Barbecued Pork Lo Mein

This barbecued pork lo mein is a wonderful Chinese take-out style dinner that will satisfy your cravings. 

This barbecue pork lo mein is one of my favorite Chinese take-out style dishes that you can easily make at home. 

It's a wonderful noodle dish that you can serve on its own or as a part of a multi-course meal. Add some egg rolls, shrimp fried rice, hot and sour egg drop soup, stir-fried beef and broccoli, kung pao, chicken, and stir-fried lettuce for a wonderful dining experience! Add some dessert and it's a banquet! 

This dish kind of makes me feel like a college student during finals raiding the fridge late at night. Why you ask? Because the cold noodles in the leftovers from this dish are so delicious that I can't resist them for a late night snack. I've made several trips to the fridge to dip into them with my fingers. I'm barely in control and trying to talk myself into waiting until lunch tomorrow. 

Ingredients in Pork Lo Mein:

For the Pork:

The meat in this recipe is Char Sui, or Chinese barbecued pork. It can be purchased at Cantonese restaurants in your local Chinatown... or you can make it yourself in advance! Super delicious, and with or without the red dye. I have a slow cooker version and a broiler version. Both are fabulous. 

This time, I made the broiler version but added a half teaspoon of Chinese five spice along with a tablespoon of oyster sauce. If you like, you can add some red food coloring to the marinade to duplicate the look of the pork from a Chinese take-out store. 

The recipe for the lo mein calls for 12 ounces of the barbecued pork. I recommend picking up at least three pounds of pork shoulder/butt and making lots of extra char sui - it's basically meat candy. It's seriously delicious and succulent. We had no trouble making use of the leftovers, including using it in bao buns and egg rolls. 

Cut the pork into quarter-pound pieces and marinate it overnight. Then broil the pork in the oven for about 7 minutes a side on a rack. Be sure to check your pork with an instant read thermometer to make sure it is fully cooked. 

For the Lo Mein:

Once you have your pork, you will need fresh Chinese egg noodles, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, bean sprouts, rice wine, scallions, and of course the oil for the stir fry. 

Because bean sprouts are harder to find in most U.S. supermarkets these days, you might need to visit your local Asian market to pick them up, along with the fresh lo mein noodles. The noodles are usually packaged in a bag in the refrigerator section and can also be labeled as Chinese-style Egg Noodles or Lo Mein Noodles. I've been able to find them as Chinese, Viet, and Korean grocery stores. 

Tip: I just discovered HMart carries small packages of the sprouts! Usually you have to buy much larger packages and figure out what to make with the leftovers. 

This dish is amazing, and the barbecued pork is a revelation.

Process for Making this Lo Mein Dish:

First, cook the noodles according to the package directions, usually a minute or two. Rinse the noodles and then toss them in a bit of neutral oil and set them aside. If you like, you can add a small amount of sesame oil (about a teaspoon) as well for a bit more flavor. 

Next, heat your wok or large skillet, add some oil, and cook the ginger, garlic, and cooked sliced char sui and stir-fry for about a minute. 

After that, add the bean sprouts and rice wine and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the mixed soy sauce, oyster sauce, and salt. 

Finally, add the noodles and scallions and stir-fry for about 2 minutes and then serve. 

Lo Mein Recipe Variations:

This is a great recipe for adding any julienned or shredded vegetables such as snow peas, Romano beans, Chinese long beans, carrots, or cabbage. Just add them before you add the bean sprouts and stir-fry for about a minute. 

You can also add some julienned canned water chestnuts for a little more crunch. 

Tips for Success:

To stir-fry the noodles I use a combination of short-handled tongs and a stir-fry spatula or fish spatula to prevent the noodles from becoming one big clump and so the rest of the ingredients will become incorporated throughout. If you're chopstick savvy, cooking chopsticks are great too in place of the tongs. 

Stage all of your prepped ingredients in the order that you will use them. This stir-fry goes pretty quickly so having everything ready is highly recommended. I like to use small to medium prep bowls to hold the measured out ingredients. 

Go over the recipe and see what you'll be adding to the wok at the same time and put all of those ingredients together in individual bowls. In this recipe, the line-up would look like this:

• 2 tablespoons of oil in a small prep bowl
• Ginger, garlic, scallion whites, and the pork, all in one small bowl
• Bean sprouts and rice wine in a cereal-sized bowl
• Soy, oyster sauce, and salt mixture, in a small prep bowl
• The cooked noodles and the shredded green parts of the scallions (to prep, place the scallions on top of the noodles in the pan with the noodles and oil before beginning to stir-fry)

Leftovers: 

Leftovers are great reheated in the microwave (and the noodles are even delicious cold). I usually toss in some freshly chopped scallions and add a few grinds of white pepper as well. 

This year (along with some of my favorite food blogger friends) I am cooking my way through the alphabet. This week we are making dishes beginning with "L." 

Check out everyone else's recipes representing foods that begin with "L." 

• Sneha’s Recipe: Lemon Rice/Chitranna 
• Food Lust People Love: Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry
• Culinary Cam: Lingcod Over Legumes 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Lemon Vinaigrette 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Melody’s Homemade Lemonade 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Mediterranean Lentil Salad 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Barbecue Pork Lo Mein 
• Blogghetti Lemon Pepper Tilapia Sheet Pan Dinner 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Fresh Dill Deviled Eggs with a Hint of Lemon 
• Palatable Pastime: Liver and Onions 
• A Messy Kitchen: Lemon Balm Jelly

Barbecued Pork Lo Mein

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 5 MinTotal time: 20 Min

This barbecued pork lo mein is a wonderful Chinese take-out style dinner that you can make at home.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces fresh lo mein noodles (Chinese egg noodles)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable, grapeseed, or peanut oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 4 scallions, white parts thinly slices and green parts finely julienned, divided
• 12 ounces Chinese barbecue pork (char sui), sliced about 1/4 inch thick (see links to recipes in the post)
• 4 cups (8 ounces by weight) bean sprouts, rinsed and dried
• 1 tablespoon Shao Hsing rice wine or dry sherry

Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the package directions in a 4-quart saucepan and drain and rinse them in colander. Shake the colander to remove as much water as you can in the sink. Place the noodles back into the saucepan and toss them with 1 tablespoon of the oil with tongs. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and salt.
3. Heat your 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over medium high heat and swirl in the rest of the oil. Add the ginger, garlic, scallion whites, and the pork and stir-fry for one minute. Add the bean sprouts and rice wine and stir-fry for about 30 seconds.
4. Add the soy and oyster sauce mixture, the noodles, and the green parts of the scallions and stir-fry for two minutes. Serve.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

387

Fat (grams)

9 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

1 g

Carbs (grams)

70 g

Fiber (grams)

3 g

Net carbs

67 g

Sugar (grams)

22 g

Protein (grams)

9 g

Cholesterol (grams)

0 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2014/03/barbecued-pork-lo-mein-wok-wednesdays.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

pork, noodles, lo mein

stir-fry

Chinese

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Updated June, 2024. First published March, 2014. 

Recipe adapted from the James Beard award winning Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories by Grace Young. Published in 2010.