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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I made these for the first time last week, and they were an instant success! I left out the mushrooms, but otherwise folloed the recipe. I QUADRUPLED the recipe then used one package of egg lo mein noodles and one box of rice noodles to feed a crowd, and everyone loved them. Will be making again very soon.
I made this tonight and my husband ate two bowls! I tripled the recipe and quadrupled the sauce since we like it saucy. I omitted the siracha and used half plain sesame and half hot chili sesame oil. This recipe is fantastic!
This looks delicious! Do you know if it would be just as good served cold? Want to bring to a BBQ but don’t want to have to worry about keeping it warm. Thanks!
This is really best when served immediately, but as always, please use your best judgment.
So good and super easy! Made this last night and my whole family loved it. Next time I am going to add some nuts (probably peanuts) to add some crunch and fats. Thank you for such a delicious recipe xx
I love lo mein. Had it at a popular Asian restaurant recently and it was such a disappointment . Not to worry, l came home and made this much to the delight of my taste buds. Thanks for a great recipe.
you can use the veggie vegetable shredder to make vegetable noodles from zucchini . Or you can very lightly cook match stick cut zucchini , carrots , etc instead of the noodles.
Made this for the second time today. Had to use the spaghetti substitution and I was worried it wouldn’t be as good, but it’s delicious!!
Finally found a lo mein recipe I want to make!
Hi There – I usually don’t ever post, but I felt it necessary to let you know that your Easy Lo Mein recipe was AWESOME!! We all loved it!!! Since we didn’t have lo mein noodles, we used thin spaghetti, so we doubled the sauce. We will definitely be making this recipe again. And, Yes “damn” delicious”. Thank you so much for your wonderful site, your recipes give us confidence in the kitchen. We will be making your Spicy Sesame Beef tonight. Thanks again.
I finally found lo mein noodles, fresh in the refrigerator case at a small Asian market. They were not frozen. They were sold in bags of differing weights. NO DIRECTIONS. I was able to get a bag with 24oz, so I split it up into three packs of 8oz, and froze the other two. I could not find any info on the net about proper care and feeding of fresh lo mein noodles. The dish came out fantastic. I would like to know who can “prep” everything in 10 minutes…lol. Peel cut and julienne a carrot. Peel and clean mushrooms. Julienne a red bell, make the sauce etc. I don’t care, it was great!! I added some shrimp I cooked ahead of time about a half pound, and put them in at the very end.
I can not imagine making this dish with any other noodles but authentic lo mein egg noodles. Hats off to Chungah for this recipe! This will be a new addition to my growing repertoire of Asian cooking (Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and the like)…thanks, Marc
Lo Mien Thanks for the recipe as an Egyptian I like most of the Asian Food and this 1 is tasty thanks again and good luck.
I made this for the first time last night and it was delicious! Used spaghetti (entire box), added chicken and TRIPLED the sauce which was good because the spaghetti soaked it all up.
I just made this. …and OMG it was delicious!!!
Tasted great. Only thing is next time I would up the veggie/mushroom to noodle ratio to make it more main-dishish.
Has anyone tried this with zucchini noodles? I am planning on trying that tonight!
Thank you for the recipe! I did not have any lo mein or spaghettin on hand so I used a package of ramen noodles and omitted the powder flavor packet and they turned out great!
I made this tonight and it was YUMMY!! I added more veggies and baked some egg rolls too!
Thanks for the recipe – this was delicious! I didn’t think there was quite enough sauce for my liking, though, so next time I will double the sauce. Overall, amazing dish and FINALLY one that actually tastes like take-out lo mein!
I made this tonight and it was freakishly simple! I cooked some chicken thighs in a little sesame oil first and then cooked the veg in the same pan. They didn’t produce enough liquid to deglaze well, so I splashed in a little water and got all those tasty bits up. Tossed in the noodles and chicken, dumped in the sauce (which I also doubled), and went to town!
I also used fresh ginger in the sauce because you can’t really beat it in terms of taste!
The results were SO. GOOD. I immediately emailed the recipe to my lo mein loving friends because damn! 🙂
Such a tasty recipe! Followed it to the T except only used 6 oz of Lo Mien Noodles Luv your Blog!!!