Easy Chinese Takeout Chicken & Vegetable Stir-Fry w/Glass Noodles

This is one of our favorite Chinese take-out chicken and vegetable stir-fry recipes because it tastes just like delivery (minus the MSG) and it cooks up in just 5 minutes flat once you have all the ingredients assembled. From start to finish, this chicken stir-fry recipe is ready in 30 minutes or less. Perfectly seasoned with subtle notes of spice and the slightest hint of sweetness that makes you want another bite...and then another until it's all gone.

For anyone who may be new to stir-frying at home, we've included step-by-step recipe photos down below. 

This velveted and seasoned chicken thigh meat is perfectly "slippery", tender, and full of flavor.  And as with most easy stir-fry recipes, this one is really versatile -- sub your favorite vegetables like broccoli, peppers, extra carrots, zucchini, snow peas, etc. Or switch up the protein and use chicken breast or even tofu instead for a vegetarian noodle stir fry. 

Once all your ingredients are assembled, stir-frying is a lightning-quick and delicious method of cooking. You just need a few inexpensive and basic Asian pantry staples to make this homemade Chinese chicken takeout recipe. Plus, this easy stir fry is one of the best way sto use up leftover vegetables from your fridge. 

Noodle Comparison Photographed  above (1. Thai Rice noodles, 2. Cellophane Rice noodles (aka. vermicelli), 3. Mung Bean noodles (aka. vermicelli or cellophane), 4. Mung Bean Fettuccine noodles)

What are Mung Bean Noodles (a.k.a Glass Noodles, Bean Thread Noodles, Cellophane Noodles) 

Mung bean noodles are chewy, satiating noodles made from mung beans. They're highly absorbent which means whatever sauce you're adding to a dish will get absorbed nicely into the noodles leaving them full of flavor.

You may also be wondering if rice noodles and mung bean noodles (aka glass noodles or cellophane noodles) are the same things. In fact, they're not the same noodles at all. Here are a few key differences and characteristics of these 3 popular noodle varieties used often in Chinese cooking. 

• Mung Bean Vermicelli or Fettuccine noodles are gluten-free and made from the starch of mung beans. When cooked, they're clear (or shiny and glass-like) in appearance. These noodles are very absorbent and when cooked, their texture is pleasingly chewy and springy. They're offered in a variety of shapes and sizes, but the two most common are vermicelli (thinner than angel hair pasta) and fettuccini (flat and still much thinner than Italian fettuccine). The vermicelli mung bean thread noodles are often used in fried spring roll filling.
• Rice Vermicelli or Fettuccine noodles are gluten-free and made from rice starch and water. When cooked they're mostly opaque and they're highly absorbent. These noodles have less springiness than mung bean noodles and are often used for famous Chinese dishes like Singapore Mei Fun.
• Sweet Potato glass noodles are gluten-free noodles made from sweet potato starch and are thicker and chewier than mung bean noodles. This noodle is often used in Sichuan cuisine and also Korean cuisine.

How Do You Cook Mung Beans?

To cook mung bean noodles always read the packaged instructions first. I typically use the Wai Wai Brand mung bean noodles and below are the instructions for how to quickly reconstitute them.

• Bring water to a boil, turn off the heat, immerse the noodles into the hot water and allow them to steep until tender with some bite (about 4 minutes). Rinse the noodles under cold running water to stop them from cooking, strain, and use as the recipe indicates.

What's the Easiest Way to Slice Meats for Chinese Stir-Fry Dishes?

It goes without saying that using a sharp knife or Chinese cleaver to slice stir-fry meats makes the task of getting thin similar-sized pieces of meat much easier. Meat can be slippery when it's fresh (especially skinless boneless chicken thighs) making it harder to slice and if your knife is dull, it becomes even more difficult.

The best way to slice meat for making stir-fry is to first place it into the freezer for 20 minutes or so to firm up. This ensures the meat will not slide around and allows you to more easily make precise, even, and thin-cut slices.  

How to Cook Chinese Food at Home -- Techniques & Tips for Making Better Stir-Fry at Home

If you've ever made Chinese stir-fry at home and been disappointed with the results you're not alone. As with any cuisine, there are techniques that make up the foundation for getting the best (and most consistent) results like what you'd expect from your favorite restaurant. Below are a few common mistakes people make when cooking Chinese food at home (particularly when stir-frying dishes) and how to avoid them.

