Casserole recipes are useful for the home cook’s meal planning. They are a convenient entrée for a dinner meal, can be prepared ahead of time, are often a great way to use leftovers and re-purpose them into a new entrée, and they can stretch the food dollar. My Chicken Chow Mein Casserole is one that fits that bill nicely.
This casserole will easily feed four people and there might be some left over for someone’s lunch the next day! This recipe calls for cooked chicken but I often substitute turkey if I have some left over from a roasted turkey. All it takes is one cup cubed chicken which is what one good-sized chicken breast will yield. So, when you think about it – if you were to serve chicken breasts for a family of four, you would need to buy four chicken breasts for a meal. However, you can make this casserole with one good-sized chicken breast and still feed four people (see what I mean about extending the food dollar).
This recipe does not take a lot of costly ingredients which makes it economical to make. Apart from the chicken breast, only celery, onion, mushrooms, a tin of cream of chicken soup, a bit of chicken broth, some garlic, red pepper, a few sliced water chestnuts (which are optional and I buy when they are on sale), some cashew pieces, and chow mein noodles are required as ingredients.
For the chicken, you can use leftover chicken (or turkey) from a roasted foul, poach a chicken breast, or even use some meat from a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. The casserole itself is not difficult to prepare. Sauté the vegetables, open a can of soup, combine all the ingredients into a casserole, and bake in the oven.
This Chicken Chow Mein Casserole can be made several hours ahead, or even the night before, so it’s ready to pop into the oven when you get home from work.
[Printable recipe follows at end of posting]
Chicken Chow Mein Casserole
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken, cubed
3 tbsp butter 2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup chopped onion 1 cup chopped celery ¼ cup diced red pepper 2½ oz sliced mushrooms (about ¾ cup)
½ cup chicken broth 1 – 284ml tin Cream of Chicken Soup 1/8 tsp ground ginger 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
½ cup cashew pieces, chopped 2½ oz (72 g) sliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
2½ oz chow mein noodles (reserve 1 oz for casserole topping)
Method:
Grease 1½ quart casserole and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Sauté garlic, onion, celery, red pepper, and mushrooms, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes, just until the onions are transparent.
Combine the chicken broth and soup together in bowl or large measuring cup. Stir in the ground ginger and Parmesan cheese. Transfer the sautéed vegetables to large bowl and add the chicken, soup mixture, cashew pieces, and water chestnuts. Mix together. Carefully fold in 1½ oz chow mein noodles. Transfer mixture to prepared casserole and sprinkle with remaining 1 oz chow mein noodles. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until casserole is hot and bubbly.
An easy-to-prepare flavorful casserole that makes great use of leftover chicken.
Course Main Course
Servings4
My Island Bistro KitchenMy Island Bistro Kitchen
Ingredients
1cupcooked chicken, cubed
3tbspbutter
2cloves garlic, minced
1/4cupchopped onion
1cupchopped celery
1/4cupdiced red pepper
2.5ozsliced mushrooms (about 3/4 cup)
1/2cupchicken broth
1284mltin Cream of Chicken Soup
1/8tspground ginger
2tbspParmesan cheese
1/2cupcashew pieces, chopped
2 1/2ozsliced water chestnuts, drained and rinsed
2.5ozchow mein noodles (reserve 1 oz for casserole topping)
Instructions
Grease 1½ quart casserole and set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Sauté garlic, onion, celery, red pepper, and mushrooms, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes, just until the onions are transparent.
Combine the chicken broth and soup together in bowl or large measuring cup. Stir in the ground ginger and Parmesan cheese. Transfer the sautéed vegetables to large bowl and add the chicken, soup mixture, cashew pieces, and water chestnuts. Mix together. Carefully fold in 1½ oz chow mein noodles. Transfer mixture to prepared casserole and sprinkle with remaining 1 oz chow mein noodles.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until casserole is hot and bubbly.
Recipe Notes
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Before frying them, it's best to steam the noodles rather than boil them, then dunk them in the hot water for just a minute. Remember to let the noodles cool down. When you're pan frying the noodles, let them cook and crisp up, and don't move them around too much.
Simple sauce: While chow mein sauce is unbelievably easy to make, it still brings a complexity of flavors to the dish. The careful combination of ingredients like soy sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce and sugar results in a chow mein sauce that has hints of both savory and sweet notes.
Fresh herbs or citrus zest can also punch up flavors with a bit of welcome brightness for a long-cooked dish, as can adding some heat in the form of a dash of hot sauce, a generous pinch of minced or sliced fresh chili pepper, or a shake of red pepper flakes.
“Lo mein usually uses the fat, chewy noodles, while chow mein uses the thin type of noodles that sometimes contain egg.” Lo mein uses fresh noodles that are boiled for a few minutes, while chow mein uses dried noodles that are parboiled for five to six minutes.
Combine soy sauce, light sesame oil, oyster sauce, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and chicken broth to make the signature sweet and savory sauce that makes chow mein taste authentic.
All you need is soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar, oyster sauce, black pepper, and sesame oil. The flavor that is often missing in homemade chow mein is the tanginess. Black Vinegar is less harsh than regular vinegar, which gives the chow mein a subtle hint of tanginess that brings the dish together.
At my local Chinese, they call this Crispy Chow Mein Noodles. It's a Hong Kong / Cantonese style dish, and there are a lot of variations but the core of it is a bed of deep fried crunchy noodles topped with a saucy stir fry.
Spaghettis won't turn soggy or sticky too easily, and they can hold the sauce on its surface very well. Therefore spaghetti is a perfect substitution of chow mein to make Chinese style stir fry noodles.
Add fresh chilli and coriander to a simple casserole to spice it up. Always add hardy, fresh herbs such as bay leaves and rosemary at the beginning of cooking, and throw in lighter herbs, such as parsley and tarragon, at the end so they keep their flavour.
A flour and water paste (desk or wasteland spoon of flour then upload cold water until it is a liquid paste) delivered to the casserole will thicken it. allow the casserole to boil for multiple minutes to prepare dinner the flour and put off the floury flavor.
In the American market, two types of chow mein include crispy chow mein and steamed chow mein. The steamed chow mein has a softer texture, while the former is crisper and drier. Crispy chow mein uses fried, flat noodles, while soft chow mein uses long, rounded noodles.
Chow yuk in Cantonese means stir-fried. This dish is a broad term for stir-fried vegetables with any protein you like. The main focus is on the variety of vegetables. The protein can be pork, beef, shrimp, chicken, turkey, tofu, tempeh, and even ham.
Chow mein is a dish of stir-fried Chinese-style noodles that can be served with proteins, vegetables or gravy. Chow mein is the English derivative of the word chau meing and comes from the Taishan dialect of Chinese. Chau means stir-fried and meing means noodles.
Overcooking the Noodles: One of the most common mistakes is overcooking the chow mein noodles, leaving them mushy rather than al dente. The key is to cook them until they're still quite firm, as they'll continue cooking when you add them to the stir-fry.
The additional water will also help keep the noodles and meat separated, making the stir-frying process more convenient. Not using enough water will result in dry chow mein. If you'd rather eat dry or crispy chow mein, simply refrain from adding more water and boil the noodles until they're nice and tender.
Be careful not too overcook the noodles — it's better to slightly undercook than over cook. Drain the noodles: Rinse the noodles with cold water. Drain the noodles and shake the strainer a few times to get the noodles as dry as possible.
Introduction: My name is Greg Kuvalis, I am a witty, spotless, beautiful, charming, delightful, thankful, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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