American Takeout Chicken Chow Mein with Crispy Noodles: Recipe Instructions
The closest thing to the fresh noodles we used to fry in the restaurant years ago that I could find in our neighborhood Asian grocery store were these Chinese wide egg noodles. Although the noodles were typically wider and colorless, these nonetheless functioned perfectly. Additionally, egg roll skins can be purchased and cut into strips to make crispy fried noodles.
Heat the oil in a deep medium pot to 400 degrees. Using your fingers, break up the noodles and drop a handful at a time into the oil.
To separate the noodles and keep them from sticking together, break them up with a long fork or a pair of heatproof chopsticks. Fry until golden brown. The image illustrates why I recommended using a deep pot.
The oil in the pot is about two inches deep, but after the noodles are added, the oil bubbles up nearly to the top of the pot. When frying in this manner, exercise caution and begin with a small batch until you get the “feel” of it. Safety first – always.
For the noodles to brown evenly, you might need to flip or move them. Drain on a paper towel and let cool. Repeat until all noodles are done and set aside. Make extra of these crunchy, freshly fried noodles to munch on while you’re cooking—you won’t have any left over for the dish!
Even better, if you’re feeling nostalgic and preparing this dish, serve a bowlful of these as an appetizer or starter, just like all Chinese restaurants used to do, with some duck sauce (sweet plum sauce). Even better, try our recipes for Chinese Hot Mustard and duck sauce in the restaurant style.
Combine the cornstarch, sesame oil, and soy sauce in a medium-sized bowl to marinate the chicken. Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
When you’re prepared to cook, heat up a wok on high. Add a tablespoon of oil and sear the chicken.
Remove from the wok and set aside. Stir-fry the onions and garlic for 30 seconds after adding them to the wok.
Then add the celery and fresh shiitake mushrooms. Stir-fry for another minute.
Stir-fry for about 30 seconds, then add the bean sprouts, salt, sugar, pepper, and seared chicken along with the chicken stock. Stir-fry until the mixture comes to a boil.
Add the cornstarch slurry gradually until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon. You can adjust the seasoning and add extra chicken stock if you prefer more sauce. Serve over rice. Enjoy the dish after adding a heaping helping of fried noodles on top.
Nothin’ like classic American Chinese takeout food at home!
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What you need for Crunchy Chow Mein
Here’s what you need for Crunchy Chow Mein. I’ve separated the photos into two components:
- base ingredients: noodles that are crispy and sauce; and
- Vegetable options for topping – there’s really no rules here. Simply use four to five cups of your favorite vegetables.
Because egg noodles are wetter and stickier than Hokkien noodles and don’t crisp up as well, they won’t work as well in this recipe for Chinese Crispy Noodles.
The reason chow mein noodles can turn crispy in a pan is because they have a distinct dryness and slightly crunchy texture (see below).
Use instant noodles or ramen noodles (see this recipe for photos), and you should be good to go! Apply oil to the uncooked noodles and bake them! (Yes, it really does work perfectly, 90% of the time)
How to make Chinese Crispy Noodles
Deep-fried noodles are commonly served at Chinese restaurants, which are crunchy.
Sure, it’s tasty, but my skinny jeans don’t really like it. .
Thus, I pan-fry my Chinese Crispy Noodles when I make them at home. The meaning of this is that the middle part of the noodles doesn’t go as crispy as it would when deep-fried.
However, as long as you make the noodles relatively thin, the entire surface area of the “pancake” does become crispy, so you won’t feel like you’ve been cheated out of crispiness!
