Give me a huge bowl of lo mein and I will be the happiest person in the room. I haven’t eaten in a mall food court in ages, but when I did, I would always order the biggest container of lo mein. It could be beef or chicken lo mein, heck, it could be plain with only sauce. I’m just all about the noodles.
Lo mein is made with fully cooked noodles that have been boiled and drained similar to how ramen, udon, and soba noodles are prepared. These cooked noodles are added to a wok containing various vegetables and proteins that have already been cooked and tossed in the lo mein sauce.
How to make lo mein
This is probably the easiest take out dish you can make. All you need to do is make a quick sauce, cook the noodles, add some veggies, and toss:
- Make the sauce. In a small bowl, mix together light and dark soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and ground ginger.
- Cook the noodles. Cook the noodles according to the package, drain, and set aside.
- Fry the aromatics. Heat up a bit of oil and lightly fry some garlic until it smells amazing.
- Add the mix-ins. I kept this simple with veggies, but you can add protein too, more on that later.
- Toss. Add the noodles and sauce into the pan and toss everything until it’s evenly coated.
- Enjoy. That’s it! Slurp away.
For lo mein you need lo mein noodles. You can find them at your local Asian grocery store or you can substitute spaghetti or any long pasta.
- Fresh pre-cooked lo mein noodles. In an ideal world, you’ll find cooked lo mein noodles in the refrigerated section of your local Asian grocery store. Sometimes they’re called oil noodles. They keep them with the fresh noodles and dumpling wrappers. Since they’re already cooked, you don’t need to boil them. Open up the package, place the noodles in a colander, and give them a rinse with hot tap water, loosening them with your hands. Drain well.
- Fresh uncooked lo mein noodles. You’ll also find fresh uncooked noodles in the same section. Cook them according to the package and drain thoroughly.
- Spaghetti. If you can’t find lo mein noodles, you can easily substitute spaghetti. Dried spaghetti is ideal, and you can even use any other long pasta of your choice.
The sauce is what makes this dish so addictive. It’s a simple umami filled mix of light and dark soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and a hint of ginger.
It’s super easy to make a batch of lo mein sauce and keep it in the fridge so you can easily make lo mein whenever the craving hits.
In a large measuring cup, mix together:
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce
- 1/4 cup dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp ground ginger
Because all of the items are fridge stable, you can mix up a bit batch, pop it in a clean air tight container and then just place it in the fridge and add it to your noodles to taste. You’ll need about 1/4 cup of sauce for each batch of lo mein, but you can add more or less according to how saucy you like your noodles.
Note: Many lo mein sauces on the internet contain oyster sauce and while oyster sauce is super delicious, we kept it vegetarian/vegan here without. If you want to add oyster sauce for an extra bit of umami, you can add 2 tbsp oyster sauce to the above recipe.
What is lo mein?
Lo mein is a super popular noodle dish that you’ll find both at restaurants and made at home. In Cantonese, lo mein means “mixed noodles”. In Mandarin, it’s pronounced “lao mian” and translates exactly the same. Essentially, it’s egg noodles mixed with sauce – somewhat similar to chow mein, but not quite.
In truth, it can mean a variety of different kind of noodle dishes, much like how you can order spaghetti in a variety of ways. In North America, we tend to associate lo mein with the American Chinese take out style of noodles: somewhat thick egg noodles stir fried and tossed with a soy based sauce, vegetables, and proteins.
Technically there are two kinds of lo mein, Cantonese Hong Kong style and American Chinese take out style. Both are a mixed stir fried noodle dish.
- Cantonese lo mein is a kind of deconstructed soup noodle: thin and chewy egg noodles served on a plate with toppings and a bowl of soup on the side. The sauce for the noodles isn’t mixed in. Instead, you’re supposed to stir it into the noodles yourself. “Lo” means to mix or stir. Mein, of course, means noodles.
- American Chinese lo mein is a stir fry noodle dish: thick noodles mixed with a soy sauce based sauce and toppings like beef, pork, chicken, or vegetables.
Chinese Takeout Lo Mein Secrets Revealed
FAQ
What is plain lo mein made of?
Are plain lo mein noodles healthy?
What is plain chow mein made of?
Are there different types of lo mein?
What types of lo mein do you eat?
Whether you love chicken lo mein, beef lo mein, shrimp lo mein, roast pork lo mein, vegetable lo mein, or a Happy Family Lo Mein with everything in it, we’ve got you covered. Armed with the knowledge of how to prepare lo mein for stir-frying, you’ll be able to execute on any of those dishes with ease! What is Lo Mein?
What is chicken Lo Mein?
What’s Chicken Lo Mein? Chicken Lo Mein is made of cooked egg noodles tossed or smeared in a delicious lo mein sauce & mixed with stir fried veggies & proteins of your choice like chicken, shrimp, pork or beef. It’s a delicious Chinese take-out classic that’s ordered the most.
What is lo mein based on?
In the United States, lo mein is prepared with a sauce based on soy sauce and various seasonings, vegetables such as cabbage and bok choy, roast pork and chicken. Although it is not so common there, there are also vegetarian, fish or even lobster versions.