Homemade Chicken Chow Mein

Chicken Chow Mein is one of my favorite dishes to get when ordering out Chinese food.  It’s simple, delicious and the flavors can become so unique depending on the type of meat you may decide to add to it. I’ve developed a very adventurous gene when it comes to cooking since I’ve joined Weight Watchers so I decided to give homemade chicken chow mein a shot.  The first time I made it, it came out delicious, so I’ve made it a few times after that (usually when we’re going to have people over for dinner because my recipe makes quite a lot).  By any means you could cut this recipe in half, or even quarters.

I know depending on where you live chicken chow mein and chicken lo mein are interchangeable names – but this particular dish is the dish that’s served with a “sauce” or “gravy” to it, is loaded with vegetables and served with crunchy chow mein noodles on the side.

Serves: 15.  Serving Size: 1 cup.  4 Points Plus per serving.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of margarine
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 stalks of celery, sliced
• 2 large red bell peppers, sliced
• 8 ounce container of button top mushrooms, sliced
• 12 oz. bags fresh bean sprouts
• 1 can  (~1 ½ cups) baby corn, drained and chunked
• 2 cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 2 cans bamboo shoots, drained
• 8 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 18 oz. cooked rotisserie chicken – skin & bone removed, chunked
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp Garlic powder (can adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp Ground ginger (can adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp Salt (can adjust to taste)
• 1 tsp Pepper (can adjust to taste)

Add your margarine to the bottom of a large pan (suitable to cook a big batch of sauce).   Then add in my sliced onions, minced garlic, and celery. Season veggies with black pepper, salt, ground ginger, and garlic powder. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until slightly translucent. Add in red peppers. Let the veggies sweat, but don’t let them to cook all the way through because you don’t want them softened.

Add in mushrooms and fresh bean sprouts. Stirring the mixture together, let everything cook and mix together or a few minutes so the bean sprouts are more pliable. Add canned drained baby corn, water chestnuts and sliced bamboo shoots.  Stir to combine.

Add in fat free low sodium chicken broth and 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce. Add in the chopped rotisserie chicken, stirring to combine. Let the mixture come to low simmer.

Depending on how thick you like your chow mein you can adjust the cornstarch – adding a small amount to a cup with some cold water (stirring to combine to make sure there’s no lumps). When pot is simmering, add cornstarch and water mixture to the pot.  Stir and you should see it begin to thicken.  Since I made a massive pot and I like mine REALLY thick I continued to incorporate more cornstarch.

You can serve in a bowl with crunchy chow mein noodles on top or below it (adjust points plus for the noodles) or you can serve it alongside a bed of white or brown rice (adjusting points plus for the rice).