Homemade Chow Mein Noodles From Scratch

These homemade chow mein noodles are made from scratch with bread flour, egg, and water, then boiled and stir-fried for a chewy texture with lightly crisp edges. They take a little patience to roll and cut by hand, but the fresh noodles make a great base for your favorite chow mein.

Chow mein can take many forms, but the noodles are at the heart of the dish. This recipe focuses on making the noodles from scratch, boiling them until tender, and then stir-frying them so the outside develops a little crispness while the inside stays chewy.

Once you have the technique down, you can use these noodles in several different chow mein recipes or simply serve them with a basic stir-fry sauce and vegetables.

Why This Recipe Focuses on the Noodles

There are many ways to build a complete chow mein with different sauces, proteins, and vegetables, so this recipe concentrates on the homemade noodle itself. For a full meal, try my Beef Chow Mein, Vegetarian Chow Mein With Fried Honey Tofu, or Crispy Chicken Chow Mein.

Are These Specifically Chow Mein Noodles?

The dough itself is a useful base for wheat-based Chinese noodles. What makes these chow mein noodles distinct here is how they are cooked after boiling: they are stir-fried so the noodles pick up flavor and develop lightly crisp edges.

Chow Mein Noodle Cooking Technique

There are two common ways I use this noodle dough for chow mein: boil the noodles and then stir-fry them in a pan or wok, or boil them and deep-fry them for a much crispier result.

Pan or Wok-Fried Chow Mein Noodles

This is my preferred method. The noodles are boiled first and then stir-fried with the sauce, vegetables, and other ingredients. Lo mein generally emphasizes boiled noodles mixed or tossed with sauce and other ingredients, although preparation varies. Chow mein puts more emphasis on frying or stir-frying the noodles, which gives them a firmer, lightly crisp texture.

Deep-Fried Chow Mein Noodles

This is the crisp style of chow mein noodle you may recognize from packaged noodles sold in cans or bags. The noodles are boiled first and then deep-fried until crunchy.

These noodles are much crispier than the stir-fried version and can be used as a crunchy base for stir-fried ingredients. If that is the style you want, use my Fried Chow Mein Noodles recipe.

Base Noodle Recipe

The dough technique for these noodles is adapted from Souped Up Recipes. I use that handmade noodle method as the starting point, then boil and stir-fry the noodles for chow mein. Her video below is especially helpful for seeing how the dough should look and how thin to roll it.

How to Turn the Noodles Into Chow Mein

Make and roll the dough, cut it into thin noodles, boil the noodles for 2 to 3 minutes, and drain them thoroughly. From there, heat oil in a wok or skillet and stir-fry the noodles until they develop lightly crisp edges. You can then add a prepared stir-fry sauce along with whatever vegetables or protein you like.

A Simple Way to Serve These Noodles

If you want to keep things simple, stir-fry the noodles with the optional basic sauce in the recipe card and add a little bok choy or another quick-cooking vegetable. The sauce and vegetables are optional; the homemade noodle recipe stands on its own.

For more complete versions, try the Beef Chow Mein, Vegetarian Chow Mein With Fried Honey Tofu, Crispy Chicken Chow Mein, or the extra-crispy Fried Chow Mein Noodles.

Some Notes on Making These Noodles

Use Bread Flour

Bread flour is my preference because its higher protein content helps give the noodles a pleasantly chewy texture. All-purpose flour may work, but the texture can be a little softer and the dough may handle differently.

Don’t Add Extra Water

When the egg-and-water mixture first goes into the flour, the dough can look too dry. Resist the temptation to add extra water. Keep kneading and give the flour time to hydrate; the dough should come together.

Be Patient With the Rolling

Getting the dough thin enough takes patience. Keep rolling until the sheet is about 1–2 mm thick. A pasta roller or KitchenAid pasta attachment can make this easier, but a rolling pin works just fine.

The first few times I made this recipe, I ended up with some very thick noodles. They still tasted good, but I prefer them thinner and more delicate.

Measurements Are Important

Noodle dough depends on a precise flour-to-liquid ratio. A kitchen scale is especially useful here: weigh the bread flour, then combine the egg with enough water to reach the specified total weight.

Do You Really Cut the Noodles Individually?

Yup. I don’t have a countertop pasta roller, so I often cut the noodles individually. In the Souped Up Recipes video, the dough sheet is folded before being sliced, which is faster if you are comfortable with that method.

Cutting them individually gives me more control over the width and helps keep the strands separated. If making noodles from scratch is more work than you want, fresh or dried wheat-based Chinese noodles from the store are a good shortcut.

Products Used For This Recipe

1. Wusthof Knife Set
2. Wok
3. Large Pot

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