Veggie Chow Mein | Cheap Plant-Based Meal

This recipe comes from my new cookbook, Plant-Based on a Budget! You can buy it on Amazon. Whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant, I love to order veggie chow mein! I enjoy it so much that I’ve even started making it at home. It’s quite easy and very inexpensive to make.

By now, you know I’m on a mission to always make use of my veggies before they expire. When my spinach starts to droop or the carrots get a bit bendy, I like to turn to this recipe so I can clear out my fridge. When you’re making it, please feel free to sub in any vegetables you need to use up, although if you make it by the book, this veggie chow mein will be delicious.

Also, I use the instant ramen that’s super accessible and made by the brand Nissin with the flavor called “Oriental” — it’s vegan. With that said, I don’t use the flavor packet. And if you don’t like instant noodle, no worries! This recipe is extra versatile and you can change out most of the ingredients. I recommend rice noodles or wheat chow mein noodles, too. Yum!

Here some other helpful recipe tips:

• If you like noodles a little saltier, add more soy sauce.
• I recommend frying it a little longer until the noodles dry up a bit. Cook them for 2 extra minutes, then flip the noodles and cook for 2 more minutes.
• If you don’t like grating carrots, finely dicing them works just fine.
• You can switch it up by adding some peanut sauce to this dish.

Recommended Equipment:

• Large skillet to fry up the dish
• Large pot to boil the noodles
• Knife set to chop veggies
• Spatula for stirring up the meal
• Chopping board to chop veggies
• Measuring cups 

You can watch the video tutorial here:

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package of Asian-style noodles (like rice noodles, udon, or ramen)
• 1 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil (or 3 tablespoons water)
• 1 cup of thinly sliced celery (about 3 ribs)
• 1/2 cup of diced red, white, or yellow onion (about 1/2 onion)
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic (about 2 small garlic cloves)
• 1/2 cup of vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 cup of bean sprouts
• 1 cup of chopped green cabbage added in step 2 (optional)
• Hot sauce as a condiment (optional)

Method