Easy Chicken Chow Mein is a delicious homemade Chinese-American style takeout of tender strips of chicken breast and stir-fried noodles in a flavorful sauce.
It’s a simple, budget friendly chicken and noodles dinner that takes less time than normal takeout delivery to get from the stove to your table!
And since it’s pork-free, dairy-free, and made without oyster sauce (so, no shellfish!), it’s kosher too!
Also, there’s no red meat, just chicken!
A quick meal option for a busy weeknight!
Chicken noodle dish!
Chicken Chow Mein is a delicious Chinese-American chicken noodle dish!
It’s simple to make, so it normally takes less time than delivery!
And this recipe doesn’t contain any pork, dairy, or even oyster sauce. And there’s no red meat either!
So, it makes a quick and flavorful dinner for a variety of diets! Including kosher.
Also, chicken has health benefits!
What do you need to make this chicken chow mein recipe?
I hardly ever meal plan, so I like to keep a cupboard full of seasonings, spices, veggies, and canned goods in my kitchen to use whenever the mood strikes.
And this is certainly true for Chinese-American homemade takeout recipes and these the ingredients you need to have on hand to make this recipe even last minute!
chicken breast
coleslaw mix
soy sauce
granulated garlic
brown sugar
chow mein or ramen noodles
bean sprouts (optional)
oil for frying
A little about Chinese-American Food
Chinese-American cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese immigrants.
These dishes significantly differ from traditional Chinese dishes because Chinese-American dishes were adapted to suit American tastes.
Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States in large numbers in the mid-19th century in order to escape the economic difficulties in China, hoping to find work during the California Gold Rush and on the Central Pacific Railroad.
They mostly settled together in ghettos, individually known as Chinatown, and—since there were laws preventing them from owning their own land—they opened their own businesses, such as laundry services and restaurants.
Initially, the family-owned businesses catered to miners and railroad workers, and restaurants were set up in places where Chinese food was unknown. Food was based on the requests of the customers, and recipes were created to suit American tastes using whatever ingredients were available.
One major difference between traditional Chinese cuisine and Chinese-American cuisine is in the use of vegetables. Chinese-American recipes will use raw or uncooked ingredients and those not native to China. Traditional Chinese cuisine, on the other hand, rarely contains raw or uncooked ingredients and often uses Asian leaf vegetables.
While the new dishes were not traditional Chinese, these restaurants were responsible for the development of the ever-popular Chinese-American cuisine.
The little history of kosher Chinese-American Food
It is well known that Jews (especially those with ties to New York) love Chinese food. You can find at least one and, more often than not, several kosher Chinese restaurants in predominantly Jewish areas. In the town of Cedarhurst, New York, for example, there are two within a couple of blocks – both excellent.
Jews as a group were probably first introduced to Chinese food in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where immigrants of various cultures settled in their own neighborhoods in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
By the early 1900s, approximately one million Jews from Eastern Europe lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan with around half a million Italians from Southern Italy, but only around 7,000 Cantonese Chinese, most of whom had moved from California after the gold rush.
Due to anti-Chinese laws and acts in the U.S., which prevented them from competing with whites, many Chinese opened restaurants, selling to the miners in California and then moving their businesses across the country.
While the majority of Jewish immigrants at that time were observant in their religion and ate only kosher food when they arrived in New York. But, over time, many assimilated and these would often eat out on Sundays at Chinese restaurants, which were open on that day.
But Jews who did keep kosher weren’t able to enjoy the delicious dishes until one creative deli owner found a solution.
Sol Bernstein, owner of Shmulka Bernstein’s (named after his father) deli used Cantonese Chinese recipes but substituted kosher veal, beef, and chicken livers for pork and the first kosher Chinese food was sold in his deli (deli-Chinese).
The Chinese food became very popular and the menu did very well. The deli was prosperous until Sol’s death in 1992, afterwhich the deli was sold.
If you keep kosher or don’t eat pork…
If you love Chinese-American food, but keep kosher or otherwise don’t eat pork, then you should try these delicious and simple homemade takeout recipes!
- Mongolian Chicken
- Corned Beef & Cabbage Egg Rolls
- Chicken Chop Suey
- Chicken Lo Mein
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Chicken Fried Rice
- Vegetarian Egg Drop Soup
- Chicken and Broccoli
- Honey Garlic Chicken and Broccoli
Easy Chicken Chow Mein (No Pork, No Dairy, No Oyster Sauce)
Delicious and simple kosher Chinese-American chicken and noodles dish made without pork, dairy, or shellfish.
Ingredients
- 12-16 ounces chicken breast, sliced thin, as desired
- 6 cups coleslaw mix*
- 1/4-1/3 cup soy sauce, to taste (based on desired level of flavor)
- 1 tbsp granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 6 ounces chow mein or ramen noodles
- 6 ounces bean sprouts (optional)
- oil for frying
- water
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a frying pan with 2-3 tablespoons of oil and heat on medium-low.
- Add noodles to the pan and lightly fry.
- Add soy sauce, chicken strips, granulated garlic, brown sugar, coleslaw mix, and bean spouts, if using, and mix.
- Slowly mix in one cup of water. Cook for several minutes, until the noodles, shredded coleslaw (and bean sprouts) have softened. Add a little more water if needed to keep from drying out before the mixture is cooked.
Notes
*You can use the equivalent of freshly shredded cabbage and carrots.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 665Total Fat: 46gSaturated Fat: 8gUnsaturated Fat: 39gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 961mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 8gSugar: 41gProtein: 5g