These fried noodles are loaded with vegetables, and burst with flavor. It’s a quick and healthy one-pot meal you can prep and cook in 20 minutes.
Dishes like shrimp chow mein are designed to cook quickly. Just like fried rice, fried noodles creates a fast one-pot meal that uses any leftovers from your fridge. Although not all fried noodles are created equally – dishes like beef chow fun do require you to marinate the beef and cook it separately, to achieve the best result. Thus has a longer cooking time. Shrimp chow mein is on the easier end of the spectrum.
This only requires minimum prep: cook the noodles, mix the sauce, and chop a few aromatics and veggies. To save time, you can start boiling the water and cooking the noodles while prepping other ingredients. Once the noodles are done, you should be ready for the stir fry.
The vegetables in shrimp chow mein can be flexible, depending on what you’ve got in your fridge.
I used carrots, bean sprouts, and spinach in this recipe. Other vegetables such as bok choy, Chinese broccoli, cabbage, bell pepper, snow peas, and napa cabbage work well too. Note, you need to consider the time needed to cook each vegetable and add them in order. Your goal will be to cook everything until just done at the end.
If you want to add broccoli or cauliflower into your noodles, blanch them by using the boiling water after cooking the noodles. It only takes an extra minute or so to get them ready for the stir fry.
As for the cooking setup, both “wok + gas stove” and “skillet + electric stove” work. Wok cooking will generate a more delicious result. Plus you can fit a bit more food in the pan. If you only have electric stove at home, a flat skillet is a better option. In this case, you need to use a pair of tongs to toss the noodles instead of stir, so the food won’t spill on the kitchen counter.
The only thing you need to be careful of is, to not add too many ingredients in the pan. Chinese restaurants, where chefs use super powerful stove, cooks in small batches too. I’ve never managed to cook 4 servings of fried noodles in my wok. The pan temperature will drop so much that you will end up with simmered instead of stir fried food .
I’m already pushing the limit in this recipe. I used 8 ounces dried noodles, which is a LOT for stir fry in a home kitchen. I was using the highest heat throughout the stir fry without getting cast iron wok too hot. So do not use more ingredients than the quantity given in this recipe.
More delicious fried noodle recipes
- Vegetarian Chow Mein (素菜炒面)
- Bacon Pan Fried Noodles
- Ding Ding Chao Mian (丁丁炒面, Fried Noodles in Lamb Tomato Sauce)
- 15-Minute Fried Noodles
- Shacha Chicken Chow Mein (沙茶鸡肉炒面)
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Shrimp Chow Mein
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried Chinese egg noodles (or spaghetti)
Sauce
- 1/4 cup chicken stock (or water)
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (or soy sauce)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder (or black pepper powder)
Stir fry
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 tablespoons minced ginger
- 2 carrots , julienned
- 16 to 20 medium size shrimps , peeled and deveined
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 6 green onion , chopped
- 2 cups baby spinach
Instructions
- Boil noodles according to package instructions. Rinse with tap water, drain, and set aside.
- Whisk all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl.
- Chop aromatics and vegetables.
- Heat a wok (or large skillet) over medium high heat until hot. Add oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the wok. It’s ready when the oil just starts to smoke.
- Add ginger and carrot. Cook and stir until the carrot starts to turn soft, 40 seconds to 1 minute. Add shrimp. Cook and stir until the surface turns white, but the inside remains transparent. Swirl in the sauce along the edge of the wok. Stir a few times to quickly heat up the sauce. Add noodles. Stir to mix well. You can chop the noodles into shorter strands with a spatula to make the noodles easier to mix with other ingredients. Cook until the sauce is fully absorbed. Add bean sprouts and green onion. Cook and stir until the vegetables are just cooked, 1 to 2 minutes. Add spinach and give it a final stir.
- Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Looks great Maggie, what other types of mushrooms would you recommend?
I usually use shiitake mushroom, but enoki, white mushroom or oyster mushroom will work just fine!
I love shrimp and mushrooms, what a great combination! Your fried noodles look better than anything I’ve gotten from a Chinese restaurant. 🙂
Hi Meggan, thanks for visiting and I’m so glad you like the recipe! Shrimp and mushrooms are my favorite ingredients, they do taste really good! 🙂
This is going to be a wonderful weeknight dish for my family! Shrimp is always in my freezer, so I enjoy keeping all kinds of shrimp recipes handy for days with kids’ activities. Thank you for sharing this quick and delicious recipe with us!
The idea of saving frozen shrimp sounds great! I should do that do. Shrimps make a lot of dishes much more delicious. Hope you enjoy the recipe and happy cooking. 🙂
I keep frozen shrimp in my freezer also! It is my favorite protein for easy weeknight meals. This dish looks magnificent, though. I have never had chow mein that looks as good as yours. Would you ever do this recipe with wood-ear mushrooms, or with chicken thigh instead of breast? I don’t know if you can get this in Beijing, but here we have been getting boneless skinless chicken thigh instead of breast, because the flavor is so much richer.
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
I haven’t tried to cook this dish with wood-ear, but I think it’s possible. Since the wood-ear won’t absorb too much flavor, just make sure you cut them into slices and do not use too much.
