Vegetables star in low-cost, high-flavor Lo Mein recipe | Chula King

Chula King
·3 min read

Vegetable Lo Mein is an inexpensive, delicious, and versatile Chinese dish that is quick and easy to prepare. Made with lo mein noodles and a variety of healthy vegetables tossed in a slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce, this one-pot dish offers a restaurant-quality meal that is sure to please.

This homemade Veggie Lo Mein takes less than 15 minutes to cook and makes incredible leftovers. Even better is its versatility – dress it up with chicken, shrimp, pork, etc., or mix up the vegetables by adding broccoli florets, celery, or bean sprouts.

This homemade Veggie Lo Mein takes less than 15 minutes to cook and makes great leftovers.
This homemade Veggie Lo Mein takes less than 15 minutes to cook and makes great leftovers.

Here’s what I used in this recipe

The Noodles: I used dried lo mein noodles in this recipe that I purchased at a local Asian market. Sometimes, you can find lo mein noodles in the Asian section of your supermarket.

The Vegetables: This recipe has a lot of healthy vegetables, including Cremini mushrooms, carrots, red bell pepper, green onions, baby spinach, fresh ginger, and fresh garlic. It’s super easy to substitute other vegetables or add to the vegetables.

Lo Mein Sauce: For the sauce, I used chicken broth, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, and Sriracha hot sauce, thickened with cornstarch. You can omit the Sriracha sauce or even use your favorite hot sauce.

The Rest of the Ingredients: I used olive to coat the cooked lo mein noodles and vegetable oil to stir fry the vegetables.

The Vegetable Lo Mein was truly restaurant quality.

Why not give this classic Chinese dish a try? It will likely become a family favorite.

Dress up Vegetable Lo Mein with chicken, shrimp, pork, etc., or mix up the vegetables by adding broccoli florets, celery, or bean sprouts.
Dress up Vegetable Lo Mein with chicken, shrimp, pork, etc., or mix up the vegetables by adding broccoli florets, celery, or bean sprouts.

Vegetable Lo Mein

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 ounces dried Chinese lo mein noodles

1 Tablespoon olive oil or sesame oil

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

3 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

3 Tablespoons Hoisin sauce

1/2 teaspoon Sriracha hot chili sauce, optional

1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

8 ounces cremini or white mushrooms, sliced

1 large carrot, peeled and cut julienne or into 2-inch match sticks

1 medium to large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 2-inch match sticks

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup fresh snow peas

3 green onions, sliced thin with the white and green parts separated

6 ounces of baby spinach

Directions

Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large saucepan. Add the lo mein noodles to the boiling water and cook until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain, rinse thoroughly with cold water, and then drain again. Toss the cooked noodles with olive or sesame oil; set aside.

Whisk together the chicken broth, soy sauce, Hoisin sauce, Sriracha chili sauce if desired, ginger, and cornstarch in a bowl; set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in a Wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, carrots, and bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the snow peas, the white part of the green onions, and spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted, 2-3 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings.

Tips and tricks

  • The most time-consuming part of this recipe is the ingredient preparation. Sometimes, I’ll prep the vegetables and make the lo mein sauce in the morning. Then, I’ll put them in the refrigerator for later use. This way, there’s minimal effort in actually stir-frying the dish.

  • Because I used chicken broth in this recipe, it is not vegetarian. However, you can easily make the Vegetable Lo Mein vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth.

  • Feel free to substitute spaghetti for the lo mein noodles.

  • Because carrots take longer than other vegetables to cook, I like to use a Julienne peeler to cut the carrots into very thin Julienne strips. Cut the carrots into thin strips if you don’t have a Julienne peeler.

  • Sometimes, I will omit the noodles in this recipe and serve the stir-fried vegetables over rice. It’s just as yummy!

  • Leftovers can be covered and refrigerated for three to four days. Reheat on the stovetop or gently in the microwave.

Chula King is the blogger behind PudgeFactor.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Vegetables star in low-cost, big flavor recipe for Lo Mein