Easy Chicken Lo Mein

I don’t think I ate Chinese food until I was in high school. At least not regularly. And if I did, then I definitely had nothing but sweet and sour some.

Although it was difficult for me to find decent Chinese food in my small rural town growing up, nowadays Chinese food is universal and delicious!

Video: How to Make Easy Chicken Lo Mein

Children and Chinese Food

This lo mein is a great way to introduce new flavors to kids as you can use almost any vegetable along with the chicken and pasta. This is the kind of dish you can make almost on a whim once you get the hang of it.

For this version, I used shredded kale, which I knew would be too much effort for my kids. Little did they know I had a secret weapon for this meal! (SPOILER: CHOPSTICKS)

What is Lo Mein Noodles?

Traditional Lo Mein noodles are becoming more common these days, and you can find them in most grocery stores in the Asian section or in the chilled food section. Try to find fresh pasta, but the dried variety is fine too.

Lo Mein Verse Chow Mein

Another common noodle dish in Chinese cuisine is chow mein, which is very similar to lo mein.

However, chow mein noodles are fried and tend to be crunchier than lo mein noodles. In my experience, chow mein noodles are also thinner.

Also, lo mein dishes have more sauce, while chow mein is more of a drier pan.

A simple Lo Mein sauce

Most Lo Mein sauces are very simple and based on soy sauce. Some involve adding sugar or honey. I like to add hoisin sauce to mine, which is a bit more complex; not only is it sweet, but it also brings some salty and tangy flavors that make it a great sauce base.

You can also add some chilli sauce or a dash of fish sauce and they will be in very good shape.

Make lo mein with what you have

The beauty of this recipe is that it can be adapted to almost any vegetable. It really can be a recipe for clearing out the fridge. When I do this, I rarely buy vegetables to go with it. Whatever I have in my vegetable drawers goes in. However, if you order it, it’s usually served with cabbage, shredded carrots, and sometimes peas.

So feel free to experiment and add whatever veggies you have.

Stronger vegetables like zucchini, cabbage, and broccoli should be added after the chicken and allowed to stir-fry before adding the noodles. If you’re adding more fragile, faster-cooking vegetables like spinach or Swiss chard, add them at the very end of cooking.

Dad adds: Sriracha Roasted Veggies!

This is an extremely lo mein dish for beginners. The sauce is about as easy as making a sauce, which is great because it’s quick to make and very accessible to kids. But if you know me, you know I want that little something extra!

So I make these quick roasted vegetables, which cook around the same time as the lo mein dish. You can use almost any veg, but I like mushrooms and peppers. Toss them with some sesame oil and sriracha, and they make a great pasta topper!

The children’s certificate

Noodles are generally a hit with my kids, but I was a bit concerned about the amount of veggies mixed into this dish. Cabbage isn’t something my kids had a lot of.

However, there was a secret weapon to this meal: CHOPSTICKS.

My children love with chopsticks. You can get kid-friendly chopsticks that have little finger grips that make them easy to use. My kids use them for all kinds of food and I always try to make it fun by racing them or seeing who gets the biggest chopstick bite. (Tricks of the trade, right?)

My four year old ate a pretty solid dinner that night, but he’s getting good enough with the chopsticks that he can sort through a dish like this and avoid cabbage. POOH. My 2 year old slurped up some pasta and then had to tend to her stuffed puppy collection. I accept it.

Want more easy homemade Chinese food?

• Quick and easy egg drop soup
• Chicken Sweet-sour
• Fried rice with chicken
• Broccoli and Beef Skillet
• Kung Pao Chicken