Shrimp Lo Mein is an easy dish to make at home and tastes just as good as any restaurant version. You can even prepare all of the ingredients ahead of time for an easy weeknight meal. I’ve always found that cooking is a great way to unwind from a stressful day of work, have a nice meal, pack a lunch for the next day and save 10 bucks from ordering takeout.
A great thing to do is to take 30 minutes to prep ingredients the night before. Then, the next day when you get home, you can take everything out of the fridge, change into your t-shirt and sweatpants, and grab your wok. Dinner will be ready within 15 minutes!
This Shrimp Lo Mein recipe follows most restaurant versions pretty closely, but you can add anything you like to this dish! That lone stalk of celery or leftover half of an onion are great candidates to add in.
If you don’t have shrimp, you could also try making our vegetable lo mein, or use ramen noodles to make a vegetable ramen instead!
Okay, let’s do this shrimp lo mein!
Shrimp Lo Mein: Recipe Instructions
Take the shrimp and noodles out of the refrigerator, and let them come up to room temperature. One trick for the noodles is to soak the whole bag (unopened) in hot water, which speeds up the warming process without making the noodles soggy.
If you can’t find lo mein noodles, you can actually substitute dried linguini. Just cook until al dente, drain, and immediately toss with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, working the oil into the pasta so the noodles don’t stick together. Always prepare your noodles just before you are ready to make the dish, so they don’t dry out and remain at room temperature or warmer. This makes the stir-frying process much easier.
Combine the sugar, soy sauces, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved and set aside. Heat a large wok over high heat until it just starts to smoke, and add 1 tablespoon of oil around the perimeter of the wok. Quickly spread the shrimp around your wok and let them sear for 10-15 seconds on each side. Immediately transfer the shrimp to a plate and set aside.
Return the wok to the highest heat possible and add 2 tablespoons oil, along with the garlic.
After a few seconds, add the mushrooms, carrots, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
Next, spread the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok, and then add the napa cabbage.
Stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Spread the noodles evenly over the vegetables and give everything a good stir for 1 minute. Now, you can see why you want everything at room temperature, or everything will be overcooked and mushy by the time it heats up!
At this point, the noodles should be softened, so add in the sauce mixture you set aside earlier and mix until everything is well combined. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds using a scooping motion, until the sauce is well distributed. Add in the shrimp, snow peas, bean sprouts, and scallions.
Mix well for another 2 minutes and serve! You will never order Chinese takeout shrimp lo mein again!
Some Homemade Chili Oil would go great with your your Shrimp Lo Mein!
Shrimp Lo Mein
Ingredients
- 12 oz. shrimp (340g, 31/40 size, peeled and deveined)
- 1 pound fresh pre-cooked lo mein noodles (450g)
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons regular or light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil (like vegetable or canola, divided)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 6 fresh button or cremini mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 medium carrot (julienned)
- 1/2 cup bamboo shoots (sliced)
- 1/2 cup water chestnuts (sliced)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 3 cups napa cabbage (shredded)
- 1 cup snow peas (trimmed)
- 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts
- 2 scallions (split and cut into 2-inch long pieces)
Instructions
- Take the shrimp and noodles out of the refrigerator, and let them come up to room temperature. One trick for the noodles is to soak the whole bag (unopened) in hot water, which speeds up the warming process without making the noodles soggy.
- If you can’t find lo mein noodles, you can actually substitute dried linguini. Just cook until al dente, drain, and immediately toss with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, working the oil into the pasta so the noodles don't stick together. Always prepare your noodles just before you are ready to make the dish, so they don’t dry out and remain at room temperature or warmer. This makes the stir-frying process much easier.
- Combine the sugar, soy sauces, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved and set aside. Heat a large wok over high heat until it just starts to smoke, and add 1 tablespoon of oil around the perimeter of the wok. Quickly spread the shrimp around your wok and let them sear for 10-15 seconds on each side. Immediately transfer the shrimp to a plate and set aside.
- Return the wok to the highest heat possible and add 2 tablespoons oil, along with the garlic. After a few seconds, add the mushrooms, carrots, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
- Next, spread the Shaoxing wine around the perimeter of the wok, and then add the napa cabbage. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Spread the noodles evenly over the vegetables and give everything a good stir for 1 minute. Now, you can see why you want everything at room temperature, or everything will be overcooked and mushy by the time it heats up!
- At this point, the noodles should be softened, so add in the sauce mixture you set aside earlier and mix until everything is well combined. Stir-fry for another 30 seconds using a scooping motion, until the sauce is well distributed. Add in the shrimp, snow peas, bean sprouts, and scallions. Mix well for another 2 minutes and serve!
nutrition facts
We made this tonight outside on our Blackstone griddle. I realize it’s not a wok but we used what we had and enjoyed making it together as a family! We had a great time and it was delicious!! Thank you for your recipes that are always great!
Made this tonight. Flavor was good. Noodles were super sticky. I had uncooked fresh noodles but cooked them for 40 seconds right before i started things in the wok, and ran them through warm water right before adding them to the wok to separate them again. But they were still super sticky. Both in the wok and while eating them. Any ideas on what I did wrong?
Hi Anna, It may be because the lo mein noodles were overcooked or you may have not used enough water to boil the noodles which sometimes creates a sticky noodle. When this happens and you cook the lo mein and it gets sticky, you need to add some liquid to the noodles. The vegetables, especially napa cabbage, emit lots of liquid when they are cooked, but sometimes you may need to add water or chicken stock until the extra liquid cuts the stickiness. Hope that helps!