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 homemade lo mein 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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This is an awesome recipe!! Why order out when you can make your own! I love to cook and give kudos to those who share such delicious, easy to make recipes! Thank you.. keep sharing!
I never knew what it was, only the name was catchy so I decided to cook it. And, I am damn happy that I decided to cook this, this is one of the amazing dishes I have ever cooked and ate. Grateful to you for sharing such an amazing recipe. Thank you so much
Simple and delicious! The only changes we made was to double the amount of sauce and add a little extra sugar and lemon juice for more sweetness and acidity. We’ll definitely make it again.
We are thrilled to add this recipe to our family cookbook!! As a family of 7, I doubled the pasta (used capellini), added broccoli and bean sprouts and multiplied the sauce by 6. Satisfied bellies here! Thanks for the recipe!
This is excellent and so much better than any of the restaurants in my area where they add way too much sugar. I also did not have the noodles so I used spaghetti boiled 2 minutes less than package directions. I added onion and scallions to the recipe and also tripled the sauce amount. I did feel the sauce was very thin so as with a lot of asian cuisine, I made a slurry with the pasta water. Will definitely make again.
This recipe has a 100% approval rating in my family, which is rare with five kids! We use spaghetti because it’s always on hand, and add chopped cabbage. I keep the sauce amount the same–not sure why it’s dry for everyone else but it’s perfect for us!
Probably the same people that use 1/2 bottle of salad dressing on a side salad.
Delicious! But definitely, make lots of sauce or it’ll be a bit dry.
Love this!!! I tweaked it a tad bit but remained true to the original recipe. As others have stated, triple the sauce when you make this. Will be adding this recipe to my other ones. Thanks!
I made it for my daughter’s birthday dinner at her request. Everyone loved it. It was sooo good! Restaurant quality. Lo mein used to be one of my favorites but I wound up having allergic reactions to something they used, probably sesame oil. I used lite olive oil instead and it still tasted like a restaurant. Thank you so much for giving me back a dish I enjoy so much.
Great recipe… triple the sauce
Can’t praise this recipe enough! It is easy, quick, healthy, and delicious! And I love how versatile it is–didn’t have spinach or snow peas; subbed out broccoli, carrots, and red peppers instead. Used thin soba noodles in place of lo mein noodles, and added fresh ginger because that was what I had on hand. Mmmm. Thank you for another great meal! 😀
Good recipe, double the sauce recipe, add an extra hit of soy sauce just prior to serving.
A new family favorite. Nothing left!
So delicious!! I made it with spaghetti as suggested and it turned out great!
This is amazing and easy just like she says! It’s a keeper.
Great recipe, but I had to triple the amount of sauce. I used an 8oz bag of egg noodles. I’m not sure if I did something wrong, but after tripling the sauce the lo mein was great.
Great recipe want to try it! Where do I find the Lo Mein Egg noodles. What kind did you use?
Egg noodle are easy to find. Often in the soup area of the grocery store.
These are not soup egg noodles they are Lo Mein, different. I order from Amazon, she now gives a link in the recipe, if you can’t find that, thin linguini noodles is the best substitute.
Forgot to add the stars for the rating with my previous review – oops!
This was absolutely perfect. I needed to use up some veggies in my fridge before they went bad, plus I had leftover thin spaghetti noodles. I used bell peppers, onion, some shredded carrot, and a wee bit of cabbage. I sautéed all the veggies, added garlic at the end, then tossed in the noodles and sauce. Everyone in my family raved about it and I had NO leftovers. Thank you!!
I liked it with spaghetti noodles. I have pad thai noodles I wonder if those would work too?