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(Popular and All-Time Favorite Chinese recipes: Broccoli Beef, Sweet and Sour Pork, Egg Drop Soup, Kung Pao Chicken, Cashew Chicken, Fried Rice, Orange Chicken, Mongolian Beef, and more.)
Chinese invented the noodles and changed the way we eat, that’s not an overstatement. As a Chinese, noodles and rice are something I can’t do without. I use Chinese noodles a lot in everyday cooking and can’t even begin to think how my culinary experiences would have been, if noodles were never invented.
Chinese noodles are versatile and there are so many ways to prepare them–stir-fry, pan-fry, boil, blanch, soup, gravy, or dry. I could never get bored of noodles. It’s one of the easiest foods to prepare at home, and the end results are always satisfying.
One of the most popular Chinese noodles in the US is chow mein or literally “fried noodles” (炒面) in Cantonese dialect. Chow mein is also a favorite Chinese take-out item. Some shredded vegetables, some protein–either chicken, pork, beef, seafood, or combination–and you will have a perfect chow mein that is cheap, filling, and sinfully gratifying. Yeah, I am talking about that grease at the bottom of the chow mein…
Making chow mein or any Chinese noodles at home doesn’t have to be complicated, if you know which noodles to buy (which according to many non-Asians, it’s the toughest part of it all). I have to say that the varieties of Chinese noodles available in the market are rather overwhelming; however, if you narrow down your selection, things would get a lot easier–and manageable. So, let’s start with chow mein, which is also the name used for fresh noodles.
I did some research over the weekend and found that there are two kinds of chow mein sold at the market: 1) steamed chow mein (pictured below), and 2) pan-fried chow mein. They are practically the same Chinese noodles, but the latter tends to be dryer and hence it’s for pan-fried purposes. I prefer steamed chow mein.
Now that you have narrowed down your Chinese noodles selection, the cooking process is really easy. In Asia, chow mein are mostly cooked with bean sprouts, but I noticed that fried noodles served at Chinese restaurants in the US usually come with shredded cabbages and carrot, which are great, too.
For the protein, you can use any meat or seafood or any combination of your choice. Chicken chow mein is always safe with most people, but combination is always pleasing and exciting.
Try my chow mein recipe and I bet you will become a Chinese noodles expert in no time.
Please check out more Chinese recipes on Rasa Malaysia and the popular Chinese food below.
CHINESE RECIPES: POPULAR & ALL-TIME FAVORITES
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| Chow Mein | Broccoli Beef | Sweet and Sour Pork | Egg Drop Soup |
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| Kung Pao Chicken | Cashew Chicken | Fried Rice | Orange Chicken |
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| Crab Rangoon | Mongolian Beef |
(Click Page 2 for the Chow Mein (Chinese Noodles) Recipe)
Pages: 1 2
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My favourite noodles are ‘bee hoon’. I love chow mi fen :-)
Salivating at the so many types of ingredients you have in the noodles!
Yummy, I love chow mein and yes, the grease that comes with it. :P
i knw i get the shivers if i dun hav noodles for a couple of days!
I love love noodles. BTW, what are the different between stir fry and pan fry???
I’m replying from my common sense and my ideas-
“Stir fry” means frying with less quantity oil such that, if you don’t stir while frying the will get burnt at one side and will remain uncooked on the other side. Here the food gets heat directly from the cooking pot.
“Pan fry” means to fry food submerged in hot oil. Here the food gets heat from the oil, not from the cooking pot.
Have a nice day!
No the difference is a wok or a frying pan.
Submerged in oil would be deep fry.
Have a nice day
wow!
i was waiting for Chow Mein.
ciaoooo
This looks like a lovely recipe and I love chow mein. Thank you so much!
Looks good. Once in awhile though, I crave for simple “economy” noodles …just noodles and chives!
Stumbled upon yr website. Your dishes look great! Keep it up. I love chow mein but mee hoon is my favourite!!
halo…. so sad….. why so sad?
I wonder i shud come more frequent…
as your site start to influence me to start cooking with your recipe…
too many tempting food and may be we are the one that know our taste buds the most…
hmm… let me think think la…
sometime tummy take over everything…. hahahaha
im 1 of those who prefers mee hoon but stil dont know how to make them. lol.
Iv been wanting to learn how to make chow mein with that extra oil. i know its bad (the oil part) but i know im gonna love your chow mein recipe. thank you!
RM, I am going to give you a gold medal for all of these great Chinese posts. Thanks for teaching us all about Chinese culture and food.
the joys of chow mien which i hardly eat anymore. right then, i’ll be preparing this for my weekend lunch. thanks for reminding me that every Chinese has a mien-bone in their body ;) x
the joys of chow mien which i hardly eat anymore. right then, i’ll be preparing this for my weekend lunch. thanks for reminding me that every Chinese has a mien-bone in their body ;) x
I now know how to make chow mein, thanks to your chow mein recipe
Give me the honour to serve you with some good food :)
I should be making more Asian noodle dishes…I found a great source for Chinese noodles here (homemade!) :) Will be saving this recipe…thanks for sharing it!
