La Choy Chicken Chow Mein

Merriam-Webster’s website provides two definitions for Chow Mein – The simple definition describes it as “a combination of meat, mushrooms, and vegetables with fried noodles that is served in Chinese restaurants in the U.S.” while the full definition describes Chow Mein as “a seasoned stew of shredded or diced meat, mushrooms, and vegetables that is usually served with fried noodles.”

I’m fondly familiar with the first definition.  Who doesn’t love a good, greasy noodle chow mein? Bits of vegetables and meat mixed throughout, it’s a delicious entree or side dish, completing any Chinese meal.

La Choy however has created their Chow Mein with the second definition in mind.  With a stewed gravy and vegetables packaged in a two can combination, they leave noodles or rice as an additional option for you to choose to mix with their Chow Mein.  For the purpose of this review I purchased the La Choy crispy chow mein noodles.

The instructions state to first heat the sauce in a sauce pan.  I separated the two cans, and opened the sauce.  Despite being a chicken sauce, it was a dark brown, much like a beef gravy.  The sauce smelled awful.  It was like someone at the canned dog food factory scrapped the refuse bin and set it in the hot sun for a week before canning and labeling it “Dark Meat Sauce.”  Pouring it into the sauce pan revealed a gelatinous consistency as globs of meat sauce rolled out of the can and bounced in the pan.

The next instruction was to drain the water from the vegetables and pour it into the heated meat sauce. The vegetable can was filled overwhelmingly with bean sprouts.  I love bean sprouts, they’re crisp and fresh.  These however had been soaking in canned vegetable water for an undetermined amount of time, giving them a look resembling some type of parasitic worm. The remaining vegetables consisted of celery, carrots, red bell peppers, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and baby corn, but in much smaller quantities, and all of which had softened nearly to mush in the canned vegetable water.


I mixed the vegetables in with the sauce, creating a concoction that I could only describe as “last night’s dinner revisited.”

See also  Loma Linda Fried Chik’n


The one refreshing part of this whole meal was the crispy chow mein noodles.  The can is sold separately from the actual chow mein kit, and maybe with good reason.  These crispy noodles would make a fantastic ingredient in a Chinese Chicken Salad.  According to the picture on the can, it looks as though the noodles are used to garnish the top of the chow mein.  As such, this is how I plated it.


Oh the taste.  I could imagine no greater punishment I could wish on someone than to taste La Choy’s chicken chow mein.  How could something labeled chicken taste like old beef and farts had a baby?  The vegetables may as well have been blended into a flavorless paste as any flavor they may have once contained was overcome by chicken-beef-fart.  Even the noodles, the once saving grace of this dish, reluctantly soaked in the sauce, despite a valiant attempt to maintain their crispy composition.

See also  Underwood – Roast Beef Spread

Five gut wrenching bites later, I threw in the towel. My stomach felt a dull aching as I held back a reprisal of dark meat sauce. Even hours later, as I write this review, I’m haunted by the essence of La Choy.

Summary

Be fearful of full meals in cans.

La Choy Chicken Chow Mein gets a full 5 shits for flavor. I don't know if I could find something that tastes abhorrently awful as this. I'm dumbstruck as to why this is still a product carried on store shelves. But apparently, someone out there is buying it.

Related Content:

  1. Julbileerose says:

    Product complaint La Choy Chicken Chow Mein White Meat Chicken & Sauce With Asian-style Vegetables 42 oz. Your customers deserved the right to know that the whole taste changed YUCK, how horrible now how do i get my money back? This is it I have had it

    1. Sandra l Oliver says:

      I totally agree. I used to eat it all the time. Since they changed the dam recipe I cant eat it. It's a shame there quality on taste or flavor has gone out the window.

      1. Denise Malloy says:

        I use to buy it all the time and loved it. I do not know what they did to the flavor it use to be. But what i have on the stove is definitely not the same recipe it use to be. It tastes terrible.!!! YUCk!!!!!

