Chicken Chow Mein Recipe - Cooking Classy (2024)

FAQs

What makes chow mein taste so good? ›

The sauce is what gives chow mein all of its seasoning and addictive flavors. It's a mix of oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and freshly ground black pepper. It's full of sweet and savory umami and seriously SO good.

Combine soy sauce, light sesame oil, oyster sauce, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and chicken broth to make the signature sweet and savory sauce that makes chow mein taste authentic.

They're water chestnuts, and they're surprisingly good for you! You probably already know a few things about water chestnuts. They're white and crunchy, and you'll find them in a ton of Asian-style stir fry dishes.

Crispy chow mein is usually topped with a thick brown sauce, while steamed chow mein is mixed with soy sauce before being served. There is a regional difference in the US between the East and West Coast use of the term "chow mein". On the East Coast, "chow mein" is always the crispy kind.

If you look at the ingredients of chow mein, you'll see typical, Chinese ingredients: dark soy sauce, noodles, green onion/scallions, spam or some other greasy meat, oyster sauce, and bok choy/Chinese cabbage. Also, traditional Chinese cooking is done via stir-fry in a wok or through steaming.

Carbon steel woks are known to impart a smoky, caramelized taste, but any wok works fine as long as the frying technique is right. To give your chow mein a smoky flavor, drizzle soy sauce around the edges of the wok as you fry the chow mein, making sure the surface is a little oily so the sauce won't burn.

There are many Chinese sauces that are brown just a few most common, soy sause, oyster sauce, sweet bean, Hoisin…

A cornstarch slurry is a mixture of cornstarch and water that is used in cooking to thicken WITHOUT powdery lumps or additional flavors/colors! This is the secret to so many of your favorite Chinese dishes.

Actually, the main distinction between these two popular dishes lies in how the noodles are prepared. Mein or mian is simply the Chinese word for noodles. Lo mein means "tossed noodles," while chow mein or chao mian means "fried noodles."

Overcooking the Noodles: One of the most common mistakes is overcooking the chow mein noodles, leaving them mushy rather than al dente. The key is to cook them until they're still quite firm, as they'll continue cooking when you add them to the stir-fry.

What kind of noodles do you use for chow mein? ›

Chow mein noodles: I make chow mein with dried Chinese egg noodles, which are usually labeled “chow mein noodles,” “stir-fry noodles” or “lo mein noodles” in American grocery stores.

If you are unable to find noodles that are specifically labeled as chow mein noodles or lo mein noodles, you can use linguine noodles, regular Italian spaghetti noodles, or another type of Asian noodle as a similar substitute.

“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.

“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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.