I lOVE using chicken thigh, much better than chicken breast. I’m totally agree with you that the thigh part has better flavor, and it also have tender and juicier texture. I used to cook with it a lot while I was living in Japan. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find boneless chicken thigh in most of supermarket in Beijing. I miss it a lot.
Now I know what I can send you if it is not truffle season the next time you visit the USA! 🙂
Maggie, this looks incredible. Your photos are also really great. A few simple substitutions and I will be able to make this gluten free for my family. They are big noodle dish lovers 🙂
Thanks for creating this and the advice about other mushrooms that can be used.
Hi Sandi, thanks for stopping by! I’m not familiar with creating gluten free recipe, but glad you could manage to make it. Let me know how it goes 🙂
I have cooked this a few times now, each with different variations, and it’s always been superb. Shiitake and seafood are awesome together! No matter whether shrimp, squid, or scallops, the flavors of the sea go deliciously with the earthy mushrooms.
I admit, I ate the leftovers cold, and it was even tastier after the flavors had time to blend more.
I’m so glad you like this one! The squid and scallop ones sound so delicious, I must try them myself!
About the leftover, I actually didn’t know, since I finish my big bowl of noodles every time. It’s good news that the leftover is still tasty. 🙂
I always want to try and eat every single one of your recipes Maggie! Can’t wait to try this dish. Thanks for sharing!
I really love this simple recipe, Maggie. I think I already have all the ingredients in my cupboard – bonus!
Hi Maggie!!! I love shrimp and also mushrooms, what a terrific mix! Your fried noodles look better than anything I’ve obtained from a Chinese dining establishment. Shrimp and also mushrooms are my preferred components, they do taste really good! Yum Yum!! And also Shrimp is always in my fridge freezer, so I enjoy maintaining all type of shrimp recipes helpful … Hope this is going to be a remarkable weeknight recipe for my family members! Thank you for sharing this fast and delicious dish with us!
You’re the most welcome Emma! Happy cooking and hope your dish turns out great 🙂
Very good I’m learning from it to be a cook
Fantastic recipe! Made it exactly as written. My whole family loved this dish.Tasted better than a take out!
Thanks you Natalia! It really means a lot to me when you said the dish better than a take out 🙂 Hope you have a delicious week ahead!
Had everything except bean sprouts so substituted broccoli florets Excellent one pot meal. The sauce was excellent on the shrimp: not too anything … just right..
Hi Rob, I’m glad to hear you like this dish! Yes, please feel free to replace any of the veggies. When I make fried noodles I basically use whatever left in the fridge 😉
Hope you have a great week ahead and happy cooking!
This is perfect. I was craving Chow Mein and got some as take out. All that did was make me want GOOD chow mein all the more. I found your recipe and make a quick trip to the local market to pick up the ingredients. Oh so good. I just have one question, the bottle of Shaoxing Wine is written in Chinese, do I store the opened bottle in the refrigerator?
Should have checked first, you have already had the answer posted.
https://omnivorescookbook.com/pantry/shaoxing-wine
There’s not much else to say then, it tastes absolutely amazing! Even when substituted the oyster sauce(not available organic) for Thai sweet chili sauce! My compliments!!
Thanks for the kind words, Harry! As Maggie’s husband and official taste-tester, I’ve tried the dish with various chili sauces and I bet it was great with the Thai sweet chili.
We have this recipe from your cooking Chinese recipes. We don’t see where it says to cook and / or add the bean sprouts and the spinach? So we are a little lost here. Is there further explanatory directions you can give us? WE are enjoying the recipes so far, and they have turned out most satisfactory. Thank you for your help and assistance. We will wait to hear from you before we pepare this recipe. Thank you.
You are the bomb cook. I have made three recipes so far and think your recipes are the best that I have tried and believe me I am always looking for good recipes. Thank you so much for sharing
Hi Maggie ,
This recipe looks great, I can’t wait to make it. before that, I’ve got to ask can I use shitake mushrooms if so how many grams? Also, the recipe says 8 ounces dried noodles that like 230g roughly right, would that serve 3-4 people?
Thank you
Hi Sam, I think you can throw in thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, maybe 3 to 4 mushrooms.
The serving size really depends on how you serve the dish. It can serve 3 to 4 people if you serve it on the side, with other dishes (like in a restaurant). But if you plan to only serve the chow mein, it will be 2 big servings.
Hi Maggie,
Your recipes look amazing, can’t wait to try this one. Just wondered, can I use sesame oil instead of peanut oil in most Asian recipes?
Hi Lynda, I recommend to use a neutral oil (vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil etc) to replace all the peanut oil in my recipes. Sesame oil is a finishing oil and it will lose its fragrance if you add it at the beginning of the stir fry. If you want a bit extra nuttiness, you should drizzle a bit sesame oil at the end of the stir fry, although most of my recipes are fragrant enough so you don’t have to add the finishing oil.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to read all fo your recipes!……WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was craving shrimp with noodles. This really hit the spot! Thank you for the recipe. This will definitely go into regular line up of meals to cook