In my opinion, home-cooked meals are always better (but obviously it can be hard to make them taste better). The main reason I feel this way is that you get to control the quality of the ingredients. I am not saying all take-out is bad quality food, but most is. Unfortunately, sometimes the lower the quality, the better the taste (Think McDonald’s fries vs. oven-baked fries). This is why I get so excited when I try to recreate meals at home and they taste way ‘Better Than Takeout’!
My 20-Minute Easy Chicken Lo Mein is no exception. The prep work involves some slicing, chopping, and mixing; the result is a savory dish where grabbing seconds is inevitable. For me, the true test is when my little chefs are also asking for more.
Speaking of little chefs, if you are trying to have your kids get involved more in the kitchen, this is a great recipe to do so. There are a few ingredients that are prepared in different ways, and the sauce uses the basic ingredients found in most Asian/American dishes. This will teach them some basics and allow them to evolve the dish in the future!
As always, I will now walk through a few of the key ingredients and cooking tips to help you crush this meal and be the dinner time hero:
- Noodles – Yes, I call all pasta ‘noodles’. It is very Wisconsin of me, but it is something I can’t change. The nice part about this dish is that you can use whatever pasta/noodle you like. Some have told me they prefer rice noodles. Great! When we make it, we like to use a traditional spaghetti noodle. Whatever your preference, go for it!
- Chicken – Chicken tenders, chicken thighs, chicken breasts…. The world is your chicken? As long as you cut it up into small chunks, go with your favorite.
- Veggies – “But Kirk, I don’t like mushrooms!” No worries, don’t add them! If you prefer snow peas over sugar snap peas, it’s all good! With this dish, we like mushrooms, sugar snap peas, and carrots. Please don’t let that limit how you want to make it. Other good additions would be broccoli or water chestnuts.
- Sriracha – Not all are made the same. Fix Hot Sauce is by far the best. This is not an ad, it’s a fact.
See below for full measurements and cooking instructions!
Equipment
- Bowl
- Wok
- Cutting Board
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1 lb chicken
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 large carrot
- 5 mushrooms
- 10 oz pasta
- Sugar snap peas
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. Sriracha
- Chopped green onions
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- Dice up the chicken into small pieces and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- In a wok or high rimmed pan, heat up some olive oil and add the chicken and garlic.
- Cook the chicken in olive oil until golden brown and cooked through, then remove.
- While that cooks, slice up the carrots and mushrooms. Set aside.
- Boil pasta or rice noodles to al dente.
- Add more oil to the pan, and cook the carrots, mushrooms, and sugar snap peas.
- While that cooks, add the sauce ingredients (soy, honey, sesame oil, ginger, sriracha) and mix them all together!
- Add the chicken back to the wok and the cooked noodles. Pour in the sauce and heat it up for a minute or two.
- Top with green onion and sesame seeds
- Enjoy!