  2. Jeff says:

    They added GINGER Puree. That's why the new sauce tastes AWEFUL! They are trying to be like Panda Express. Panda Express can get away with it because they use GINGER in foods that are appropriate such as their Broccoli Beef. La Choy idiots don't realize GINGER doesn't belong in chow mien!

  3. Mike OHara says:

    Company's been around since the 1920's, mr. Shitty. They must be doing something right. They're better known than your shitty web page.

    1. Tina Cavitt says:

      Its not the same ingredient they changed it. Taste and smells like dog food i wasted money brought this crap to work and pretty much threw it all in garbage i thought the can had spoilt i been eating this brand since early 1990s. Its major shit now

      1. lisa isbell says:

        used to love this. its disgusting now

    2. Roger Benjamin JR says:

      it's sorta hilarious you are trolling a comedy blog you twit

  4. Brenda Jacquet says:

    You need to change it back to the original flavor this flavor really stinks I will never buy it again and I by a lot of it

    1. Tracy Gardiner says:

      100% agree!!

  5. Brenda Jacquet says:

    Please just change it back Because this recipe is awful

    1. Dennis f wisniewski says:

      Definitely was great but now its Garbage. I wouldn't bother to Offer it To A Homeless Person💩👎
      I really miss La Choy! Please change it back!

  6. Ken says:

    La Choy, has changed their receipt and it taste is awful. It might not be the healthiest of food choices, but I use to like it in a pinch, but now I don't think I'll ever buy it again. If they go back to the old receipt, I might but not if they keep making that awful stuff.

  7. Dennis f wisniewski says:

    AGREED not the healthiest but when enjoyed was Delicious!
    Today the new version is Awful:/ after a few spoonfuls, I trashed it last year with two more cans that I cant Give away.
    Please revert to the Old Recipe.

  8. Tracy Gardiner says:

    Made for dinner tonight after not having for awhile. After 20 minutes of removing veggies we don't like (everything except bean sprouts and corn) I cooked it, took 5 or 6 bites, threw it out, and finished dinner with a bowl of cereal!! Don't understand why they did not leave well enough alone!! The sweet taste it now has is disgusting!

  9. Suzanne Picard says:

    I agree with all the comments on this product. We tried it tonight. Threw it out and had a bowl of cereal. We used to buy Chicken Chow Mein a lot. So disappointed, its gross!!!! Why can't they leave well-enough alone. It was so good before. I wonder what animal they tested the new recipe on that made it OK? (poor test subject!)

  10. Mike Peterson says:

    I used to enjoy it. Not anymore. I ‘m hoping they will go back to the old recipe.

  11. mlaiuppa says:

    Nice to see it wasn't just me. I used to enjoy the old version with the chicken sauce. This new brown muck seems like they added soy sauce. Well, I don't like soy sauce so I don't add it. And now it's ruined. I will no longer be buying it. And I will be leaving a review on Amazon and the La Choy website saying so.

    As for the crispy rice noodles? It's the only thing I will continue to buy. I use them to make cookies. Melt 6 oz of butterscotch and a half cup of peanut butter (or maybe it's a cup?) and a dab of butter. Then fold in miniature marshmallows and chow mein noodles and drop on cookie sheets and refrigerate for 5-10 min. Then remove and put in containers with waxed paper in between layers. Beware. These are highly addictive. You can find recipes and variations all over the internet.

    As for their canned chicken chow mein? Never again. I will warn my Mother as well.

  12. Jeffrey Rose says:

    I have not eaten la Chou chicken chow neon since I was a child in the 70’s. Today I bought a can because I wanted my kids to taste what my mom fed me. It tastes even worse than I remember. There is a chemical preservative taste with rotten mung bean. It still get 5 shits rating. Yes why is this a product.

  13. Brad says:

    It's a treasure. Shame on you all. A bunch of food snobs... all of you.
    -Sincerely
    Divorced Dads

    1. Earl LaMoy says:

      Obviously Brad has not had the chicken,(since when is white meat chicken dark brown?) Chow mein lately. And just what the f--k is that brown gooey shit that rolls out of the can? Con Agra should be ashamed of this sham. Food and drug administration should ban the sale of La Choy chickenshit Chow mein. Beware Of The BLOB!!!!

