PANDA EXPRESS CHOW MEIN COPYCAT RECIPE
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This amazing, easy, and quick stir-fried Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat Recipe is fantastic! Completely customizable and absolutely delicious! Throw in whatever veggies you have and enjoy.
PANDA EXPRESS CHOW MEIN COPYCAT RECIPE
I enjoy recreating restaurants at home, cutting calories and putting my own spin on them. You can check out all my Restaurant Remakes here. As well, this recipe takes less than 30 minutes. I can’t drive to, order, and get my food at a restaurant in that amount of time. Bonus points for being cheaper and healthier at home.
Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat Recipe is noodle based with a rich tasty sauce and a few vegetables. You can add any vegetables you like or have on hand. Additionally, you can add sliced or ground chicken or turkey for more protein. I love an all pasta meal, but the boys like a hearty bite of meat.
WHAT IS CHOW MEIN?
In American Chinese cuisine, it is a stir-fried dish consisting of noodles, meat (chicken being most common but pork, beef, shrimp or tofu sometimes being substituted), onions and celery. It is often served as a specific dish at westernized Chinese restaurants.
For the noodles in this recipe, I use three bags of dried Ramen noodles and discarded the seasoning pack. These are the cheap packs for ramen soup that costs about $.25. Those are usually on the soup isle. In the Asian section of my local grocery store, they have Simply Asia brand ramen noodles.
TIPS FOR SUBSTITUTIONS
- First, I used cabbage instead of celery.
- If you can’t find ramen noodles, regular spaghetti noodles will work just fine.
- Most noteworthy, be attentive to your noodles and don’t overcook them.
- I recommend reduced sodium soy sauce.
- Additionally, fresh ginger is a key ingredient. Dry, ground ginger really doesn’t have the same flavor.
- I listed peanuts as a garnish and they are totally optional. However, I really enjoy the nice crunch they offer the dish especially since there is no meat in it.
- I love my 3.75 Le Creuset Braiser braiser for this recipe. As well, it’s large enough to hold everything and looks pretty to serve in.
More Asian Inspired Recipes
More 20-Minute Recipes
- 20-Minute Tomato Pesto Pasta
- Cherry Tomato and Basil Angel Hair Pasta
- Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta
- Be sure to check out my roundup posts 34 Watermelon recipes and 30 Burgers.
- You can also find great recipes at Recipe Index
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Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary based on products used.
Panda Express Chow Mein Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 3 cloves garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger fresh, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 (3-ounce packs) ramen noodles discard seasoning pack
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/2 cup white onion diced
- 2 cups cabbage shredded
- sliced green onion and chopped peanuts for garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, and pepper.
- Cook ramen noodles according to package directions. Drain well.
- Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cabbage. Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add noodles and soy sauce mixture and stir until noodles are coated with sauce. Rest for about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
Amazing and super simple!!!
I made this last night and it was delicious! I added chicken and shrimp, celery and extra cabbage. It made a very large portion. I will try freezing. This is a DEFINITE KEEPER!!! So Easy, So Good!!! Thank You
I’m so happy you liked it! Thank you!
This was so good and easy! Didn’t have ramen, used spaghetti noodles, bagged coleslaw mix and added red pepper flakes cause we like spicy. I doubled the recipe and there were no leftovers with my family of 6!
I’m so happy you liked it. Thanks for commenting!
Delicious and I added Bok Choy for additional crunch and texture.
Love that! I’m going to try it next time I make this.
This dish is fantastic! Way better than the actual Panda Express noodles. My teenager went back for seconds AND took the leftovers back to college with him. Can’t get much higher praise than that!
How much celery would you use instead of cabbage?
Would this reheat well? I’d like to make this the night before and eat it for my lunch over a couple of days.
Yes, it really does. I think it’s better reheated.
This was a hit! I added ground beef, carrots and zucchini. Thank you!
We have a sesame allergy, can I substitute other vegetable oil or will it alter the sauce too much?
Olive oil is a good sub for sesame oil.
Delicious! My whole fam enjoyed it – definitely going to be my go-to chowmein recipe! I added chicken strips as well 🙂