Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat
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This Panda Express chow mein copycat version can be made in just 20 minutes right at home (and it tastes so much better than the original!).
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Why you’ll love Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat
- Lightning fast recipe. This is a speedy 20 minute recipe start to finish. It’s so much faster than delivery or takeout using Yaki-Soba noodles, onion, celery, cabbage, and an easy stir-fry sauce.
- Uses better-quality ingredients. You can use high quality oils and avoid unwanted sodium and preservatives, loading this up with all the feel-good veggies, perfect for those picky eaters!
- So customizable. Making this at home allows you to completely customize this dish with what you have on hand, adding in leftover proteins (for example, rotisserie chicken) and lingering veggies to transform this into a hearty main dish.
What is chow mein?
This is a popular Chinese dish that translates to “stir fried noodles” in Cantonese. The noodles are stir fried or pan-fried, resulting in a crispier texture in a light sauce whereas lo mein noodles are softer and fully boiled with a richer sauce.
Key Ingredients
- Noodles: Yaki-Soba noodles, ramen noodles, or fresh Chinese egg noodles
- Vegetables: onion, celery, and cabbage
- Sauce: soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, and white pepper
How to make Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat
- Cook the noodles. Boil the Yaki-Soba noodles until loosened, about 1-2 minutes, rinsing with cold water to halt the cooking process.
- Prep the stir fry sauce. Combine the soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, and white pepper.
- Stir fry the vegetables. Cook the onion and celery in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat until tender, then stir in the cabbage until softened.
- Combine and toss. Stir in the Yaki-Soba noodles and stir fry sauce until the noodles are evenly coated in the sauce.
What to serve with Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat
Tools For This Recipe
Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat: Frequently Asked Questions
Yaki-Soba are ramen-style noodles and can be found in the refrigerated aisle of your local grocery store.
Ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet) and lo mein noodles are both excellent substitutes.
Their chow mein includes a simple trio of onion, celery, and cabbage.
Absolutely! This recipe is incredibly flexible and forgiving, and it’s the perfect opportunity to use up leftover protein (chicken, steak, pork, or shrimp) and veggies (carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers, or bok choy).
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, reheating on the stovetop over medium heat in a skillet or wok with a splash of water or broth for 3-4 minutes (to restore its original texture).
Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat
Video
Ingredients
- 2 (5.6-ounce) packages refrigerated Yaki-Soba, seasoning sauce packets discarded*
- ¼ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 ribs celery, sliced diagonally
- 2 cups shredded cabbage
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, add Yaki-Soba until loosened, about 1-2 minutes; rinse with cold water and drain well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, ginger and white pepper; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and celery, and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in cabbage until heated through, about 1 minute.
- Stir in Yaki-Soba and soy sauce mixture until well combined, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Notes
- Prep beforehand. This recipe comes together quickly. Have all the ingredients and sauce ready to go prior to cooking.
- Use reduced sodium soy sauce. Reduced sodium has less sodium and less salt without compromising flavor.
- Cook until al dente. Cook the Yaki-Soba noodles just until al dente as they will continue to cook when stir-fried.
- Rinse noodles with cold water. This will stop the cooking process to tighten the starches and keep the noodles from clumping.
- Reheat on the stovetop. Reheat the leftover noodles in a skillet or wok to prevent soggy noodles and to revive the original crisp texture.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
My husband & I tried these noodles last night. They turned out great! I love being able to make these Asian-inspired recipes at home without having to spend a ton going out to eat.
I couldn’t find any refrigerated yaki-soba noodles in my area, so we did use the dried yaki-soba. It turned out great using th dry.
Thanks for all your great recipes!
I just finished making this dish for dinner and OH MY GOSH!!!! How am I supposed to share this with my husband when I can’t stop eating ALL of it???:) An excellent recipe that makes me so excited to try others on your blog:) Thank you!!
I used House Foods tofu noodles (from Whole Foods) as a substitute. Excellent and low -carb!
This was so yummy I finished it before I even noticed! Thank you for this awesome and FAST recipe!
