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.
This turned out so good! I added chicken to it and it was amazing! Will be making it again.
We made this and loved it. Our thoughts for next time were to add the peanuts and green onion to the hot dish before serving so they would be coated in sauce. Great recipe!
Hi, I’m Diane. Just wanted to give folks a hack. If you don’t have low sodium soy sauce, just mix equal parts regular soy and water. I also recommend adding celery, cut on the bias, for extra crunch and flavour. I added about a cup. I also used store-bought fresh chow neon noodles, available in the produce section of most grocery stores.
My family loved this recipe. I bought the box of the chow mein noodles- which were 14 ounces. I cooked the whole thing. There wasn’t anything left. Even my 2 grandsons loved it and want me to make it again!! Great recipe!!!!
Can I use the ramen seasoning packet for different meals instead of discarding it?
I use the seasoning packs to make soups, or to season potatoes and eggs.
I find those flavor packets included in the ramen are extremely salty. I have always tossed them in the garbage,
This was absolutely amazing! The sauce is to die for and this dish is an excellent starting point to tinker with . That being said , I didn’t do cabbage this time because I didn’t have any but i just had to try it because it looked so good. I took the liberty of cubing chicken thighs for some protein. That sauce , WOW! Next time I’ll have it with cabbage and there will definitely be a next time . Already added to my favorites and thank you so much for sharing your recipe with us. It was wonderful even with the variations. Delicious !
I’m so happy you liked it. Noodles are my weakness, I’ll try adding chicken next time to mine. Thank you for commenting.
My family loved this recipe!!
Oh yay! I love to hear that. I do love a quick recipe too. 😉
How many ounces of regular spaghetti pasta would you substitute if making enough to serve four ?
9 ounces — most spaghetti noodles come in 16 ounce boxes so I’d used about half the box.
It had too much soy sauce for me. Next time I think l’ll slowly add in the soy sauce in increments to make sure it’s not too much. Thank you for the recipe!
I made for lunch and though it was delicious. It was so good I reheated the rest and ate it with the family for dinner. Winner, winner recipe!!