Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on July 29, 2026
Some days just call for a nice hearty plate of Chinese cuisine. It hits a spot that so many other foods just do not compare with in our home. Until recently lo mein was a favorite of mine. I started to hear from different reliable sources that lo mein was probably not the best choice. Today we take a look at why we should avoid lo mein in Chinese restaurants.
If you want to order the most authentic item on the menu, lo mein isn’t the dish for you. While lo mein, unlike General Tso’s chicken, isn’t entirely unknown in China, the Chinese version is quite different from the one we know. “Lo mein” actually means “stirred noodles” and refers to a method of preparation rather than a specific dish. According to My Great Recipes, the Chinese preparation method involves stirring noodles into a soup broth just before it finishes cooking so the noodles become soft and absorb the flavor of the broth and its seasonings.
ChowHound further explains the differences between lo mein as it might be served in Boston and Beijing. In the U.S., lo mein noodles are tossed in a hot wok with a thick brown sauce made from ingredients such as chicken broth, soy sauce, hoisin, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, and cornstarch. The protein comes from pork, chicken, beef, or sometimes seafood (unless it’s a veggie version).
Chinese lo mein noodles are also stir-fried in a wok, but the sauce is lighter and thinner, perhaps made with just soy and rice vinegar with just a tiny bit of thickener. Chinese lo mein may be topped with beef brisket or even wontons, or else the meat — along with vegetables such as mushrooms and bok choy — may be served alongside the noodles instead of being mixed in as is more typical with the U.S. version.
Lo mein as we know is basically a heaping helping of carbs plus a whole lot of oil. If you order it from popular American Chinese chain P.F. Chang’s, even the veggie version has 630 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 114 grams of carbs. Adding fatty meat like pork really takes it over the top, however, with 920 calories and 32 fat grams, although if it’s any slight consolation, this version only has 112 grams of carbs.
Also, if you’re watching your sodium intake, you might want to look away from lo mein — salty soy sauce boosts the sodium content to 3540 mg for the veggie, and a whopping 4170 for the shrimp version. Sugar content isn’t looking good, either — 20 grams for each type of lo mein except veggie, which tops out at 23.
CheatSheet lists lo mein as one of the top Chinese restaurant menu items that are a complete waste of money. It’s true that at most restaurants the dish consists primarily of noodles, which are one of the cheapest items in a restaurant kitchen. What’s more, they can be bulked up with inexpensive veggies such as cabbage, while the pricier proteins — pork, beef, chicken, shrimp — are in sparse supply.
Lo mein is actually a cost-effective way for restaurants to skimp on serving anything that’s actually going to cost them money while getting rid of any veggies they may have overstocked. While that’s nice for the restaurant owners, why should you be the one helping their bottom line? If you order something like hot pot instead, you’ll see exactly how much meat and you’re getting instead of having it be buried under a pile of noodles.
Many people are opting to learn how to create their own copycat lo mein dishes at home. The internet is filled with so many recipes and there are some great authentic Chinese cookbooks available to purchase that make this such a fun learning experience especially if you have ethnic shops in your area that you can buy the real deal ingredients. We absolutely love creating our own copy cat restaurant favorites at home and have been branching out into more authentic special recipes. Getting to know the chefs at your local restaurants can mean a lot of great cooking tips, too.
For more information on good food choices and food safety please keep an eye on Make Food Safe.