If your store does not carry the refrigerated noodles, could we use the dry in the Asian section? (where the soy sauce and things are)
Yes, that should be just fine.
Are Yaki-Soba noodles similar to Japanese Soba (Buckwheat) Noodles — I have to make things gluten-free.
Not entirely. I worry that using soba noodles will completely alter the taste of this dish.
I just made this tonight and it was wonderful! It’s absolutely similar to the Panda Express version which is great because I don’t like the chow mein everywhere I go. My local grocery store did not have Yaki Soba and I was a little worried that my replacement noodle wouldn’t be as good but everything went great! I just got some uncooked egg-white only chow mein and pre-cooked it earlier in the day and just tossed in the noodles after the cabbage and left them on medium heat for a few minutes tossing occasionally until they were heated through.
Oops if I would have read more carefully I would have seen the answer. Sorry!
Just wondering do you use fresh ginger or the dried spice ginger?
Hi, i dont have any yaki soba and i really want to make this for dinner. do you think spaghetti will work? or should i just put this on hold?
This dish is best when yaki soba noodles are used.
I wouldn’t use spaghetti noodles, but I personally bought uncooked chow mein noodles found in the Asian section at my grocery store since they didn’t have Yaki Soba.
I made this the other week, and it was an absolute treat! I only got around to posting it up on my blog today, and I of course linked to your page as well 🙂
Thank you so much for a delicious recipe! I have already made it twice! x
This is damn delicious! I used dark sesame oil instead of olive oil. It adds much more flavor. I added bok choy as well. I really like how you can use different vegetables in this recipe. Just use what you have on hand or what you prefer or can find. There were no refrigerated noodles in any market here, I use the dry noodles. The brand I use is Excellent Flour Stick Pancit Canton. They are very similar to dry chow mein noodles, made of flour and coconut oil. Boil them for one or two minutes.
This looks soo good! Definitely pinning and making soon.
Just to add my two cents about where to find the noodles – I live in Calgary, AB (Canada) and get my noodles at Safeway in the produce section by the Asian produce – bok choy, bean sprouts, etc. Hope that helps someone. =)
IM GOING TO TRY THIS, I LOVE THE NOODLES THAT I GET @ CHINA KING. WE DONT HAVE A PANDA EXPRESS HERE; BUT THE INGREDIENTS LOKS SIMILAR TO WHAT THEY USE HERE. MY QUESTION IS ON THE CABBAGE; DID U USE A GREEN HEAD OF CABBAGE (LONGER TO COOK) OR NAPPA CABBAGE(COOKS QUICKER) AND USED IN MOST ORIENTAL DISHES
I used a green head of cabbage, but feel free to use either. You may have to adjust cooking time if you use napa.
Absolutely wonderful! I know I will be making this often. None of the recipes I have tried before had the satisfying flavor of this one. I also love that I can add stuff like sliced almonds or bean sprouts or whatever. Thank you so much for sharing.
Oh my gosh!!! I need to make this pronto. I love chow mien so much. To have it at home?? Dangerous! Pinned!
You are my new best friend. I have been craving chow mein on and off and mostly on for the past 6 months. The other day I made an emergency stop at a Chinese restaurant just to order that for dinner. Of course there was plenty leftover for dinner that night and lunch the next day. Now I can make it at home. This looks like the real meal deal.
Made these last night and they were SO delish. No worries to the people that can’t find the refrigerated noodles because I couldn’t either. I used 2 packs of the Yakisoba dried noodles and they turned out awesome. Paired the noodles with some pork wontons and dinner was incredible. Thanks!
Fantastic! Chopped the celery up a little more for my picky eaters and it was a big hit! Thank you!
Look for refrigerated Yaki-Soba noodles in the produce departments. Safeway, Nob Hill, all the local grocery stores around where I live carry the chilled noodles.
thank you, thank you, thank, you. I have looked all over for these noodles and I didn’t look in the produce isle. I have bought noodles from the produce isle before, I hope that is what I am looking for. Going back tomorrow to find them. I want to make this recipe so badly.