Chicken Chow Mein Recipe - Cooking Classy (2024)

FAQs

What makes chow mein taste like chow mein? ›

Simple sauce: While chow mein sauce is unbelievably easy to make, it still brings a complexity of flavors to the dish. The careful combination of ingredients like soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce and sugar results in a chow mein sauce that has hints of both savory and sweet notes.

Chow mein (/ˈtʃaʊ ˈmeɪn/ and /ˈtʃaʊ ˈmiːn/, simplified Chinese: 炒面; traditional Chinese: 炒麵; Pinyin: chǎomiàn) is a dish of Chinese stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu.

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.

Special chow mein features a mix of proteins like chicken, shrimp, or pork, and vegetables, and is tossed in a flavorful chow mein sauce, giving each dish its unique taste.

CHICAGO CHOW MEIN: Slices of vegetables in a dark sauce with mushrooms, water chestnuts, and pea pods. A la carte.

Blanch the chow mein noodles for 30-60 seconds, rinse with cold water, drain and set aside. Mix soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, sesame oil, sugar, black vinegar, and black pepper in a bowl. In a large pan, drizzle in a generous amount of oil and turn the heat to medium-high.

In New York, if you order it from a Chinese takeout restaurant, you'll get vegetables cooked in white sauce (with a protein of your choice) served with white rice. You'd probably find a small bag of crackers in the delivery bag.

The differences are actually quite subtle on this one. Americanized chow mein is heavier on the flavors, a bit saltier and will often use broccoli, chicken and carrots as a pairing. Chow mein found in China is much more delicate. Traditional Cantonese cooking is actually known for its soft and elegant flavor profiles.

It's the perfect one pan meal: it's quick to make, and so versatile. There are actually two kinds of chow mein: a crispy version and a saucy version. Calling one crispy is kind of confusing because both versions should be crispy, but the main difference is how the sauce is incorporated into the dish.

The biggest difference between chow mein and lo mein lies in the translations of their names: chow mein is fried, and lo mein is tossed. The experience is somewhat different between the two. Lo mein tends to be saucier and more toothsome, with a texture some describe as “slippery” because of the noodles' softness.

What is the difference between chicken chow mein and lo mein? ›

“Lo mein usually uses the fat, chewy noodles, while chow mein uses the thin type of noodles that sometimes contain egg.” Lo mein uses fresh noodles that are boiled for a few minutes, while chow mein uses dried noodles that are parboiled for five to six minutes. Then there's the difference in cooking method.

Chow Mein And Lo Mein Use Different Noodles

Lo mein typically uses fresh noodles, while chow mein can be made with fresh or dried. Lo mein noodles are typically thick and chewy. Stir-fried noodles in chow mein are thinner and cooked to a golden crisp.

Stir-fried noodles mingling with onions, celery, cabbage, and succulent chicken, all tossed in a delicious sauce—restaurant-style chicken chow mein is a cinch to make at home!

Chow mein typically includes noodles stir-fried with vegetables, a source of protein and sauce for flavor. The exact nutrition information depends on the specific recipe and the amount you eat; this information may be available online or at the restaurant if you ask for it. Yes chowmin qualifies as junk food.

With chow mein, you cook noodles and add them to your wok of other ingredients, cooking everything together in one pan. However, with a chop suey recipe, you will cook the noodles or rice and other ingredients separately before combining them in a bowl, serving up the noodles or rice with the sauce served over the top.

Yes, it is possible to substitute spaghetti for chow mein noodles by boiling it with a small amount of baking soda. The baking soda alters the pH level of the spaghetti, giving it a similar texture and flavor to chow mein noodles. They can then be used in any dish that calls for chow mein noodles.

If you can't find Hong Kong noodles, boil thin wonton noodles in water until they're just barely tender (under a minute), drain and carefully dry them, and then toss them with just a bit of oil. Sometimes also labeled as chow mein noodles, these look similar to thin wonton noodles.

Largely this is a matter of personal taste since both dishes can be made to your preference. If you prefer lightly sauced noodles with some crunch and vegetables with some snap, chow mein might be the way to go. If you like a more comforting noodle with richly flavored sauce, lo mein may be the better option.

Chow mein typically features crunchy noodles. These noodles are often fried or deep-fried until they become crispy, giving them a unique texture and flavor. Chow mein noodles can be served on the side or as a base for the dish, with stir-fried ingredients and sauce poured over them.