Gorgeous – but I have to agree with Keropok Man, chow mei fun is a down-home favorite. Any fun (no pun intended) ideas for chow mei fun variations? I’ve been obsessively making a version of singapore fried noodles / chow mei fun. I’ve been scouring your site for good fried noodle recipes — my latest obsession, so I love this series you’re doing.
- Ella
http://cookingconfessional.blogspot.com/
You make your chow mein recipe easier than i thought it would be. It definitely looks so much better than the ‘empty’ chow mein version at the restaurants here.
They only serve chow mein with bean sprouts here. plus they donch look as pretty as yours.
I’ve tried the recipe, but it didn’t come out as delicious looking as the picture. I think the problem lies in the fact that I boiled the noodles instead of steaming it as stated in the recipe. Will it make much of a difference? Anyway, the end result was bland tasting noodles. Another thing is 8 oz of noodles seem to be terribly a lot, don’t you think so? My noodles appeared to be so much more in comparison to the prawns, chicken and vege. I wonder if there’s anyway that I can improve my cooking method.
Substitute the garlic with ginger. You won’t be disappointed.
Anonymous – you shouldn’t boil your noodles first. I used “steamed chow mein” but the chow mein weren’t really steamed. It’s just marketed as steamed chow mein. If it’s bland for you, add more seasoning. If you prefer more veggie, chicken and prawns, feel free to add more. Hope this helps.
This was one of 5 of your recipes that I made last w/e and like the other 4 it tasted fantastic.
Wow!! This is the best recipe I’ve had in a while!!! Easy and fun to make too, thank you ever so much for sharing!!!
i have one question how many does this serve? it looks like a great easy recipe as well.
Few years back when I was in US, I was quite surprise to know that Chow Mein is a popular food among American. Love the creative design of Chow Mein takeaway box but still prefer the taste in Malaysia :)
Hey this is a really great recipe, I love cooking so right now I’m just just trying recipes out of my league and i really love this one. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Merlyn.
good for how many people is this recipe ? and the chinese fried rice too ho many people can eat
as a western chef running a kitchen in beijing with all chinese staff i always get grief off the guys for making local dishes in the western/wrong way. however, all the dishes i have made from this site get the thumbs up off the guys on my team. great stuff
Made this chow mein for dinner and it was soooo good. Thanks!!
glad you like this recipe. and thanks for sharing your feedback!
Stumbled upon your site while searching for a Chow Mein recipe. It was a lot easier to make than I thought it would be and turned out great! Thanks for posting it, I can’t wait to try out more of your recipes. :)
thanks for the receipt, mines turned out great!! i added red and greed bell peppers. I wish we could add pics on the comment so i can show how mines turned out.
Looks yummy and pretty easy. How many servings does this make?
2-3 people.
love your rescipes. thanks great food
thanks for your rescipes
hi if we want to replace wine viniger to normal viniger is it and any other ingredients that contain wine ok &sometimes we can’t find all the soya souce what other souce do u advise me & can u show as which is the frid noodles with pictures thanks a lot
If you don’t have rich wine, don’t use it. Wine vinegar is not the same as rice wine. Soy sauce is essential but if you can’t find, you can use salt.
i dont like cooking for many peoples.only a few is ok . anyways thanks for recipes i like chow mein too much , i’ll try one day.
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I had to add a lot more soy sauce for it to taste good. Other than that, the recipe was terrific.
Thank you! I have been trying to make noodles like these for a couple of years and last night I did it thanks to this recipe. I did use my own sauce but next time I’ll try this one. Oh, and I actually used a couple packages of Ramen (without the seasoning) for the noodles because that’s what I had and it worked nicely.
I would like to know more about steamed chow mien and pan-fried chow mien. Is it dried noodles?
I have the same question as Lui. I’d also like to know if you can recommend some brand names, there are so many to choose from.
I went to the Asian market and asked for the “steam” chow mein noodles, they took me to the refrigerator section, which took me my surprise. They also refer to these as “fresh” noodles. Glad I got that figured out. Thought I’d share my discovery in case anyone else out there is Asian noodle illiterate.
im starving!!!!!
I’d so love to make this, but I can’t find these noodles. Markets near my house are Safeway and Whole Foods. They have those crispy noodles in the can, and they have many different Ramen type noodles. I did not find steamed chow mein, however. Can you give some more hints about where to find these noodles?
Asian stores.
Am I allowed to use this picture for a non profitable use for my ICT coursework at school? please reply thanks.
Please credit the source and you may.
The food looks absolutely stunning and my mouth is actually gathering water just looking at the picture of your dish. this is one other dish of yours i will also be cooking.
I’ve tried various brand of noodles in Malaysia and nothing close to the ones I’ve eaten in the US Chinese restaurant. Is dry egg noddles good enough to make a decent chow mein? Thanks!
Yes, you can. :)
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I am looking for a recipe of Chow Mein and landed on this page, now all I need to do is find the right noodles, thank you.
Thanks for introducing me to chow mein noodles. They were so tasty!!
I jst love nodlz…thanx a lot..keep upldng..:)