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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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.
Made this last night and we enjoyed it very much! I did grate a little fresh ginger over the veggies when they were cooking. The only thing I added. Really good and yes 15 minutes.
Sat here eating these noodles for lunch now and they’re delicious!
Drooling. And pinning. And then going back to drooling.
Can’t wait to try out this recipe for dinner tonight. I am thinking of adding some shrimp or chicken. It looks oh so good.. I love the richness of the sauce, anything with ginger and soy and I am a huge fan!
So good! Great, easy recipe! : )
Made this tonight with udon noodles. Definitely a hit!
This looks amazing, and I can’t believe it only takes 15 minutes! I’ve never used lo-mein egg noodles, but I am about to order some now so that I can try this – yum!
DO YOU HAVE LIKE A YOUTUBE ACCOUNT OR SOMETHING WHERE YOU POST YOUR COOKING VIDEOS?
Hali, unfortunately I do not do videos, only food photography 🙂
THIS TASTE GOOD. I MADE THIS AND THE ORANGE CHICKEN 😀 IT SO YUMMY. YOUR A GOOD COOK. AND A GOOD PICTER-PERSON. THANKS FOR THE RECIPIE 😀
*picture-person
Love all the colorful veggies, this is a must make!
Looks simple enough! I’ll have to keep this in mind the next time I’ve got a bunch of assorted veggies to use up. In fact, I’m already craving this right now…
Looks delicious but I can’t eat noodles. Can I make a request for some fall/winter salads? I print out a lot of your recipes and they have become our house favourite.
I will try my very best!
you could spiralize some zucchini to use instead of the pasta 🙂
Also have and use a spiralizer, and would use it for this recipe too, but, absolutely love lo mein noodles! Sometimes you just got to have your pasta. But using 8oz of them, and adding up to 8oz of the zucchini or some other spiralized vegetable, and adding more protein, and perhaps doubling the other ingredients would give you enough to feed a couple/few people perhaps.
Use a spiralizer to make noodles out of squashes, carrots, and other hard veggies, and use them as noodles, and proceed with the recipe.. i use it in a number of pasta type dishes.
try spaghetti squash instead. I have used it b-4 and it is just as good as noodles
My girlfriend can’t eat noodles like this either, I would try Rice noodles!!!