Shrimp chow mein is your go-to recipe if you want a one-pot quick and easy meal. Savor the chewy, tender noodles mixed with salty shrimp and nutritious vegetables of your choice. Toss these ingredients with a flavorful sauce, which is a mix of dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, and cumin powder.
All About Shrimp Chow Mein
Chow mein is a stir-fried Chinese dish mainly made with three main parts: cooked Asian noodles, stir-fried meat and vegetables, and savory sauce. The meat ingredients are customizable, from pork to chicken and shrimp. This dish is also popularly made into vegetarian or vegan versions, using tofu, mushrooms, and loads of vegetables.
In this recipe, I used shrimp for a quick chow mein meal. The shrimp is stir-fried with garlic and light soy sauce for flavor. Then, I added some bok choy and poured the savory sauce made with dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, and cumin powder.
To make it more authentic, I recommend using Asian noodles such as Chinese egg noodles. Chow mein recipes typically use either fresh or dried egg noodles. Serve this dish on its own, but it is even more delicious when paired with other Chinese dishes like Air-Fried Chinese Chicken On A Stick, Easy Air-Fried Crispy Pork Belly, and Shrimp Wontons.
Hungry for more noodle recipes? Don’t forget to make these delicious noodle recipes:
- Stir Fried Spaghetti Noodles With Soy Sauce
- Homemade Silver Noodles (銀針粉) With Only 2 Ingredients
- Japchae (Korean Glass Noodles)
- Jjajangmyeon (Black Bean Noodles)
- Hokkien Mee (Fried Prawn Noodles)
- Spicy Handmade Noodles (Biang Biang Noodles)
- Ban Mian (Handmade Noodles)
- Scallion Oil Noodles (葱油拌面)
- Shrimp Chow Fun Recipe
Ingredients To Make Shrimp Chow Mein
What I love about this dish is that you can customize it with any of your favorite ingredients. If you want more tips on what to put in your chow mein, don’t skip this part yet. I share below my top ingredient recommendations and alternatives to consider.
- Noodles: Use Asian or Chinese egg noodles, which may also be called chow mein noodles. You can use medium, wide, or extra wide noodles, whichever is available to you. These are typically available in Asian supermarkets or the international section of grocery stores. If you need an alternative to chow mein noodles, substitute it with yakisoba noodles, spaghetti noodles, or fresh wide rice noodles. However, keep in mind that cooking time and method may vary depending on the type of noodles. Check out these recipes to learn how I cooked the other types of noodles:
- Shrimp: Use frozen shrimp or pre-prepared and peeled shrimp. If using fresh shrimp, make sure to peel the skin, remove the tail, and devein it. For other seafood options, you can use prawns, lobsters, mussels, or scallops. If you want a veggie option, substitute shrimp with diced extra firm tofu and mushrooms like king oyster mushroom and shiitake mushroom.
- Oil: Oil is needed for the stir-frying step. However, you can skip the oil and stir-fry the shrimp and vegetables without it. Any cooking oil will do for this recipe, such as olive, avocado, sesame, or safflower oil. Go for peanut, soybean, or vegetable oil for a more neutral taste.
- Garlic: Stir-fried dishes won’t be complete without minced garlic. It adds a strong flavor and aroma with its nutty and garlicky taste. If you don’t have garlic but want the garlicky flavors, swap 1 clove of garlic with 1/8 tsp of garlic powder or 1/4 tsp of granulated garlic. For a faster cooking time, you can make Crispy Fried Garlic in advance and use it for the stir-frying step. Garlic goes hand in hand with ginger, so you can also stir-fry some ginger slices or ginger paste with garlic.
- Light soy sauce: You will need this for the stir-frying step as a flavor enhancer. Light soy sauce enhances the dish with its saltiness and umaminess. You can use light or regular soy sauce. Another excellent substitute is dark soy sauce, but it will be a bit sweeter and thicker than light soy sauce. Aside from light soy sauce, you can also use tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce.
- Vegetables: There are no rules as to which type and cut of vegetable to use. Choose your preferred vegetables and cut them the way you want them. However, I do recommend slicing them into strips or smaller cuts to cook them faster for the stir-frying step. You can incorporate chopped bok choy, broccoli, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, onions, snow peas, green onions, baby corn, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts.
- Sauce: After stir-frying the meat and vegetables, it is flavored with dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, and cumin powder.
- Dark soy sauce is preferred to give the noodles a darker color and a hint of sweetness. You can substitute dark soy sauce with light or regular soy sauce.
- Add salt like sea salt, kosher salt, or table salt to enhance the sauce.
- Then, balance out the salty flavors with a small amount of sugar, such as white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or cane sugar.
- Cumin is an excellent flavoring ingredient to add a warming taste with a hint of nuttiness.
- Optional flavoring ingredients: You can play around with the taste and use other flavoring ingredients. Make it more umami with oyster sauce or spicy with chili sauce. For a slightly sweet and briny taste, use cooking wine like Shaoxing wine, dry sherry, red wine vinegar, or alcohol-free wine. If you want to include more Asian ingredients, I recommend sesame oil for its nuttiness and white pepper for its earthiness.
What To Prepare For Shrimp Chow Mein
You will definitely enjoy making this recipe because of the basic kitchen tools needed. Simply prepare a pan or pot for cooking the noodles separately and a non-stick pan or wok for stir-frying everything together. The ingredients to prepare are the following:
- 150g of noodles
- 15g of oil
- 15g of minced garlic
- 120g of shrimp
- 10g of light soy sauce
- 50g of bok choy
- 15g of dark soy sauce
- 3g of sugar
- 2g of salt
- 2g of cumin powder
How To Cook Shrimp Chow Mein
Finish the recipe in 5 easy steps in less than 15 minutes. Cook the noodles, stir-fry the ingredients, and add the sauce – it’s that simple! Watch how I did it with my quick tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok.
What do you think about this shrimp chow mein recipe? Let us know your thoughts and recommendations by writing a comment in the comments section. Don’t forget to tag @kitchenmisadventures to share your finished shrimp chow mein!
- Prepare a pot with water and bring to a boil. Cook the noodles in boiling water until al dente. Then, cool the cooked noodles in cold water to make them chewier and less sticky. Drain the water and set aside.
- Prepare your ingredients: peel and devein the shrimp, chop the garlic, chop the vegetables. I recommend completing this step while bringing the water to a boil.
- Heat oil in a pan and stir-fry minced garlic, shrimp, and light soy sauce. Stir-fry until the shrimp changes color.
- Add chopped bok choy and noodles to the pan.
- Stir in dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, and cumin powder. Stir-fry until well combined.
Easy Recipe Shrimp Chow Mein
Ingredients
- 150 g of noodles
- 15 g of oil
- 15 g of minced garlic
- 120 g of shrimp
- 10 g of light soy sauce
- 50 g of bok choy
- 15 g of dark soy sauce
- 3 g of sugar
- 2 g of salt
- 2 g of cumin powder
Instructions
- Prepare a pot with water and bring to a boil. Cook the noodles in boiling water until al dente. Then, cool the cooked noodles in cold water to make them chewier and less sticky. Drain the water and set aside.
- Prepare your ingredients: peel and devein the shrimp, chop the garlic, chop the vegetables. I recommend completing this step while bringing the water to a boil.
- Heat oil in a pan and stir-fry minced garlic, shrimp, and light soy sauce. Stir-fry until the shrimp changes color.
- Add chopped bok choy and noodles to the pan.
- Stir in dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, and cumin powder. Stir-fry until well combined.
