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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Is there a calorie count for this recipe?
so good
a family favourite
This Lo Mein was delicious. I put in some leftover roast chicken and ate 2 servings myself. Even with the recipe cut in half there was still enough leftover for me for tomorrow. Very easy to make, delicious to eat. Thanks!
We had a delightful experience with this recipe tonight! Although we couldn’t find Asian egg noodles, we used spaghetti noodles and stir fry veggies instead, and it turned out to be quick, simple, and effortless! The sauce recipe was perfect, and we followed it precisely, doubling the recipe to match our needs. The flavors were balanced perfectly, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. It’s now our go-to recipe, and we plan on making it again in the future!
Delicious and easy! I doubled the sauce and added shrimp.
This recipe was excellent. I was worried it would be too try and doubled the sauce but added the recipe amount and kept the balance on the side
Perfect. It was great as written
I didn’t have any mushrooms and I doubled the sauce, otherwise I followed the recipe. It was good!
I make Lo Mein when I food items I need to use up, this recipe makes a great guide. I used canned beef cubes and the sauce paired very nicely with it. This will definitely be my go to recipe for Lo Mein
This is fabulous — Damn Delicious! I cook vegetarian a lot and have made made far more complex stirfrys (ie time consuming and ingredient heavy) than this. This is hands down the best and most adaptable recipe I’ve done. I made additional sauce as other reviewers recommended but didn’t use it all even with more veg. Seasoning was perfect. Thank you! 🙂
the family ABSOLUTELY Loved it——-I did stir-fry some ribmeat…..and added –1–TBSP. cornstarch to the sauce so the noodles would be silky………………and put about a cup of chicken broth in the water with the noodles to cook up for a little boost of flavor…………tossed in the vegetables….i had chopped cabbage, baby white corn, and carrots……….tossed it in-then the cooked noodles and sauce–stir fryed it for 3 minutes………….(the cast iron fry pan is empty) dang–i was hoping for leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Thank you sharing this easy recipe…………it was fun to play with a REAL WINNER.
I make this for dinner all the time!
My brothers are super picky but absolutely adore lo mein. We make dumplings as a side and serve it with white rice to make it more filling. This recipe is the perfect mesh of sweet and spicy. Sometimes I substitute the Sriracha for garlic chili oil if I want an extra kick. Overall a great recipe.
I have made this several times for friends and its always been a huge hit. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I’ve made this recipes several times and it’s a keeper. My grand daughter loves Lo Mein noodles from a restaurant and I think this recipes matched. Since she is so picky, I laid off the garlic, and used garlic powder. After the oil was hot, I added the noodles and then the sauce. She loved it! I even tried it with Teriyaki sauce.
Delicious and quick went excellent with my egg rolls thank you for sharing
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! The only change I made was doubling the sauce – my husband loved it – will be making this again!!!
Great recipe, easy to make! May double the sauce next time.
Could I use brown sugar instead of regular sugar instead?
Lovely recipes you have and thank you for sharing it with us!
This is my best recipe ever. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.