Chicken Chop Suey (Stir Fry) Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is chop suey sauce made of? ›

Chop suey sauce is made of soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, cornstarch, white pepper, and water.

Chop Suey – a saucy chicken stir fry loaded with tender pieces of chicken, vegetables and smothered in Chinese brown sauce just like you get at the best Chinese restaurants! Use any vegetables you want in this quick and easy stir fry.

With chow mein, you cook noodles and add them to your wok of other ingredients, cooking everything together in one pan. However, with a chop suey recipe, you will cook the noodles or rice and other ingredients separately before combining them in a bowl, serving up the noodles or rice with the sauce served over the top.

In Chinese cooking, proteins like beef, pork or chicken are velveted first before stir-frying them. There are several ways to velvet, but at its most basic level, it involves marinating meat with at least one ingredient that will make it alkaline. This is what tenderizes the meat, especially cheaper, tougher cuts.

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.

Chow Mein* is a fried noodle dish and Chop Suey** is a mixed vegetables dish. *“Chow” means fried and “Mein” means noodle in Chinese. **“Chop” means mixed and “Suey” means small pieces (in this case, vegetables).

Chow mein is considered to be a more authentic Chinese dish than chop suey. While the origin of chop suey is not necessarily established, the historical background of chow mein is far less mysterious. Chow mein, (in Mandarin "ch'ao mien") meaning “stir-fried noodles,” originated in Northern China.

Chop suey can be healthier if it's made with steamed vegetable and rice opposed to chow mein made with fried noodles. You can, of course, alter the chow mein using boiled noodles for a better option.

On the other hand, chop suey doesn't traditionally include crunchy noodles. It's a stir-fried dish that combines vegetables, meat or tofu, and a sauce, but it's typically served over steamed rice rather than crispy noodles. So, if you're looking for crunchy noodles, chow mein is the dish you'll want to try.

American chop suey is an American pasta casserole made with ground beef, macaroni and a seasoned tomato sauce, found in the cuisine of New England and other regions of the United States. Outside New England it is sometimes called American goulash or Johnny Marzetti, among other names.

How healthy is chop suey? ›

Chop suey is another stir-fry dish made from meat, eggs, and thinly sliced vegetables in a light sauce. It's often made with pork, although some varieties may contain chicken, beef, or tofu. Like other stir-fries, it's a healthier choice because it's made from a protein source and vegetables.

It's a Chinese-American dish, not a Chinese dish

“Chop suey” roughly translates to “assorted mix,” writes Ann Hui for The Globe and Mail–and that's exactly what chop suey is. “The only common practice was to use a wok to stir-fry a bunch of ingredients with an innovative sauce,” Professor Haiming Liu told Chatterjee.

From vegetables to fried chicken, anything tastes good with it. Once you nail this sauce, there is no going back to the restaurant for Chinese Chop Suey. The highlights of this sauce are – garlic, ginger, celery, chili sauce, and tomato sauce. The perfect combination of sweet, spicy, garlicky, and earthy flavours.

At its core, chop suey is a glorious meat and vegetable stir fry with American ingredients. Chop suey is a stir fry of too many vegetables (some canned), a not-quite-authentic Chinese stir fry sauce, way more meat than they'd ever use in China, and way more delicious than it has any right to be.