I did a decent amount of stuff in the kitchen today, including butchering up a whole chicken, and then with the leftover carcass, plus 2 more I had in the freezer, I cooked up some chicken carcass and veggie scrap broth. Once I made that, I planned to pick all the chicken off the carcasses and use it to make some supper dish, and decided upon lo mein, a spaghetti based stir fry.
My dad is the lo mein expert in my family. Not just lo mein- he’s good with all Chinese and Japanese food and cooking from scratch- he’s made sake, and loves making miso from scratch as well. He also loves making fried rice, General Tso’s chicken, and many other (American versions of) Asian dishes, so I decided to, instead of just winging the recipe for my chicken lo mein, to call him up and ask him for his recipe.
Me- I’m more into “natural stuff” than my dad is, so I changed up the recipe a bit to make it healthier, and here is the result- and it was a hit with everyone.
When you make lo mein yourself, the only important thing that needs to stay the same is the spaghetti and the sauce- you can change up the veggies, and use whatever suits your fancy, in place of any of the veggies listed, like peppers, green beans, sprouts, cabbage, baby corn… and you can use many other proteins instead of the deboned chicken, like ground beef chunks, eggs, deboned turkey, ground meat/poultry, or tempeh or tofu to make it vegan. The only thing you have to keep in mind is that the proteins need to be cooked first, and then added in already cooked- don’t cook it together with the veggies. You can also leave out the protein if you so desire.
I used gluten free pasta for mine, but of course, you can use regular wheat pasta if you aren’t concerned about keeping it gluten free.
P.S. You can make fried rice the same exact way, by replacing the pasta with cold rice- only add the rice to the cooking vegetables in sauce at the end, and heat it up together.
Chicken Lo Mein Recipe- Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, Vegan Options
Ingredients For Sauce:
1/2 cup soy sauce (I used gluten free soy sauce)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used my chicken scrap broth, but you can also use veggie broth if you want to keep this vegan)
1/4 cup coconut sugar or sucanat, or 2-3 tablespoons of white sugar, or 1-2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 heaping tablespoons potato, corn, or tapioca starch
1/4 teaspoon dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Other Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons oil or fat (I used rendered chicken fat this time, which made it out of this world, but other oils/fats can also be used)
1 onion
2 large carrots
1 zucchini
1 can mushrooms
2 cups cooked chicken pieces
1 lb spaghetti- I used gluten free corn linguine
Instructions:
1. Cook the spaghetti. Strain, and rinse well. Let cool.
2. Chop up your onion and veggies.
3. Heat up your oil/fat on high, then add the onions. When starting to brown, add the carrots. Mix semi frequently, and then when the carrots are starting to brown a little, add the zucchini. When it just starts to get soft, add the mushrooms and chicken.
4. Mix your sauce ingredients together. Whisk well to ensure no clumps.
5. Pour the sauce onto the veggies/meat. Mix well and heat until thickened.
6. Pour the veggies/meat mixture over the spaghetti, mix well, and serve.
Enjoy!
Ever make lo mein at home or eat it in restaurants? Whats in your lo mein? Does this look like a recipe you’d try?
If you had deboned chicken, that you took off chicken carcasses after making soup with them, what would your go to recipe for the chicken be?
