
Here’s a high-quality red meat mince recipe for you that’s quick to make, low-cost, and full of hidden vegetables so it’s a complete meal – beef Chow Mein! It’s the pork version of everybody’s favored chicken Chow Mein, made with the convenience of floor beef.

Beef chow mein
Right here’s something new to try with that packet of beef mince you throw into your buying cart each week! The beef is stir-fried with chow mein sauce until it’s fantastically caramelized then tossed in a tangle of noodles and greens.
A neat trick in nowadays’s recipe is to scramble up an egg with the beef. It makes the red meat bits stick with the noodles better, with the brought bonus of upping the protein.
some other bonus: chow mein has a large quantity of noodle-formed greens hidden within the noodles. A carrot, 2 heaped cups of cabbage, and a heaped cup of bean sprouts. That’s an excellent veg serving for a meal!
What you need
Here’s what you need to make this:
NOODLES & ADD-INS
- Noodles – Chow mein noodles are a form of dry and crinkly, in place of oily and directly like Hokkien noodles, and lo mein noodles. however, this dish can certainly be made with any noodles – or even spaghetti (sure virtually, who’s going to understand once tossed in chow mein sauce??). Use the identical weight.
- Garlic – rarely do Asian stir-fries occur without garlic, and this one isn’t an exception!
- pork mince – That’s ground beef to people. Any fat % is satisfactory right here even though lean red meat gained’t caramelize quite as nicely.
- different proteins – any other mince will work simply satisfactorily here. bird, red meat, turkey, even lamb! even though bear in thoughts the sauce is quite excessively flavored to shape the beefy flavor of red meat, you won’t flavor the flavor of white meats thru the sauce.
- Egg – We use this to scramble into the pork. A neat trick to make the pork stick with the noodles higher with the bonus of a loose protein raise!
- green cabbage – Or Chinese language cabbage. Finely sliced so it disappears into the tangle of noodles.
- Bean sprouts are – a terrific grab-and-throw-in vegetable alternative! garage TIP: keep bean sprouts in water in a hermetic box. change the water every couple of days. this will increase the shelf lifestyles of beansprouts 3x.
- Carrot – cut into skinny batons. extra noodle-shaped veggies so it all jumbles up together!
- inexperienced onion – We use 3 complete stems right here. they are the onion on this dish, in addition to a few fresh green colorations.
CHOW MEIN SAUCE
The combination of sauces used in Chow Mein is common in Chinese dishes.
- Soy sauces – We’re using both light and dark soy sauce in this recipe. What’s the difference? dark soy stains the noodles a lovable heat mahogany color in addition to including soy flavor. light soy sauce gives the salt without overwhelming it with soy flavor and does not stain the rice.
- Substitutions -you could use the most effective mild soy sauce or just an all-motive soy sauce (ie bottle simply labeled “soy sauce” without “light” or “dark” in front of it) as opposed to darkish soy sauce. but you can not use the best darkish soy sauce as the flavor is too robust! more on exceptional styles of soy sauces right here.
- Oyster sauce – A load of flavor, multi-function sauce! It’s sweet and savory and provides a neat flavor shortcut in dishes. Makes a normal appearance in Asian dishes, from Pad See Ew to Asian Glazed Salmon to Honey Pepper pork to preferred Soy Noodles. And Steamed Asian greens with Oyster Sauce!
- Vegetarian oyster sauce is available these days, at Asian shops and some massive grocery shops (Australia – there’s Ayam vegetarian oyster sauce at Woolies). In any other case, hoisin is a great opportunity. barely special flavor profile (hint of Chinese language five spice) but similar savory / sweetness.
- chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) is a crucial aspect of making simply “eating place tasting” Chinese dishes. without it, the dish may be lacking something. alternative with Mirin, cooking sake, or dry sherry.
- Nonalcoholic sub – sub each the cooking wine and water with low sodium chook broth/stock.
- Cornflour/cornstarch (neglected of the image – oops!) – For thickening the sauce so it clings to the noodles. It also makes the sauce adorable and glossy.
- White pepper and sugar – For seasoning.
How to make Beef Chow Mein
Be sure to cook dinner the pork nicely when you upload the sauce to get it surely properly caramelized, for a loose flavor enhance!
1. SAUCE & THICKENER
- Sauce – blend the soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. We’re going to use some to flavor the red meat, then we will blend the relaxation with the sauce thickener (subsequent step) to make the noodle sauce.
- Sauce thickener (cornflour slurry) – mix the cornflour/cornstarch and water in a separate small bowl. that is what thickens the sauce so it coats the noodles, as well as making them vibrant and glossy.
2. Making the stir fried noodles
- prepare the noodles consistent with the packet directions then drain. I typically get the water boiling even as I’m prepping the greens then prepare dinner the noodles when I start cooking. The chow mein noodles I am getting simply call for soaking in warm water for 3 minutes. a few brands need to be boiled.
- Caramelise red meat – use a massive non-stick pan, prepare dinner the garlic first to flavor the oil. Then cook the beef, breaking it up as you move, till you can now not see uncooked beef.
- Then upload the white part of the green onions and 1-half tablespoon of the Sauce. We add the white part of the inexperienced onions first because it takes longer than the green element. cook for some other 2 mins to get the red meat nicely caramelized.
end sauce – in the meantime, mix the cornflour slurry into the ultimate sauce. - Scramble egg – add the egg into the pan then mix it with the beef, it’ll type of scramble into the aggregate. that is what makes pork persist with the noodles better!
- keep cooking! – whilst the egg is often cooked, add the carrot and cabbage. prepare dinner for 1 minute till the cabbage begins to wilt.
Sauce & noodles – supply the sauce with a brief mix. upload the bean sprouts, noodles, and sauce into the pan. Toss properly for 1 minute or till sauce is dispersed thru the noodles. upload the green part of green onions. Toss for some other 1 minute, then serve!
So there you pass! Stir-fried noodles for dinner, fantastically low effort and short to make. first-rate way to get a noodle fix, very low-cost, and exceptionally versatile – switch out the vegetables and proteins with what you’ve got or what you adore.
revel in!