what kind of noodles are in lo mein

Lo mein is traditionally made with thick, soft wheat egg noodles that are yellow, chewy, and designed to soak up sauce, not rice noodles or very thin pasta.

Noodle type in lo mein

• Most classic lo mein uses fresh wheat-based egg noodles, usually medium-thick (around 3 mm) and slightly yellow from egg or alkaline salts.

• These noodles are boiled until tender, then tossed with sauce and stir‑fried vegetables and protein, so they stay soft and slightly chewy rather than crispy.

Can you substitute other noodles?

• At home, many recipes successfully use spaghetti, ramen, or other long wheat noodles when proper lo mein noodles are unavailable; the key is a similar thickness and chew.

• Even with substitutions, what defines lo mein is the saucy, tossed style with soft noodles, as opposed to chow mein’s thinner, drier, often crisped noodles.

TL;DR: Lo mein is meant to use fresh, medium‑thick wheat egg noodles, but in home cooking, any similar long, chewy wheat noodle can stand in if you cannot find “lo mein”–labeled noodles.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.