Gluten Free Lo Mein | Make a quick and easy dinner tonight (2024)

The secret to this recipe for Chinese-style gluten free lo mein is in the sauce that sticks to the noodles, the juicy, tender chicken or crisp-tender vegetables, and anything else you add to it!

Make the sauce days ahead of time and store it in a jar in the refrigerator. Make it with chicken this week, vegetables and extra firm tofu next week…

What makes this recipe for gluten free lo mein the best

Chinese take-out is just one of those things when you're gluten free, isn't it? It's hard to come by in a restaurant, and it's something most people tend to miss terribly once it's out of reach.

Like most recipes for restaurant-style food, this lo mein sauce tastes like the American-style Chinese takeout we all love because it has some ingredients you might not expect—like a touch of brown sugar.

I've made this sauce with different types of sweeteners, but to taste like you remember, you'll certainly need something. I like brown sugar the best since the molasses in it also adds some richness to the sauce.

The sugar also helps the sauce cling to whatever you mix into it, including all those perfectly cooked gluten free noodles. The ginger adds a little bite, too, and the dried garlic and onions, plus the scallions, give this dish that savory, full-bodied flavor.

The best gluten free noodles for all that delicious lo mein sauce

As long as your noodles aren't mushy, they should be able to hold the lo mein sauce. And that's their main purpose!

I really like Thai Kitchen brand “straight cut wide rice noodles.” I often buy them by the case when I find them for a reasonable price online, but they're often available in regular and sometimes fancier grocery stores like Whole Foods.

If I'm not using those broad, flat rice noodles, I usually make lo mein using Barilla brand dried gluten free spaghetti. My kids and I actually really love spaghetti.

Even though all the pasta shapes are made using the same ingredients, somehow spaghetti always gets a “yes!” at dinnertime.

Can you make this lo mein sauce ahead of time, for a last-minute dinner?

Yes! This recipe really lends itself to being made in stages. Making the sauce ahead of time is the easiest way to do your future self a favor!

The cornstarch in the sauce will settle to the bottom of the jar as it sits. It's easy to whisk right back in before you use the sauce, though.

Even though starch will collect, it won't clump like it would if you were adding it to a large quantity of liquid. That's because the grains of starch have already each been broken up and moistened.

Varieties of gluten free lo mein

How to make gluten free chicken lo mein

This recipe already has sliced chicken, coated in cornstarch, incorporated as an optional ingredient. This method of stir-frying thinly sliced chicken makes the most tender, juicy bites.

If you happen to have some leftover cooked shredded chicken in the refrigerator, though, you can also add it along with the noodles to the lo mein sauce. Just be sure it doesn't already have another sauce or many seasonings on it that will compete with the flavors in this recipe.

How to make gluten free vegetable lo mein

My favorite vegetable to add to this dish is baby bok choy. Just separate the leaves of the bok choy and blanch it by cooking it in boiling water for about 3 minutes before draining it and putting it in ice water to stop the cooking immediately.

Other vegetables to toss in your lo mein sauce as it thickens:

• Shredded carrots or shredded cabbage will cook with the sauce
• Frozen mixed vegetables, lightly defrosted
• Fresh baby spinach will wilt in moments
• Sugar snap peas, blanched like baby bok choy above or cooked lightly in the sauce
• Bean sprouts and sliced water chestnuts are a classic combo

How to make gluten free vegetarian lo mein

Use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock in the sauce recipe, leave out the chicken, and this recipe is purely vegetarian. Add the blanched vegetables and/or roasted tofu that we use in our recipe for gluten free ramen, too!

FAQs

Substitutions for gluten free lo mein sauce ingredients

Can dry onions, garlic and ginger be replaced with fresh?

Yes! But dry is so much easier, which is why I prefer it. The general rule of thumb is to use twice as much fresh herbs, spices, and aromatics than dry.

The only ingredient of the sauce that I consider to be truly optional is the ginger. If you hate ginger, just leave it out!

Can you make this sauce with light tamari or gluten free soy sauce?

Yes! The flavor will be less rich, since those are really just more watered down versions of soy sauce.

Can you make this lo mein sauce with unrefined sugar?

Yes, in place of brown sugar, you can use an equal amount of honey or even coconut palm sugar that's been ground until fine.

I don't recommend eliminating the sugar altogether as it doesn't make a sweet sauce. Instead, it makes a balanced sauce, since the recipe is otherwise quite salty.

How to make gluten free lo mein without cornstarch

In place of cornstarch, try using arrowroot, superfine white rice flour, or even superfine “glutinous” rice flour. Any of them will help thicken this simple lo mein sauce.