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Tender chicken pieces, stir-fried with crunchy vegetables, plenty of noodles and a generous coating of my simple and flavoursome savoury stir-fry sauce. You can swap out the vegetables for whatever quick-cook vegetables you have, so it makes a versatile recipe for clearing out your fridge.
“Great recipe. The difference between a chow mein sort of stir and this is the Keycap manis. I read you could boil down equal amounts on light soy and brown sugar, it cools to a thick syrup. It’s this that lifts the taste. Also added a bit of sesame oil once it’s all cooked. It was really enjoyable.”
Nicky’s Notes
One of the things I love about stir fry dishes like this, is that you barely have to cook the veg. This means not only do they stay sweet and crunchy, but they’re also super quick to cook and they keep their lovely vibrant colour.
Also, the kids will eat all the veg in a stir fry. I think it’s that crunchy element.
If I served them steamed/boiled carrots, they’ll eat them grudgingly, but quickly stir-fried carrot? No problem whatsoever.
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients for chicken lo mein
🧑🍳 Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Cook the noodles until just done, then drain and rinse in cold water. Stir-fry the chicken in hot oil until cooked through, add the onion to soften, then chuck in the garlic and veg for a quick blast. Toss in the noodles with oyster sauce, soy, kecap manis and white pepper, frying on high until everything’s hot and glossy. Finish with spring onions, sesame seeds and a pinch of chilli flakes.
Pro Tip
- If you want to make this recipe even simpler, you can also use ready-cooked noodles, but you may need to run them under some hot water first to separate them.
There’s no need for complicated or shop-bought sauces for this recipe. This Lo Mein gets its flavour from garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce, kecap manis and white pepper. There’s enough of the sauce to coat the noodles, chicken and veggies, without having a pool of sauce at the bottom, making everything soggy.
🍽️ What to serve it with
This recipe is a meal in itself, with no need for side dishes, but if you like a drizzle of extra sauce, why not try one of these:
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Pin It📺 Watch how to make it
Chicken Lo Mein Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) dried fine egg noodles
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 chicken breasts chopped into bite size chunks
- 1 onion peeled and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 large carrot peeled and sliced into matchsticks
- 1 large red pepper deseeded and sliced
- 20 sugarsnap (snow) peas
- 10 spring onions (scallions) cut into 2”/5cm lengths
- 4 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
- ¼ tsp white pepper
To Serve:
- 2 spring onions (scallions) chopped
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes
Instructions
- Cook the noodles in a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes (until just cooked through). Drain and rinse in cold water to prevent them from sticking together and put to one side.200 g (7 oz) dried fine egg noodles
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok. Add the chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes until cooked through.3 tbsp oil, 3 chicken breasts
- Add the sliced onion and cook for a further 2 minutes to slightly soften.1 onion
- Add the garlic, carrots, red pepper, sugarsnap peas, and spring onions (scallions). Stir and cook for 1 minute.2 cloves garlic, 1 large carrot, 1 large red pepper, 20 sugarsnap (snow) peas, 10 spring onions (scallions)
- Add in the noodles, oyster sauce, soy sauce, kecap manis, and white pepper. Fry on a high heat, tossing everything together until warmed through – about 3-4 minutes.4 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp kecap manis, ¼ tsp white pepper
- Serve topped with chopped spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds, and chilli flakes.2 spring onions (scallions), 1 tsp sesame seeds, 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
Video
Notes
Noodles
I like to use fine egg noodles for this recipe, but you can use medium noodles, wholewheat noodles, rice noodles. Even cooked spaghetti and tagliatelle works well (sounds strange to use pasta in a Chinese recipe, but it absorbs the flavours really well). You can also use ready-cooked noodles, but you may need to run them under some hot water first to separate them.Kecap Manis
Kecap Manis is a thicker (syrup-like in consistency), sweeter Indonesian soy sauce. You can find it in most larger supermarkets and Asian stores. It makes a great addition to stir fries, or as a dipping sauce, so it’s well worth having it as a store-cupboard ingredient.If you don’t want to buy it, you can replace with an extra 1+1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a tablespoon of light brown sugar. It’s not quite the same, but will still taste delicious.
White Pepper
I’m using white pepper in this dish rather than black pepper. White pepper is often used in Chinese cookery and it has a very different taste to black pepper. White pepper is hotter, spicier and with a slightly smoky taste.Vegetarian
Leave out the chicken, or replace with tofu, mushrooms or quorn pieces.Gluten free
It’s a little difficult to make this recipe gluten free, as the noodles and most of the sauce ingredients contain gluten. You can:- Replace the egg noodles with rice noodles
- Replace the soy sauce with tamari
- Use gluten free Oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee do a version)
- Remove the Kecap Manis (I haven’t seen a gluten free version of this) and replace with 1+1/2 tbsp tamari and 1 tbsp light brown sugar.
Make ahead
I don’t recommend making this recipe ahead to reheat and eat later, as the noodles will become dry and the vegetables will lose their crunch. However… I think this Lo Mein tastes great cold the next day for lunch. Add a few salad leaves for an easy meal prep noodle salad.Once cooked, cool quickly, and then cover and refrigerate. Serve straight out of the fridge the next day. Nutritional information is per serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was first published February 2019. Updated May 2023 with new photos and a video. Updated since with additional improvements and for housekeeping reasons.
🥢 More fantastic Stir Fry recipes
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Easy to follow and tasty recipe, will definitely make again!
This recipe was AMAZING. So easy, so flavorful and looking forward to making it again and again. Only addition I made was to add two stalks of celery sliced on the bias. Leftovers were just as good as the first night. Just zapped a serving on a plate in the microwave for a couple minutes. Absolutely love this recipe. Thank you.