  14. James Black says:

    This tast like ship!!!!! I agree this was once good to eat. Thought that because i was sick maybe my tast buds were jack up. So i tried it again. Sorry to say it still tast like ship!!! Wont be buying again.

  15. Jamie Kilburn says:

    I grew up eating it as Chun King chow mein. It was so delicious back then (50's and 60's) I was definitely disappointed in your review but ended up this weekend with several containers of crunchy noodles but no containers of chow mein because the store was out of stock (recalled I hope). Maybe it will soon be back to the old way of being yummy again.

  16. ILikeGoodFood says:

    La Choy is the first so-called Chinese food I ever had and I have fond memories of it.
    But it's distressing to hear that the recipe has changed so drastically.

    With so many chinese restaurants available now, I really don't see the need to get Chinese food from a can anymore.

    I still like those crispy noodles though.

  17. Connie says:

    I'm just trying it now, after not eating for awhile. This is not the taste it used to have, this was nasty! I also bought the chicken chow mein, and now they don't even put celery or bamboo shoots in it. They have added way more cheap filler carrots, which I never eat in chow mein. After spending about 20 minutes picking the carrots out of the can, and adding a can of mushrooms so there would be something to eat besides bean sprouts, I finished cooking it. After gagging, I added a half cup of water the weaken the taste, then another half can. I ended up adding way too much soy sauce, didn't help either. In the end I ate twice as many of the canned crispy noodles, as many vegetables as I could scrape out, trying to drain the sauce off them. Yeah, I'm done with La Choy.

  18. Lonny Luberts says:

    Tried this after not having for a couple of years, as I was in the mood for the Chow Mein I grew up with. Quite honestly, this was not suited for my Dogs. I threw it out and had a grilled cheese sandwich. I cannot believe someone actually thought this new recipe was a good idea.

  19. Mouse Actor says:

    Tastes like gay dicks now.
    Did they change the recipe?.. used to taste nice, like straight dicks.

  20. Elerie Rudd says:

    I am not a big fan of Chinese food, but I do like Chicken Chow Mein (once I've picked all the peppers and celery out of it). My favorite brand was Chun King, but since they have stopped making it I have had to settle for LaChoy. It has been awhile since I last bought some, so when I went shopping for groceries this week I bought a can of LaChoy Chicken Chow Mein ($5.79) and a can of the LaChoy noodles ($1.79).
    I decided to fix it for my dinner tonight. I could not believe my eyes when I opened the can of sauce. It was brown and it did not smell like chicken. I even dug the can out of the garbage to double check that it said "chicken". I also checked the expiration date to make sure it wasn't spoiled.
    Long story short........this was one of the nastiest tasting things I've ever eaten. I truly don't know how LaChoy, in good conscience, could fob this product off on the American public. I would not not even slop hogs with it. Shame on you, LaChoy!

    1. mlaiuppa@me.com says:

      La Chou bought out Chung King. they kept the original recipe for a while but then Con Agra bought them, changed (I.E. cheapened) it and we now have the inedible compost they are passing off as chicken chow mein. I'm searching for a copycat recipe as I will cook it myself and then freeze it in serving portions like the original. I will not buy their new formula as I like to have more than a passing acquaintance with my meal.

  21. Veraniece Branham says:

    I am glad that I read the Comments about La Choy Chicken Chow Mein. I have been looking for the La Choy Chicken Chow Me in for a long time now. So I looked up the product and found that all of the comments that I read, said the same thing. That they changed the recipe. I will not be buying the product anytime soon!!! Unless they change BACK to the Original !!!

  22. mlaiuppa@me.com says:

    Still the new, reformulated, cheaper, disgusting gag-me chicken chow mein I see. I will assume sales have continued to go down as I have read the same negative reviews everywhere. When will LaChoy wise up and bring back the original chicken chow mein with the original sauce and all of the original vegetables? So charge more but don't force this horrible slop on us.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Go up