1. Use the right ingredients. If you're serious about cooking Chinese food at home, a well-stocked Asian pantry is necessary. You can buy just about anything online, but you'll find it cheaper at your local Asian grocery store. You can start with just the basics which include Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang or Zhenjiang vinegar), rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, corn starch (or bean starch), sesame seeds, scallions, white pepper, ginger, and garlic. And for cooking Sichuan food (or other region-specific Chinese cuisine, you'll need to add a handful of ingredients to this list that we'll get into in another post.
2. Use a wok or comparable cooking vessel with a large surface area that allows for quick high-heat cooking. I used to have a 14-inch flat-bottomed carbon-steel wok before living in Chengdu, China for 4+ years. And for most people, this size and shape are most convenient because it works on electric and gas ranges and you don't have to purchase a wok ring (necessary for round-bottomed woks to fit onto a western-style burner). This 14" flat-bottomed wok served me well in both my tiny NYC kitchen and way more spacious Brooklyn kitchen. But I've since invested in a traditional 16-inch wok with a round bottom because it allows for more even heat distribution, cooking larger quantities, and less food getting accidentally tossed over the sides while stir-frying. If you have the space (including for storage) I highly recommend this style and size. Plus, you can do a lot more than just stir-fry in a wok (like fry chicken, or cannoli shells). The longer you have the wok and take good care of it, the more seasoned it becomes, and the better the food tastes (just like with cast-iron cooking).
3. Don't overcrowd the wok with too many ingredients at one time. As mentioned above, depending on the size of your wok (or skillet, sauté pan, etc.), you may need to cook ingredients in batches so that the temperature of the wok has a chance to recover after each addition and maintain a more consistent high heat cooking temperature throughout. Adding too many ingredients all at once without the proper space and high heat often results in overcooked meats and vegetables and occasionally not being able to get your sauce the right consistency (or both). 
4. Have all of your ingredients chopped thinly, measured, whisked, and ready to go before you start cooking. It goes without saying that one of the best things about cooking Chinese food at home is that it's fast and ready in just minutes. But this means you need to have all of your ingredients sitting on the sideline waiting to be added as soon as the recipe indicates. You can also line up the ingredients in the order they should be added to the wok which makes it even easier to keep track of what to add and when.
5. "Velvet" meats before you cook them. Velveting is a Chinese marinating technique used to create tender flavorful slices of chicken, pork, beef, and even sometimes shrimp. Velveting the protein creates a barrier between the meat and the hot wok which safeguards it to retain both moisture and enhance the texture. In some cases (for instance, the baking soda method) this process also tenderizes the meat from the inside out, but with this type of velveting, the meat needs to be rinsed well before moving on to flavoring it with sauces or additional spices.  There are 3 main ways to velvet proteins:
   • oil + cornstarch method
   • baking soda method
   • egg white + cornstarch method 
6. When called for, use a cornstarch, bean starch, or potato starch slurry to thicken sauces and make the dish glossy. Have you ever wondered why your stir fry isn't glossy and silky like at your favorite Asian restaurant? It's probably because you're not adding a slurry to your sauce. When you add the slurry to the wok and allow it to slightly thicken up, it binds all of those delicious flavors from your seasonings into a glossy coating that covers your stir fry. And you get to decide how thick or thin you want the sauce.

Chinese Takeout Chicken & Vegetable Stir-Fry w/Glass Noodles Ingredients 

Feel free to add a few more carrots or substitute them for your favorite vegetables. I've used boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat, but this makes an excellent chicken breast noodle stir-fry as well. This is easily one of our favorite Chinese noodle recipes.

