Quick and easy to prepare, this Chicken Lo Mein is packed with veggies and saucy goodness. Ready in 20 minutes!
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.
There’s no need for complicated or shop-bought sauces too. This Lo Mein gets it’s 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.
We start off by cooking the noodles. At the same time, fry the chicken in some oil until cooked. Then add in sliced onions and fry for a minute or two. Add in the garlic and stir.
Add in the veggies – I like to use peppers, carrots, spring onions (scallions) and sugarsnap peas (snow peas) and the cooked-and-drained noodles. Then add oyster sauce, soy sauce, kecap manis and white pepper. Stir together and fry until everything is hot and the sauce coats the noodles and vegetables.
Serve topped with more spring onions, sesame seeds and chilli flakes.
If you like this recipe, try some of our other Asian stir fry recipes:
- Vegetarian Kway Teow
- Sticky chicken stir fry
- Crispy chilli beef noodles
- Kung Pao chicken
- Spicy ginger beef stir fry
The Chicken Lo Mein Recipe:
Chicken Lo Mein
Ingredients
- 7 oz (200g) dried fine egg noodles
- 3 tbsp vegetable 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
- 1/4 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 sticking together and put to one side.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok. Add the chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes until cooked through.
- Add the sliced onion and cook for a further 2 minutes to slightly soften.
- Add the garlic, carrots, red pepper, sugarsnap peas and spring onions (scallions). Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- 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.
- Serve topped with chopped spring onions (scallions), sesame seeds and chilli flakes.
Recipe Video
Recipe 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.
Nutritional Information
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Sarah says
June 4, 2019 at 12:56 pmThis looks so good. I love that it comes together so quickly and has tons of vegetables in it. I have been wanting to try some Chinese inspired recipes, so this is one I will have to make. Is there something to use in place of oyster sauce, since I’m pretty sure my grocery store doesn’t carry it.
Sheila Swanson says
March 4, 2019 at 8:52 pmQuick and easy. I used veg I had on hand…peppers, mushrooms red onion, Chinese broccoli, and carrots. YUM! Thanks for the tip on replacing the kecap manis as I couldn’t find it .