Chicken Lo Mein

I’ve been a bachelor all week because Betsy is in Colorado taking the bar exam. Well, a bachelor plus a cat I guess. But still. It means I don’t have to make the bed. So there.

I was super-pumped to make an awesome bachelor meal though and I was pretty excited when Chinese Take-out won the poll last week.

I had dreams of doing some pretty crazy stuff like a bunch of different dumplings or egg rolls or something, but then I remembered that I’m a bachelor and most bachelors are not gonna make dumplings for themselves. So I made chicken lo mein! (based on the suggestion of Julie the commenter).

I chose it because it’s pretty straightforward to make so maybe I can sway a bachelor to put down the phone and pick up the skillet! Plus it’s a ton of food. I’ve eaten it for three meals during the week and still have leftovers.

Chicken Lo Mein

Just a moment please...

Yield

Serves 4.

Prep Time

20 mins

Total Time

35 mins

The nice thing about this dish is that it makes enough to eat for an entire week. Chicken, mushrooms, fresh ginger and garlic, and a tasty sauce.

Ingredients

1 13 ounce package of lo mein noodles

1 pound chicken, diced.  I used boneless skinless thighs but you can use breasts I guess.

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced thin

6 scallions, diced (mince the greens for a garnish)

2 Tablespoons canola or other neutral oil

Sauce:

4 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons oyster sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

2 Tablespoons water

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and grated or minced

Garnishes: (Optional)

Soy sauce

Scallion greens

Chopped peanuts

Chili sauce

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Directions

1) Slice the mushrooms and scallions thinly.  Dice the chicken into small pieces.

2) Mince the garlic and gingers and whisk with all the other sauce ingredients.

3) Cook the noodles (lo mein or spaghetti) according to instructions on package and then drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

4) Add Canola oil to a hot pan (wok or large skillet).  Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and cook until done (about 5 minutes).  Remove the chicken and add the sliced mushrooms to the pan.  Add another tablespoon of oil if the pan is dry.  Cook the mushrooms for a minute or two until they are slightly soft, but not soggy.

5) Remove the mushrooms from the pan and add all the sauce.  It should come to a simmer almost immediately.  Then add the chicken and mushrooms to the sauce.  Reduce for a minute or two.

6) Add noodles to the mix and toss everything together.  Cook for another 30 seconds.  Add diced scallions and toss to coat.

7) Serve immediately with chili sauce, diced scallion greens, chopped peanuts and extra soy sauce.

Making The Sauce

This sauce is a pretty basic one that’s also good for stir-fries. You can adjust the flavors to your tastes.

Standard sauce stuff.

Just mince or press or grate your garlic and ginger and whisk everything together! Give it a taste. It’ll be pretty strong, but adjust the flavors if you want. You could add a bit of chili sauce directly to this if you wanted the lo mein to be spicy.

All mixed up.

Prepping the other ingredients

Besides the sauce, the ingredients for this dish come together really quickly. Just thinly slice the mushrooms and the whites of the scallions.

Dice the green parts of the scallions for the garnish. And yes. Bachelor dishes can still have garnish.

As for the chicken, just dice it into small pieces as well.

Mushrooms and scallions.

The Noodles

Lo Mein noodles are pretty common at specialty stores like Whole Foods or at any Asian market. These days though you might be able to find that literally any grocery store in the Asian section. I think they cook up perfectly and they’re good cold also which is nice.

In a pinch though, you can use spaghetti honestly. That would be a totally bachelor thing to do.

Cool noodles.

Cook the noodles (spaghetti or lo mein) according to the package. It should only take a few minutes. Then drain the noodles and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking. You definitely don’t want to overcook these guys because you need to simmer them in the sauce later.

That was easy!

Cooking the Chicken and Shrooms

You need to pre-cook the chicken and mushrooms quickly. Then you can easily combine everything all at once with the sauce. Add your canola oil to a large wok or skillet over very high heat. Once the oil is hot add the diced chicken and stir. Cook it until it’s done, probably about 5 minutes.

I used thighs. Suggest you do the same.

Set your chicken aside and add your mushrooms to the hot pan. If your pan is dry, add another tablespoon of oil. Cook these for a minute or two until they’re starting to wilt, but not soggy at all.

Don’t overcook these guys.

Everything Together

So the noodles are done, the chicken and mushrooms are cooked, and the sauce is, well, sitting there. So let’s put it all together.

In the same pan you’ve been using to cook the chicken and mushrooms, add all the sauce over high heat. It’ll simmer almost immediately. Then add the chicken and mushrooms and give it a good stir. Let the sauce reduce down for about a minute and then add all the noodles. Stir everything together.

Finally, add the chopped scallions and give everything a final stir. The sauce should be pretty thick at this point and coating everything evenly.

You’re done Mr. Bachelor. You can eat now.

So good.

Of course, the real bachelor thing to do would be to eat this out of the pan, but I decided to plate it up all pretty. Just for you guys.

OK. I switched to a fork after a few bites.

To be quite honest, this was delicious. I’d put it up against any random chinese take-out place any day of the week. That doesn’t mean that’s it’s the best lo mein I’ve ever had, but it was top five probably and pretty easy to throw together. Plus I’m not trying to impress anyone here. It’s just for me.

Start to finish this was probably a 30 minute meal and it fed me all week long.

Hope all of you bachelors give this one a shot!