Dinner · 25 min · chinese

Copycat Chow Mein (Panda Express’s style)

Chow mein noodles does the heavy lifting here, with napa cabbage rounding it out. A Chinese dinner that takes 25 minutes, start to finish. It is weeknight cooking that still hits your targets — 12 grams of protein per serving. No specialty equipment and nothing hard to find at a regular grocery store.

Ingredients

• 8 oz Chow mein noodles
• 3 cups Napa cabbage
• 2 Carrots
• 2 stalks Celery
• 1 cup Bean sprouts
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 1 tbsp Neutral oil
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 3 Green onions

Steps

1. Cook the noodles 1 minute short of tender and rinse cold; they’ll finish in the wok without turning to mush.
2. Get the wok or biggest skillet screaming hot before anything touches it — chow mein is 90% heat management.
3. Sear the noodles in oil first, undisturbed, until the edges char; that smoky crisp is the whole point.
4. Push noodles aside, scramble in garlic and the hard veg, then the cabbage and sprouts last so they stay bright.
5. Sauce at the end: soy, oyster sauce, sesame oil; toss hard for 60 seconds so everything glosses instead of pools.
6. Serve immediately — noodles wait for no one.

Build my plan

Share this recipe

Know someone who would love this? Send it their way.

Copy link

You might also like