Quick and Saucy Chicken Chow Mein for Busy Weeknights

This Quick and Saucy Chicken Chow Mein for Busy Weeknights is perfect for tight schedules. You can chop all the fresh vegetables while the poultry marinates for 10 minutes. After the pan gets hot, the stir-frying process takes just over five minutes, producing enough to feed three people.

The stir-fry sauce

The sauce relies on all-purpose soy sauce or light soy sauce. Do not use dark soy sauce or sweet soy sauce in the mixture. Oyster sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and cornstarch complete the base. Chinese cooking wine, also known as Shaoxing wine, provides an authentic restaurant flavor.

Dry sherry makes an easy swap for the cooking wine. If you prefer mirin, that works perfectly, but remember to drop the added sugar down to a single teaspoon. To cook the meal without alcohol, switch out the wine for chicken broth and use additional chicken broth instead of the requested water. Choosing tamari over soy sauce will keep the plate gluten-free. Alternatively, you can bypass mixing the liquids from scratch by pouring in one third of a cup of a store-bought multi-purpose Chinese cooking sauce.

The chicken

Chicken thigh cooks up juicier than chicken breast or tenderloin. You toss the sliced meat in a small amount of the sauce and let it sit for ten minutes.

You can use chicken breast for this recipe. You might want to tenderize the breast meat first using the Chinese velveting method with baking soda. Other proteins work just as well. You can substitute the chicken with several alternatives:

• Beef, turkey, or pork cut into thin slices
• Whole prawns or shrimp
• Crumbled ground meat

The noodles

The traditional pasta for this dish consists of slender, slightly dry wheat noodles with a crinkly texture. Manufacturers produce them using egg and apply a light flour coating to the outside. Although you have the option to fry these strands until they turn crisp, this meal relies on a softer approach. You just need to soak the dried pieces in a heatproof bowl filled with boiled water for a single minute.

Pour off all the remaining liquid to keep the pasta from getting mushy. If you cannot track down the traditional wheat version at your local market, feel free to swap in any of these alternatives:

• Instant ramen noodles without the seasoning packet
• Thin spaghetti
• Slender egg noodles

The vegetables

Traditional chow mein vegetables include cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts. You cut them into noodle-like shapes so the long slices blend naturally with the strands of pasta. You can use green, Chinese, savoy, or purple cabbage. Different varieties provide similar flavors and textures once cooked.

The cooking steps

You must prepare the sauce and chop all your ingredients before you start cooking. The stir-frying steps move fast over high heat. A wok works best for the high temperatures. You can cook the dish in a large skillet if a wok is unavailable. A large skillet helps prevent spilling while you toss the ingredients. You cook the finely chopped garlic in hot peanut oil for ten seconds. Do not allow the garlic to burn.

The marinated chicken goes into the pan next. You cook the meat for one minute until the outside shows a hint of brown while the center remains uncooked.

The shredded cabbage, the julienned carrot, and the white sections of the green onions join the chicken. You keep everything moving constantly for a minute and a half until the vegetables are mostly wilted.

The drained noodles, the remaining sauce, and the water go in next. You toss the mixture for one minute until the dark liquid coats everything. Finally, you scatter in the bean sprouts and the rest of the green onions. You toss the food for thirty seconds until the greens barely begin to soften.

Serving portions

You must take the pan off the heat immediately so the vegetables retain their crunch. Serve the dish immediately after removing it from the stove. The standard recipe yields two very large portions. You can comfortably serve three people by dividing the pan into slightly smaller plates.