Beef Chow Mein – 🥢🥩🍜 Learn how to recreate beef chow mein at home in 30 minutes that rivals your favorite Chinese restaurant! Full of juicy steak, tender noodles, crisp-tender veggies, and a savory sauce made with soy, garlic, ginger, and more, this is such a FLAVORFUL better-than-takeout recipe that will impress your family every time! Perfect for busy weeknights when you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry!
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Easy Beef Chow Mein Recipe
I love a good better-than-takeout meal and my easy beef chow mein is my latest Asian-inspired recipe that I know your family will love.
Beef chow mein is such a super popular Chinese takeout dish made with stir-fried noodles, thinly sliced beef, mixed vegetables, and a savory sauce. The beef is marinated for added flavor and marinating it for just 15 minutes and it also helps to really increase the overall tenderness of the meat.
A variety of veggies including carrots, red bell peppers, and boy chok add a nice bit of crisp-tender crunch amidst the tender noodles plus there is plenty of garlic and ginger for flavor.
Everything is tossed in a boldly flavored sauce comprised of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil to really layer in all those authentic Asian flavors that your favorite Chinese chow mein has!
This is a perfect weeknight meal that tastes better than any takeout dish and is perfect for those evenings when getting dinner on the table quickly is of utmost importance. You’ll have this done and ready to go in 30 minutes.
Ingredients in Chow Mein with Beef
The ingredients can be found in most grocery stores. Look in the Asian or ethnic foos aisles for things like oyster sauce and Chinese rice wine.
Beef and Marinade Ingredients
- Flank steak or sirloin steak
- Soy sauce – I use lite or reduced sodium soy
- Chinese rice wine – wondering what to substitute? Check out the FAQs below
- Cornstarch
Chow Mein Noodles – also see the FAQs for more details about what kind of noodles to look for
Chow Mein Sauce
- Soy sauce
- Oyster sauce – see the FAQs for swaps if you don’t have it
- Granulated sugar
- Toasted sesame oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Veggies and More
- Oil for stir frying everything – such as olive oil, canola, vegetable oil, or sesame oil if you like the flavor of it since it’s much more flavorful
- Matchstick carrots
- Bok choy
- Red bell peppers – or your favorite color
- Garlic
- Ginger – fresh or dried
- Thai peppers – can’t find them? Use another type of small pepper or chile, as desired
- Bean sprouts
- Green onions – or spring onions
- Sesame seeds
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Chinese Beef Chow Mein
My easy chow mein recipe can be whipped up and on the table in 30 minutes – just make sure to multitask and boil the noodles while the beef marinades, chop the veggies, make the sauce, and so forth. Stay busy and work ahead.
- Beef and Marinade: To a medium bowl, add the steak, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, cornstarch, toss, cover, and marinate for 15 minutes.
- Chow Mein Noodles: Separately, cook the noodles according to package instructions. When done, drain, rinse, and set aside. Make sure to cook them to al-dente. You don’t want them overcooked.
- Sauce: Meanwhile whisk together all sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- Stir Frying: Add a tablespoon of oil to a large skillet or wok, add the marinated steak to the pan and fry for 5-6 minutes or until the beef is cooked through. Remove and set aside the cooked beef.
- Add the carrots, bok choy, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and Thai peppers. Fry for 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender.
- Combining: Add the cooked noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, sesame seeds, steak, toss to combine, and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Chow Mein Sauce: Pour the sauce into the pan and toss until the sauce completely coats everything evenly, garnish with additional sesame seeds or green onions, and serve!
what to serve with chow mein
Storage
In the Refrigerator: This recipe will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
In the Freezer: This recipe will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months although of course, fresh (not frozen) is always best.
To Reheat: I use my microwave for quickness and ease and reheat my leftovers for about 30 seconds on high, or as needed.
Recipe FAQs
This dish overall is not spicy. However, the Thai peppers are very, very spicy. You can eat them but most people simply remove them. Left intact and whole, they ‘perfume’ the dish with a bit of heat but if you chomp into one on its own, that’s a different story!
You want the steak to be a lean cut of beef with little marbling and fat trimmed. Flank or sirloin steak works great here.
Chow mein noodles are wheat-based Chinese noodles that are made with or without egg. If you have a hard time finding them, simply replace with ramen noodles (the ones from the instant soup packets).
Egg-based noodles are generally not a good substitute as they will thicken the sauce differently and tend to have an eggy flavour. I also am not a fan of spaghetti noodles, and better to stick with ramen noodles in my opinion.
A dry sherry will do and can be found in most liquor stores. Do not replace with Rice Vinegar, it is definitely not the same.
The alcohol in the wine is burned off (and we’re only talking 2 tbsp in the whole recipe) but if you really don’t want to use alcohol, replace with equal amounts of beef stock.
No oyster sauce? In a pinch, you can sub with soy sauce although the flavor won’t be quite the same since soy sauce is saltier and thinner whereas oyster sauce is thicker and a bit sweeter. Use it in this Black Pepper Chicken recipe or in Better-Than-Takeout Hunan Beef, too! Another option is to use hoisin sauce which is thicker and sweeter than soy sauce and IMO would be a better option than soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is better than light if you’re swapping, too.
Yes you sure can. If you want to add some sliced mushrooms, bamboo shoots, snow peapods, or omit the bok choy, it’s all good. This is a great dish to actually sneak in some extra veggies among all those noodles and steak.
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Beef Chow Mein
Ingredients
Beef and Marinade
- 1 pound flank steak or sirloin steak, trimmed and sliced against the grain to 1/4-inch strips
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, I prefer lite or reduced sodium
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine, (wondering if you can substitute? Read the FAQs)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 12 ounces chow mein noodles, wheat based noodles, or use ramen noodles from a packet of ramen soup, do not use egg noodles
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, I prefer lite or reduced sodium
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, (wondering if you can substitute? Read the FAQs)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper, optional and to taste
Veggies and More
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil, (sesame oil can also be used, but it's much more flavorful and intense)
- 1 cup matchstick carrots
- 1 medium bok choy, (or 2 smaller, trimmed and sliced into 1/2-inch wide segments)
- 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin strips (or your favorite color)
- 2 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely grated (or 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger)
- 5 Thai peppers, kept whole (Can’t find them? Use another type of small pepper or chile, as desired)
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 3 green onions, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, or to taste
Instructions
- Beef and Marinade: To a medium bowl, add the steak, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, cornstarch, toss, cover, and marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature. While the beef is marinating, move onto the next steps and keep multitasking.
- Chow Mein Noodles: Cook the noodles according to package directions. When done, drain, rinse, and set aside.
- Sauce: Meanwhile, whisk together all sauce ingredients. Set aside.
- Stir Frying: Add a tablespoon of oil to a large skillet or wok, add the marinated steak to the pan and cook for about 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat, or until the beef is cooked through. Remove and set aside on a plate.
- To the same skillet or wok (don't wipe it out), add the carrots, bok choy, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and Thai peppers. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir and toss frequently to ensure even cooking. If desired, add additional oil as needed for proper cooking.
- Combining It All: Add the cooked noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, sesame seeds, steak, toss very well to combine everything, and cook for about 2 more minutes.
- Sauce: Slowly and evenly pour the sauce into the skillet and toss everything until the sauce completely coats all the ingredients, garnish with additional sesame seeds and/or green onions, and serve immediatley.
- Storage: Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months, noting that this dish is best when freshly made and served warm.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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