Make Shrimp Chow Mein (Cantonese Style) In Less Than 20 Minutes

Shrimp chow mein is a convenient toss-up of pan-fried egg noodles, shrimp, and plenty of veggies stir-fried. It's one of our favourite go-to dishes that's full of flavour. 

Learn how to cook our version of this delicious Cantonese noodle dish as we show you the ingredients required, easy variations and tips for stir-frying the noodles.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Vegetarian And Vegan Variation
• Shrimp Chow Mein Recipe | Simple Cantonese Style
• Cooking Tips
• How To Serve And Eat Shrimp Chow Mein?
• History And Background
• Types Of Chinese Stir Fry Noodles
• Guyanese Style
• Shrimp Lo Mein
• Make Healthy Shrimp Chow Mein

Ingredients

Here is an overview of the ingredients for our shrimp chow mein recipe.

• shrimp, medium-sized
• egg noodles
• Thinly sliced onion
• Minced garlic
• Minced ginger
• Chopped spring onions with green and white parts separated 
• bean sprouts
• carrot, julienned
• vegetable cooking oil

Sauce

• dark soy sauce
• light soy sauce
• sugar
• water
• sesame oil

Traditionally, we use thin Hong Kong egg noodles, which are made of wheat flour with egg added. You'll find these in most Asian grocery stores and some supermarkets. They are labelled as "Hong Kong-style pan-fried noodles" or sometimes "chow mein".

If you can't find this, you can cook the ingredients with thin, ramen-like soba or thicker udon. Both types are used for yakisoba or yaki udon, which are Japanese variations of chow mein. Therefore, they can work well as substitutes.

For our recipe, we make the sauce using dark and light soy sauce, sugar, water and sesame oil to give that sweet, bitter-burnt flavour. You can add different types of meat. However, the most common types of meat are shrimp, chicken, and beef. 

Vegetarian And Vegan Variation

Here are some ideas for making our shrimp chow mein recipe vegetarian and vegan-friendly.

How To Make It Vegetarian

To create a vegetarian version of the shrimp chow mein, we can exclude the shrimp and meats. Add onions, carrots, shredded cabbage and tofu. Vegetarians can also add fried eggs or boiled eggs.

How To Make It Vegan

For vegans, look out for noodles made only from wheat, water, salt, and oil. Most noodle types are made without eggs, but it is better to check the ingredient list.

Replace the meat with a variety of vegetables, such as mushrooms, peas, and broccoli. We can also add tofu for a slightly more chewy texture.

Cooking Tips

If you don't want the noodles to break when stir-frying, you can use tongs to gently mix the ingredients while stir-frying.

We can add chilli flakes while stir-frying the ingredients to make a spicy shrimp chow mein.

For those who cook with a small frying pan, we can cook all the ingredients separately before frying the noodles. Since most store-bought chow mein are parboiled, frying will take little time. 

This quick and simple noodle dish can be stored for a day or two, but do not leave it in the fridge for too long, as it can get soggy when exposed to cold air. 

How To Serve And Eat Shrimp Chow Mein?

This stir-fried noodle dish is great to eat as a main meal on its own since we can fry the ingredients we want together with the chow mein. Apart from the ingredients mentioned in our recipe above, you can feel free to add other types of veggies or meat to change it up.

Serve the shrimp chow mein with a cold fizzy beer or a glass of white wine to savour its stir-fried goodness. 

History And Background

Chow Mein originated in North China from a city known as Taishan. It has travelled with Chinese immigrants worldwide and evolved into different versions as cooks add flair and style to the dish.

This dish appears on menus in Asian restaurants worldwide, including Japan, India, the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Types Of Chinese Stir Fry Noodles

Traditional Cantonese-style shrimp chow mein is made with egg noodles. The chef boils and strains the noodles, which are then either pan-fried or cooked directly with soy sauce.

For the Cantonese version, the egg noodles are steamed, stir-fried, and finally pressed to sit at the bottom of the wok. This crisps the noodles at the edges and underside. The dry, crispy chow mein noodles act as a base to soak up the broth-like sauce.

The other version is typically just referred to as shrimp chow mein. It is directly cooked with soy sauce and stir-fried. The noodles are not purposefully pan-fried to achieve a crispy bottom. However, this version is usually more flavourful as the noodles have been well incorporated into the sauce.

Guyanese Style

The Guyanese in Africa have put their spin on this dish as well. They have adapted this traditional Cantonese noodle dish by adding a local spice, cassareep, which is the juice of the cassava root. To make shrimp chow mein Guyanese style, we add a tablespoon of cassareep, a thin black sauce made from cassava root to our traditional noodle recipe. 

Shrimp Lo Mein

Some people may like their noodles with a softer texture. Shrimp lo mein is wet noodles tossed together with shrimp and other ingredients. The word "lo" in Chinese means toss. In many shrimp lo mein recipes, the egg noodles are first steamed. Then, they are drenched with dark and light soy sauce. 

The noodles are also different; lo mein is thicker and less springy than the thin noodles used for the fried version. After the dish is stir-fried, we need to add a sizable amount of soy sauce to give the noodle dish a wet, almost sticky consistency. 

Make Healthy Shrimp Chow Mein

Since egg noodles are carbohydrates, a large portion of the dish is high in calories. Cooking the chow mein with low-calorie oil, such as olive oil, makes it a healthier choice. 

For more simple, satisfying recipes to try, follow @honestfoodtalks on Instagram for a gastronomic journey around the world. Next up, check out our Hong Kong Noodles recipe.