Soy sauce pan – fried noodles or soy sauce chow mein is a famous Cantonese chow mein dish, enjoying a high popularity especially for breakfast time inside China.
Well, this is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes in addition to shrimp dumpling, char Sui bao etc. In Chinese languages, this chow mein recipe is named as “豉油王炒麵”, which literally means pan-fried noodles with premium soy sauces. Usually Hong Kong style thin noodles are called as the main ingredient. And premium soy sauces are responsible for all flavors. If you love this kind of fried noodles, try beef chow fun, which rice noodles are called instead of egg noodles.
Cantonese chow mein is slightly different from regular chow mein. The crucial step for successful Cantonese chow mein is to fry the noodles firstly in wok until slightly crispy and dry. This helps to remove extra water and make the noodles dry and aromatic (干香).
Cook’s Note
Choose the right type of noodles. For common Chinese chow mein, they are two large groups, the first one is egg noodles (commonly used in Northern China and work perfectly with sauces). And the second is Cantonese Chow Mein, which is much drier and thinner, working best with crisper chow mein.
Cook the noodles shorter than the instruction listed on the bag. Depending on the size of the noodles you are using. If you using Cantonese style chow mein, cook the noodles for 1 minute and separate the noodle thread during boiling process. Or you can simple soak the noodles with hot boiling water for several minutes.
When cook the noodles in wok, use middle or middle to slow fire to avoid sticky.
When frying the onions, use high fire so there is only aroma but no water released. But slow down the fire as long as the sauce is added to avoid sticking.
I highly recommend adding salt at the very last if necessary, since different brands of soy sauce present different salty level. More importantly, all of the ingredients need lower sodium flavoring to keep the original faint sweetness and aroma. So I did not mix salt in the stir fry sauce and found out the noodles taste just fine for me. If you pursue a slightly stronger flavor or your soy sauce is low sodium, sprinkle a very tiny pinch of salt.
This is a very basic version and we can make delicious soy sauce fried noodles with the minimum and common ingredients. This basic version is also vegan friendly. In addition, oyster sauce or fish sauce can be good seasonings and you can also add chicken, beef, or other protein as raw ingredients to rich the dish.
Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodles (Cantonese Chow Mein)
Ingredients
- 100 g dried egg noodles , thinner ones are better
- 1 cup bean sprouts remove the roots , cut into sections
- 6 blanched chives , cut into sections
- 3 green onions , shredded
- 1/4 white onion
- 3 tbsp. cooking oil , divided
- pinch of salt , if necessary
Mixed Sauce
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp. Chinese cooking wine
- 1 tsp. water
- 1/4 tsp. sugar
- 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boiling and cook the noodles for 1 minute. During the process, separate the noodles. Transfer the noodles out and drain.
- In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients of the sauce and set aside.
- Add around 2 tablespoon of oil in wok and slow down the fire, fry until the noodles becomes dry and crispy. However this is only optional if you want a real Cantonese flavor. You can skip this to make a regular chow mein recipe. Transfer the noodles out.
- Turn up the fire and add another tablespoon of oil, add onion and the white sections of green onions in.
- Place noodles back, add blanched chive, spring onions and drizzle the sauce. Mix well. Sprinkle some salt if necessary. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Hi, these look delicious, What can I use in place for the Chinese cooking wine. I don’t’ know where to get that.
You can skip it April if you really can’t find it. Or simply soak some ginger and scallion with hot water and use hot water as the substitute.
Hello Elaine,
I made this tonight and it was very good, but I fear I may not have achieved the intended result. You say to pan fry the noodles until they are dry and crispy. I did that and I guess expected the final result in my bowl to contain at least some dry and crispy noodles but my final result did not. The noodles were not limp or excessively soft in my final result but not really crispy–more like the Italian “al dente.” I think what happened is my noodles absorbed a good deal of moisture from the vegetables and soy mixture at the end, and that softened the crispy bits of noodle.
My question is, what is the final result supposed to be like? I think if I know that I can adjust what I’m doing.
Thanks!
When do you add the bean sprouts? It’s not mentioned in the recipe instructions
Yummy! Used shredded cabbage instead of bean sprouts but still yummy. Definitely important to fry the noodles first, it makes all the difference
Diana,
Thanks for the feedback. I am so happy to read this comment. Happy cooking!