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.
PANDA EXPRESS CHOW MEIN COPYCAT RECIPE 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
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- Asian Lettuce Wraps with Skinny Sriracha Cream Sauce
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- Layered Sweet & Sour Asian Dip with Wonton Dippers
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- Asian noodle recipes
More 20-Minute Recipes
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 reduced sodium soy sauce
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ginger fresh, grated
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 (3-ounce packs) ramen noodles discard seasoning pack
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1/2 cup 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
You can also find great recipes here or at Meal Plan Monday or Weekend Potluck
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Em says
This sounds so good – would like to try. I just wondered what type of cabbage are you using – chinese napa cabbage or just the regular kind (that we use to make coleslaw)?
Paula says
I used regular cabbage.
Nicole says
I made this tonight and really liked it. I’ve used a similar Panda Express copycat recipe which calls for yakisoba noodles, which are more expensive and aren’t as readily available, and oyster sauce. I like that your recipe didn’t use these 2 things and it actually tasted more like Panda Express. It was my second time trying chow mein with ramen noodles and this time was more successful. I think the trick is to stop cooking them as soon as they’re no longer stiff. I also sprayed them with cold water and added them to the vegetables as soon as they finish draining. I used 5 packages of noodles instead of 3 and there was enough sauce to coat them all (but perhaps I used less veggies than the recipe called for). This will be a new regular at our house; my 4 kids loved it.
Paula says
Thanks so much, Nichole. I literally could eat this every day. 😁
2pots2cook says
Perfect week night dinner ! So inviting !