CHICKEN MARINATING (VELVETING) INGREDIENTS

• ¾ to 1 pound chicken thigh meat sliced into thin strips (335 to 500g)
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (14g)*
• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce (9g)
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce (14g)
• 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce (9g)
• 2 teaspoons raw sugar (10g)
• 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch (5g)
• 1 ½ teaspoons vegetable or grapeseed oil (7g)
• 1 ½ tablespoons water (20g)
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper (0.5g)
• 2 pinches Chinese Five Spice seasoning, or more to taste

STIR-FRY SAUCE INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (place in a separate bowl for deglazing the wok) (14g)*
• 1 ½ tablespoons light soy sauce (20g)
• ¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil (1g)
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper (0.5g)
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds, or to taste (optional)

FOR THE CELLOPHANE NOODLES

• 3 ½ ounces of mung bean noodles (cellophane noodles) (100g)
• ½ teaspoon vegetable oil (2g)
• ½ teaspoon dark soy sauce (2g)

FOR THE REST OF THE DISH

• 4 shallots, sliced (or sub equal amount of scallions or regular onions)
• 3 to 4 slices of fresh ginger
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 to 5 whole (hot) Chinese peppers, seeds removed
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (for stir-frying) (42g)**

*If you can't find Shaoxing wine, use dry sherry in a 1:1 ratio. If you're thinking about using mirin, it's acceptable if that's all you've got (but it really has a totally different flavor than Shaoxing wine and it's also a bit sweet which would still taste nice in this dish).

**If stir-frying a full pound of chicken, you may want to increase the stir-frying oil from 3 tablespoons (42g) to 4 tablespoons (56g).

How to Make Chinese Takeout Chicken & Vegetable Stir-Fry w/Glass Noodles

Work in batches if your wok is smaller (or you're using a sauté pan instead) which will allow you to cook everything well even if it takes a little more time.

1. Marinate (velvet) the chicken. Add all of the chicken marinating/velveting ingredients except the chicken to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Adjust the seasoning to taste and add the sliced chicken. Using your hands, massage the marinade into the chicken until there is no liquid left in the bowl and the chicken has absorbed it all. Marinate for 20 minutes while you prep the remaining ingredients.
2. Rehydrate and season the cellophane noodles. Rehydrate the glass noodles according to packaged directions. In this case, the brand I used instructed me to add the noodles to a pot of just boiled water with the heat turned off and allow them to steep for 4 minutes. Strain and rinse with cold water until the noodles are cool, strain again if needed, and add the oil and light soy sauce and stir well to combine, set aside. 
3. Make the sauce. Add all of the sauce ingredients (except the Shaoxing wine to a small, stir well to combine, and set aside. Add the Shaoxing wine to another small bowl and set aside.
4. Stir-fry the chicken and complete the stir-fry.  Heat the wok over high heat until smoking, add 3 tablespoons of oil, and the garlic, ginger, and hot pepper, and cook for about 5 to 8 seconds.

• Add the chicken, shallots, carrots, and stir-fry just until the chicken is cooked through about 2 ½ minutes moving everything around the wok as it cooks.
• Add the Shaoxing wine drizzling it around the perimeter of the wok to deglaze the pan and continue stir-frying for 2 minutes more.
• Add the noodles and the sauce and stir-fry for about 1 minute more and toss everything until well combined, and turn off the heat, Enjoy!

Chinese Takeout Chicken & Vegetable Stir-Fry w/Glass Noodles recipe step-by-step photos

 

Looking for a Few More Delicious Dim Sum or Asian Dishes?

If you're looking for a few other dishes to round out your takeout night in or to celebrate the Chinese New Year, below are a few of our favorites we think you may also enjoy.

• Lucky Lunar New Year Fried Cherry Pie "Wontons"
• Homemade Chinese Soup Dumplings Xiaolongbao (小笼包) (100% From Scratch)
• Easy Egg Drop Soup with Crispy Fried Wonton Strips (Danhuatang 蛋花湯)
• Thin + Chewy Homemade Chinese Wonton Wrappers
• Easy Homemade 2-Ingredient Chinese Dumpling Dough
• Takeout Style Pork and Green Bean Stir-Fry w/Glass Noodles
• Easy Pork and Chive Potstickers w/Sautéed Napa Cabbage & Carrots (Jiaozi)
• 20-Minute Singapore Mei Fun Noodles (Shrimp Mei Fun)
• Best Ever Chicken Dumplings Recipe (Plump & Juicy Jiaozi)
• Easy Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry (w/Cantonese Style White Sauce)
• Easy and Delicious Pork Potsticker Recipe (Cantonese Style Jiaozi)
• Crispy Pork and Chive Spring Rolls w/Glass Noodles & Vegetables
• Steamed Pork & Chive Money Bag Dumplings (Beggar's Purse Dumplings)
• Hoisin Garlic-Ginger Oven-Braised Pork Ribs

 

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