Easy Lo Mein
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The easiest lo mein you will ever make in 15 minutes from start to finish. It is so much quicker, tastier and healthier than take-out!
Back when I had a day job, I had this boss who was obsessed with the lo mein from the restaurant across the street. She’d have me order it at least 3 times a week, and I would get so excited because she would always pass along a plate for me to share.
But since blogging became a full-time gig, I find myself longing for that lo mein almost daily.
Those long noodles chockfull of all those fresh veggies… How it was always so perfect with a side of potstickers. And general tso’s chicken. And monoglian beef… Sorry. I digress.
But surely enough, there’s a homemade lo mein version that can be made in just 15 minutes from start to finish with ingredients you already have on hand.
Best of all, you can clean out the fridge with all kinds of lingering veggies and you can also add in your favorite proteins!
Plus, this definitely hits the spot when you’re craving Chinese take-out, except this version is a million times quicker and tastier. You can’t beat that!
Easy Lo Mein
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
Equipment
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, ginger and Sriracha; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron 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 soy sauce mixture, and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I’m making this tonight; I’m going to add shrimp. I was curious if you had any suggestions if I should marinade the shrimp or what to do with the shrimp before adding. Thanks so much.
It really depends on how you prefer to prepare your shrimp. I personally like to roast it with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.
I made this for dinner tonight. DELICIOUS! I added chicken so that it would be more filling and add protein. My three daughters loved this. I also added onion. The sauce was great for two of my daughters but I added some soy sauce to mine. They want me to make it every week. LOVE this blog!
Delicious recipe! I made it for lunch after rushing home from church and it was so quick to make. The fresh noodles I got from the Asian market were a full pound so I doubled the recipe. I used a little less of some of the more potent ingredients and it was great. I also roasted my broccoli in the over and added on top (bc roasted veggies are my fav :)) thanks for this!
What would you suggest for a spice in this recipe in place of ginger. Want to make it, but don’t have any ginger. 🙁
You can try to omit the ginger completely or substitute another spice but I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish without further recipe testing. It is always best to use the ingredients listed in the recipe to obtain the best results possible.
This looks great. I’ve actually never eaten lo mein before, but I will be trying this out tonight. I was thinking of sauteing some chunks of chicken breast first and then adding them back in with the sauce and noodles at the end. I was just wondering if you could recommend a simple seasoning/marinade to flavor the chicken?
A simple marinade of soy sauce, a little bit of sesame oil and maybe even some red pepper flakes would be suitable for a recipe like this.
Thanks for the quick & helpful reply 🙂 I made this last night and used the chicken marinade you suggested (just a bit of sriracha in place of the red pepper flakes). It turned out great! The Asian grocery near my house did not have lo mein noodles, but they recommended fresh wonton egg noodles instead, which seemed to be a good substitute.
The verdict is in. I doubled the recipe for double the deliciousness. Four people had two large servings each and there is enough leftover to feed at least three more people. I followed the recipe exactly. Does anyone have suggestions as to what else to serve with this? Thanks.
So glad you tried this recipe! And we served this with Mongolian beef and orange chicken.
I served with a spicy orange chicken, the two sauces really complement each other.
I’ve used a similar recipe for years. You can substitute sweet chili sauce for the sriracha or just a pinch of dried red pepper flakes. The best part is it’s so quick & easy I can make it in the morning, come home and reheat at dinnertime & it tastes even better.
Chungah,
Having made another of your delicious recipes, ( broccoli and beef in slow cooker) I am anxious to try this one. I was able to track down the lo mein noodles so tonight is the night. If the meal is half as good as the photography we are in for a delightful dinner.
Made this tonight with shrimp instead of mushrooms (they went bad) and it was so tasty! Can’t wait for the leftovers!
Girlfriend you really know what you are doing. This recipe is delicious. My whole family loved it – not a drop left and it was so easy. We had takeout lomein the other night and this was much much better. Thank you!!
Unbelievable! Thank you for this. I woke up Monday morning and saw this recipe pop up on my tumblr, the photo sold me but the recipe was perfect. Will def become my go to lomein recipe, even bought an extra bag of egg noodles at pavillions 🙂
My friend and I had a hankering for lo mein the other night, so I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. We were not let down! This is truly delicious and simple. I’ve already shared it with a bunch of my vegetarian friends.
