Vegetable Chop Suey is an American Chinese dish filled with vegetables in a salty, starch-thickened sauce served over crunchy, fried chow mein noodles or rice. If you like saucy Chinese-inspired dishes, you will love this meal.
This was the one and only Asian style dish that my mother ever made when I was a child and it was one of my favorite meals. We have always served it over crunchy chow mein noodles, so that is how I usually make it for my family and what is shown in the pictures. However, there are many ways to make vegetable chop suey or chow mein. They're all a variation of vegetables cooked in a light brown sauce served over rice or noodles, or with the noodles mixed in.
Chop Suey is a great meal for using up whatever vegetables that you have in the house. You can make it different every time with whatever you have available.
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🍜 Chop suey vs. chow mein
Both of these dishes are Americanised meals inspired by Chinese-style cooking. There are so many variations of these dishes it is hard to determine a major difference between chop suey and chow mein. From what I can decipher, chop suey usually has a starch thickened sauce and chow mein has a thinner soy sauce base. Lo Mein is also very similar, but the sauce is thinner and vegetables are always mixed with noodles.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- It's easily made gluten-free.
- This recipe is versatile and can be made with any vegetables.
- Its saucy, delicious, comfort food that the whole family will love!
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Vegetables - your choice of any of the following...
- onions
- carrots
- celery
- bean sprouts
- water chestnuts - highly recommended for a nice crunch!
- baby corn
- bamboo shoots
- mushrooms
- bell peppers
- broccoli
- snowpeas
- Vegan Butter - or neutral-flavored oil.
- Salt and Pepper - for flavor.
- Vegetable Broth - or water to make the sauce.
- Soy Sauce - to flavor the sauce and add saltiness.
- Water - to make the sauce the right consistency.
- Sugar - to sweeten the sauce a little. You can leave it out if you want.
- Corn Starch - to thicken the sauce. You can also use potato starch or arrowroot if you wish.
- Rice, Noodles /Chow Mein Noodles/ Rice - whichever you choose to serve the chop suey over.
🥄 Chop suey instructions
- Wash and chop onions, celery, water chestnuts, and carrots or any other vegetables of choice.
- Add vegan butter or oil to a large skillet, put in diced onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent.
- Toss in the celery, carrots, bean sprouts, or any other vegetable that you wish, add 1 cup of water or vegetable broth and turn up the heat to medium and cover. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes until the veggies become just barely tender.
Thicken the sauce:
- Put 1/3 cup cold water 1 1/2 tbsp potato starch, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp of sugar in a small bowl and stir well.
- Pour over the cooked vegetables and stir well and heat until it thickens the sauce.
- Serve over rice, noodles, or chow mein noodles.
🌟 Variations
- Serve the chop suey over rice or your choice of noodles.
- Toss the noodles in with the vegetables and sauce for more of a lo mein type meal.
- Add tofu or vegan chicken strips along with the veggies for a more filling meal.
- Serve with crispy tofu on top or on the side for a delicious crispy protein.
🥄 Chow mein instructions
To turn this dish into a vegan chow mein, simply leave out the starch or reduce the starch to only 1 tsp to make a thinner sauce.
Serve this with some authentic tasting vegan egg drop soup or vegan lettuce wraps for a complete meal!
🌟 More Asian inspired dishes
📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
Vegetable Chop Suey/ Chow Mein
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion peeled and diced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 cup bean sprouts or 1 can bean sprouts (drained)
- 1 8 oz can water chestnuts sliced or diced
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter neutral-flavored oil
- 1 cup vegetable broth or hot water
Thickening Sauce
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch or potato starch of 2 tbsp arrowroot
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari or Bragg's Liquid Aminos for gluten-free
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
To Serve the Vegetable over
- 4 cups chow mein noodles or rice or any noodles of choice
Instructions
- Wash and chop 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 cup celery, 1 cup bean sprouts, 1 cup water chestnuts, and/or any other vegetables of choice.
- Add 3 tbsp vegan butter or oil to a large skillet, put in diced onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent.
- Toss in the celery, carrots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, or any other vegetable that you wish, add 1 cup of water or vegetable broth and turn up the heat to medium and cover. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes until the veggies become just barely tender.
Thicken the sauce:
- Put 1/2 cup cold water 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl and stir well.
- Pour over the cooked vegetables and stir well and heat until it thickens the sauce.
- Serve over rice, noodles, or chow mein noodles.
Notes
- Serve the chop suey over rice or your choice of noodles.
- Toss the noodles in with the vegetables and sauce for more of a lo mein type meal.
- Add tofu or vegan chicken strips along with the veggies for a more filling meal.
- Serve with crispy tofu on top or on the side for a delicious crispy protein.
I just use celery and onions. I use my home made veggie broth and a little corn starch I make this at least 3 times a month as my DR wants me to be on more of a plant base diet.
I'm so happy that this recipe helps you be on more of a plant-based diet, Ida!
Omgoshers! This is the exact recipe that I use ! My father in law showed me how.
This is my Mom's old recipe from when I was a kid that I made vegan. It was probably cut out of a magazine in the 70s or 80s. 🙂
Thanks for the memory back to when I was a kid in the 1960s. Another dish back then we always had when we went to a Chinese restaurant was egg foo young. Now that could be made with silken tofu standing in for the egg.
You're welcome, Diana! I'm happy that this brings back good memories for you. (It does for me too)! You can definitely use tofu to replace an egg. I usually use regular tofu for that. I find the silken too soft, but use what you like. Enjoy!:)
I made this today and it was really good! I cut the veggies in larger diagonal pieces for some texture, and cooked it a bit longer to account for that. I also used plain potato flakes as the thickener - worked like a charm 🙂 I also used tamari as soy sauce and drizzled on a little toasted sesame oil to the finished product. Next time I will cook it in that oil instead of butter. I love the flavor it imparts!
Thanks for another great recipe! I'll definitely be making this one again.
Sounds delicious Rachael! I'm so happy that you liked it! 🙂
Boy does this dish bring back memories! This and the occasional fried rice were the only Asian style dishes my mom made as a kid. I liked fried rice, but I couldn’t stand chop suey. We ate it over rice with those crunchy noodles on top. But I always had peanut butter and jam sandwich and carrot sticks on those nights, haha. I would like it now, though, I eat most foods that I didn’t like as a kid.
We were not a vegan or vegetarian house growing up, but my mom did not cook a lot of meat so this was actually a vegan meal for our house, just like your version.
I think this was a popular recipe back in the day. I'm glad that it brought back some memories for you. I hope that you give it a try now that you are more adventurous. 🙂