This Vegan Jackfruit Lo Mein is a better-than-takeout meal made with a variety of veggies, "meaty" jackfruit, soba noodles, and a simple soy and hoisin sauce!
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This past birthday was definitely memorable. Not only did I turn 40, but New Jersey had one hell of a weather event happen! The state got slammed with severe storms and there were five confirmed tornados! Mind you, we average two per year and that seems like a lot!
Thankfully, none of the weather was severe in our neck of the woods. But I ended up canceling our plans to have a celebratory birthday dinner at my parents' house. We couldn't even have our steaks that I originally bought to have a quiet celebration at home!
So not only did I miss out on steaks, but I missed out my mom's killer homemade shrimp lo mein! Instead, I ended up ordering plenty of Chinese takeout. And birthday cake? Well, it was more like a fortune cookie that night. Guess it's a good thing I got that cake celebration out of the way early when I made my cake topper!
So anyway, I finally got to have my mom's shrimp lo mein about a week later when my husband and I had dinner with my parents. But I ended up grabbing the wrong container and left without my lo mein leftovers. Almost like this freaking lo mein just wasn't meant to be! However, I did grab the recipe while my mom was making it!
Vegan Jackfruit Lo Mein
I wanted to make a jackfruit lo mein for quite some time. So I used my mom's recipe as a guide, swapped out a few ingredients so I could use what I had on hand, and made my recipe completely vegan. It's an amped up veggie lo mein with chunks of delicious and meaty jackfruit!
The first thing we're going to do is prepare the jackfruit. Add a little olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the jackfruit and cook it covered for about 10-15 minutes, or until it starts to break apart easily and it starts to brown on the edges. Remove it from the skillet and set aside.
In that same skillet, add the green onions and garlic. We're only going to cook this until you can really smell the garlic. Then, add in the spinach, bell pepper, and shiitake mushrooms. You can also add the jackfruit back into the skillet.
Traditional lo mein is made with Chinese egg noodles, but I used soba buckwheat noodles. While the veggies are cooking, boil the noodles for about 5 minutes or just until they were nice and tender. You do not want to overcook them or they'll get mushy. Once they're cooked, drain and set aside.
Now, we're going to mix up a simple sauce in a small bowl using low sodium soy sauce (coconut aminos can be subbed in), Hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and ground ginger. At this time, we can add the noodles to the skillet. Add the sauce and toss everything together to combine.
Serve the lo mein immediately with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, if desired.
Vegan Jackfruit Lo Mein
Ingredients
- 12 oz. soba noodles
- 1 tbsp. olive oil plus more as needed
- 1 - 20 oz. can young jackfruit in brine rinsed and drained
- 3 green onions cut into large pieces
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 cups baby spinach roughly chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper cut into strips
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms
- 3-4 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
- 3 tbsp. Hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- Optional garnish: sesame seeds
Instructions
- Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add jackfruit and cook 10-15 minutes, covered, until jackfruit breaks apart and browns on edges. Remove and set aside.
- Add the green onions and garlic to the skillet. If necessary, add more olive oil to the pan. Cook until the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Add spinach, bell pepper, and mushrooms to skillet. Once spinach begins to wilt, add jackfruit back into skillet.
- While veggies are cooking, boil noodles. Cook 5 minutes, or just until tender. Drain and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and ginger together.
- Add the noodles to the skillet and pour in the sauce. Toss to combine.
- Serve immediately with a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top, if desired.
If you could eat Chinese takeout about every day of the week, this is a great dish to make for meal prepping! And just like those takeout leftovers, this lo mein seems to get even better the next day!
Did you make this Vegan Jackfruit Lo Mein recipe? Share it on social media using the hashtag #holokahome. Don’t forget to tag me @holokahome!