with the family!
Very good! I did add chicken thighs. I wasn’t thrilled with the lo mein noodles I bought; next time I might use spaghetti noodles.
Easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! So easy, a lot of flavor, I feel like I want to eat this every day because I don’t think I’ll get tired of it anytime soon. I used whole grain linguine because that’s what I had in the pantry and I doubled the entire recipe to use up some ingredients I had in the fridge. Thank you for this recipe – it’s a definite keeper!