I love a good ‘fakeaway’ recipe – particularity one like this which ticks ALL THE BOXES! Quick? Check. You can make this and have it on the table quicker than the doorbell would be ringing with your delivery. Tasty? Check. This tastes just as good as a real takeaway – seriously, it’s delicious. Healthy? Check check. The recipe contains lean chicken breast and several different vegetables and comes in at only 550 Kcal and 4g fat for the entire meal. I also find Chinese takeaway unbelievably salty, which you can completely control when cooking at home. If you haven’t added this Fakeaway Chicken Chow Mein to your meal plan yet then what are you waiting for?!
Chicken Chow Mein For One
This is a great meal to make for one, since it is so quick and easy to make. You can make extra, refridgerate and reheat, but to get that fresh ‘just cooked’ vibe I’d suggest prepping extra of everything and cooking it to go. Honestly the cooking time for this is about 5 minutes.
Is Chicken Chow Mein Healthy?
How healthy your portion of chicken chow mein is really comes down to the preparation. If you are ordering a takeaway or eating out at a restaurant they will often use a lot of oil and potentially sugar in the sauce too. The good news is that this recipe is pretty healthy. It limits the amount of oil used and is packed with healthy vegetables including carrot, cabbage and bok choy. It also uses chicken breast which is much leaner than thigh meat, which is often used in restaurants.
While thigh meat is tastier and richer (and I’m not going to deny that), this recipe marinades the chicken first using bicarbonate of soda. This method actually helps tenderise the breast meat so I promise you, you’ll have some of the most tender and tasty chicken breast you’ve ever had from this.
If you want to make this recipe super healthy then substitute the egg noodles for spiralized courgette noodles – just add them right at the end so they don’t go soggy!
Can Chicken Chow Mein Be Frozen?
You can freeze chicken chow mein. Freeze as soon as possible after chilling and keep for up to 3 months in a freezer proof container. Make sure to defrost fully before reheating.
What are the ingredients in Chow Mein?
Chow mein actually means ‘stir fried noodles’. It’s traditionally served with meat or tofu and thinly sliced vegetables. The beautiful thing about this dish is that you can really customise it based on your personal tastes and what you have in. This recipe uses chicken combined with carrot, bean sprouts, purple cabbage and pak choy. You could use any other meat such as beef or pork and swap the veg for options such as celery, mushrooms, green beans or mangetout.
If you like a good fakeaway then also check out this Mandarin Orange Chicken or this Healthy Chicken Korma recipe.
Products that work well for this recipe
Wusthof Nine Piece Knife Block Set
Mandoline Slicer – With Cut Resistant Gloves
Veggie Saving Reusable Bags
Fakeaway Chicken Chow Mein
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
Description
This chicken chow mein fakeaway is so tasty, you won’t believe how healthy it is or how quick it is to cook! Sure to become one of your staple meals.
Ingredients
Marinated Chicken:
- 125g chicken breast – sliced into small strips
- 1 tsp mirin (see note 2)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Sauce
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
Stir Fry
- 1/2 carrot (around 50 g) – sliced julienne into thin pieces (see note 1)
- 1 baby boy choy (around 30 g) – sliced into thumb width pieces length-ways
- 50g cabbage – sliced very thinly
- small handful of bean sprouts (around 30 g)
- 1 clove garlic – finely chopped
- 60g egg noodles
Instructions
1. Mix together the marinade in a bowl and add the chicken, set to one side
2. Prepare all the vegetables as directed above. Make the sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients. Make sure you have everything ready before you cook because it cooks really quick!
3. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions – reducing the cooking time by around 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water and then toss a little oil through them to stop sticking.
4. Heat the oil in a wok (or large frying pan) over a medium high heat and add the chicken with the marinade. Cook for around 1 minute, stirring frequently. Remove the chicken and place on a plate
5. Add the garlic and cook for around 30 seconds – don’t let it burn!
6. Add the carrots, bok choy and cabbage and a couple of tablespoons of water and cook for around 2 minutes to soften.
7. Add the noodles and sauce and cook for a further minute, stirring or tossing every 20 seconds or so
8. Add the beans sprouts and chicken and stir and cook for a further 1 minute – plate and serve! Told you it was quick 🙂
Notes
- Make sure you cut the carrot and cabbage really finely. The only cook for a few minutes in the pan and while you want them to still be crunchy you don’t want them too thick so that they don’t heat through either. I used a mandolin to get thin strips then cut into thin slices across.
- If you don’t want to use Mirin (although you can buy non-alcoholic varieties, which is what I tend to use), then swap for a teaspoon of rice wine vinegar and half a teaspoon of sugar.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Hob
- Cuisine: Chinese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 550
- Fat: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 72g
- Protein: 42g
Keywords: chinese, chow mein, noodles, chicken, stir fry, fakeaway, dinner
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