Beef Chow Mein – A Quick & Easy Fakeaway Favorite. Such a yummy fakeaway dish! Plus, this one is ready in 30 minutes!
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Craving your favorite takeout-style noodles but want a healthier, homemade version? This Beef Chow Mein is the perfect solution! Featuring tender slices of beef, crisp carrots, shredded cabbage, and bouncy noodles, all tossed in a flavor-packed sweet soy sauce, this dish delivers authentic flavors in just 30 minutes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
✔️ Better Than Takeout – Fresh ingredients, less oil, and full control over flavors.
✔️ Quick & Easy – Ready in just 30 minutes for the perfect weeknight dinner.
✔️ Customizable – Swap in your favorite veggies or protein.
✔️ Family-Friendly – A guaranteed hit with both kids and adults!
Serve this delicious homemade chow mein on its own or with a side of spring rolls or dumplings for the ultimate fakeaway feast. Skip the takeaway menu and whip up this quick and easy noodle dish tonight!
Ingredients
For the noodles
225 grams Dried Chow mein noodles, or dried thin egg noodles
1-2 tablespoon oil, I use vegetable or canola oil
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced ( I use a mandolin)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup of thinly sliced cabbage, around 1/6 of a cabbage
4 spring onions, just the green tops, sliced into 2cm pieces
Salt and pepper
For the beef
300 grams steak, very thinly sliced
1 teaspoon cornflour
¼ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
For the sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
¼ cup beef stock
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do, be sure to check out my Chicken and Noodles recipe too!
If you love this, make sure to try my Chicken Noodle Broth next!
Onto my recipe for Beef Chow Mein
Beef Chow Mein
Such a yummy fakeaway dish! Plus, this one is ready in 30 minutes!
Ingredients
For the beef
- 300 grams steak very thinly sliced
- 1 tsp cornflour
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
For the sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ cup beef stock
- 1½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cornflour
For the noodles
- 225 grams dried chow mein noodles or thin egg noodles
- 1-2 tbsp oil
- 1 large onion sliced thinly
- 2 carrots peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage around ⅙ of a cabbage
- 4 spring onions just the green tops, sliced into 2cm pieced
- salt and pepper
Instructions
-
In a medium sized bowl add the steak, cornflour, sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce. Mix to combine. Cover and place in the fridge for minimum 10 minutes, maximum 8 hours.
-
In a small bowl add the soy sauce, beef stock, sugar, and cornflour whisk to combine.
-
Cook the noodles in salted boiling water as per packet directions.
-
Place a large pan over a medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the steak. Don’t crowd the pan, you may need to do this in batches. Cook for around 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
-
Take out of the pan and set aside.
-
To the pan add a little more oil (if needed) and the onions and carrots and cook for approximately 4 minutes, until onions are translucent. Season with salt.
-
Add the garlic, cook stirring for 1 minute.
-
Add the spring onion and cabbage and cook for 1 minute. Then add the noodles and cooked steak to the pan and mix.
-
Add the soy sauce mixture to the pan and stir through the noodles. Bring to a simmer. Cook for a couple of minutes until cabbage and spring onions have wilted a little.
-
Serve.
Recipe Notes
TIME SAVING NOTES
Marinate the beef in the morning or during the day. The beef can be marinated for up to 8 hours.
Make the soy sauce mix the night prior OR during the day.
Prep vegetables the night prior OR during the day. You can cut the cabbage, onion, carrots and spring onions. Store in air tight containers in the fridge until needed.
When cooking – instead of cooking everything in one pan separately, you can get 2 pans on the go.
Have the beef in one and the onions and carrots in the other.
BUDGET NOTES
You could leave out the beef altogether and make this vegetarian.
If cabbage and spring onions are not a great price you can use thinly sliced broccoli and/or frozen peas in this recipe. Add them when you add the noodles to the pan.
PROTEIN NOTES
You could swap out the beef for chicken or prawns or firm tofu. Or add an omelette thinly sliced on top at the end. To make vegetarian also swap beef stock for vegetarian.
NOTES
I understand using ¼ cup of beef stock isn’t particularly waste friendly. Alternatively you can use
vegetable or chicken stock if you have them on hand, OR ¼ cup of water and 1 teaspoon extra of soy sauce. It wont give quite the same depth of flavour but will still taste delish.
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