I love your website! My daughter is vegan and I am vegetarian and your recipes are so adaptable to our diets. Your food pictures are beautiful, the recipes are easy and delicious, and your writing is funny and inspirational.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post such a fun and inspiring site.
We made this tonight and loved it. Our 1.5 and 3.5 year old girls gobbled it up, so we will be adding it to our list of favorites. The only thing that I will remember for next time is that I needed more sauce, and I had less noodles than called for…not sure what I did wrong, but I needed 3-4 times the amount stated.
Thanks for passing on a tasty one!
I’m so glad you gave this a try. And I’m not sure what you did wrong, if anything, but 3-4x more sauce would make this dish extremely salty!
I made this tonight and it definitely does need more sauce. I doubled it, plus additionally sprinkled more soy and sesame sauce and still too dry for us. Otherwise very good!
I agree, I had to add more soy sauce as well as at first I couldn’t really taste it (maybe I made too many noodles.. I’m not sure.) But after I did that, it was very tasty. I loved the hint of the sriracha. Definitely making this again. 🙂
Same with me. I also had less noodles than the recipe called for and needed more sauce. I ended up doubling it, but actually wish I’d made even more. For me, it just wasn’t enough to cover everything. This was absolutely delicious though and I will be making this again! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Because of y’alls comments we decided to make double the sauce and ended up even adding a a drizzle of tamari after a taste and before we served. Based on y’alls comments I knew we would need more sauce because we are a saucy family. ~;-) I saw someone below recommended less soy sauce. To each his/her own! Thanks y’all for your helpful comments.
Tasted great but I also doubled the sauce and used 6 oz of chow mein noodles. I couldn’t find lo mein but the chow mein noodles worked great. In fact, the next day with leftovers, I added some diced chicken breast (diced small) and heated up the leftovers in the pan with the cooked chicken. I actually made another serving of the sauce and added it into the pan at that time. I used low sodium soy sauce the whole time. I was really loving it even more the second day. It was my first time using sriracha and I thought it was a great addition. I will make this again. It’s a good recipe. Definitely took me longer than 15 minutes prep but I guess I’m a slow chopper. Great website. Great pics. I’ll be making more recipes from here. Thank you.
I made this tonight for the first time. My cooking skills are nearly non-existent, so I am sure this was my fault, but mine ended up very dry. I used and made everything as directed, except that I substituted cooked garbanzo beans for the mushrooms. I felt like the amount of dry noodles was excessive when I was putting them in the boiling water, but kept going, and when I added them to the veggies and sauce, it became very difficult to stir. Was the 8oz lo mein noodles meant to be the cooked measurement?
Sami, the amount of uncooked noodles listed in the recipe is correct. However, if it is too much for your preferences, you can always reduce the amount as needed to suit your needs.
Chinese food is sparse here in Washington state and Tai food is everywhere. I’m so glad that I found this recipe. I’m going to surprise my husband for dinner with it next week.
Hi. Love your site! Quick question. Some restaurants offer this same dish where these noodles are crispy and I love it! Would I just pan fry the noodles after cooking them before adding to the veggies? Thanks!
Crispy noodles are a favorite of mine! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise on how to obtain that texture – although I am hoping to recreate it soon so stay tuned! 🙂
Yes, you would just pan fry or deep flash fry the noodles after cooking them. The oil needs to be really hot.
I often cook ramen (throw away the seasoning packet) then fry in coconut and sesame oil. But, this works with all cooked noodles.
Because the noodles are wet, it is best to be careful of spattering that can burn you. I carefully put the noodles in the hot oil and stand back until the spattering stops. Once cooked, I drain them on paper towels or microfiber cloth or newspaper if you don’t use paper towels. : )
I cooked this for my little family and we all enjoyed it. That’s part now in my recipe database. 🙂
I made this yesterday, and it was so good and easy. Can’t wait for lunch to have the leftovers.
Made this for my family last night and we all really enjoyed it! My 12 year old daughter said it looked like a rainbow in a bowl. I liked it because it was quick, healthy and tasty! Thanks!
Did you use the Sriracha when making this? I have everything else except that, I’m sure would be good with or without it.
It is just fine without the Sriracha.
I love lo mein. Yes, I can see this would be quick, but it’s not really sacrificing flavor. The photo sure does it justice too. Well done.