How to Make Chow Mein Hotdish – It’s Yummy, I Promise

This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosures here.

The aroma of my mom’s chow mein baking permeated our Iowan home with anticipation. For my brother, it was the anticipation of his favorite meal. For me, it was a signal to be contrary – because why in the world would I like my brother’s favorite meal? It must be disavowed on principle.

But I grew older and a tad bit wiser. The meals I often scorned as a child began to flood my aging memory with nostalgia. Retro was “in”. I needed meals to go with my Midcentury Modern furniture.

I also had a large family to feed and needed easy recipes, large quantities, and meals everyone (pretty-please) would eat.

Dinner desperation

Therefore, about a decade back, during a moment of dinner-desperation, I called my mom and asked for her chow mein recipe. I still remember her surprise, or rather, her poignant pause because that is how Iowans express extreme reactions.

To her credit, Mom gave no commentary even though she must have been remembering my scornful eye-rolls while disdainfully pushing chow mein around my plate. My accompanying sighs were loud enough for the next-door neighbors to hear (because my expression of extreme emotions was never very Iowan).

It only took me about three decades to get over my attitude. Sorry, Mom.

To this day, I have no idea why I suddenly decided I needed to make chow mein. But I did, and I am glad – and my family is glad. However, we did have to modify the name.

Iowa Chow Mein comes to be

My family loves ethnic foods, and relative to Des Moines where I grew up, the cities where I raised my family had ethnic food options in abundance. Ethiopian food is tops for our family, of course, but Asian cuisines are a close second. We had to add a modifier to distinguish Mom’s hot-dish from “real” Chinese food. So we christened it Iowa Chow Mein.

I finally asked my mom a bit more about the recipe’s history. Her eldest sister, my Aunt Shirley, gave her the recipe when she was about to marry my dad. She thinks it came from a magazine, and that makes sense as ladies’ magazines were as bountiful then as blogs are now.

The recipe must have been pretty popular back in the day because my mom remembered winning a radio contest by guessing the name of the recipe as a radio announcer gave out one ingredient at a time. For the correct answer, Mom won a set of four Christmas cookie cutters that I still have – the cookie cutters we used every year growing up. These four cookie cutters are still the focal point of our holiday cookie decorating.

But enough of memory lane. Time to show you how to make Chow Mein Hotdish aka Iowa Chow Mein.

How to make chow mein hotdish aka Iowa chow mein

Only seven ingredients are needed to make Iowa chow mein. They come together in minutes and after an hour bake time, dinner is served.

The hamburger is browned and the onion, celery, and pimentos added. Saute until the meat is cooked and the vegetables soft (about 5 minutes). Add the soy sauce, mushroom soup, and water, bring the mixture to a boil. Sprinkle the rice over the mixture (not stirred) and bake for an hour, uncovered.

This recipe is very flexible and forgiving. I usually make it in an ovenproof wok and bake in the same pan. Growing up my mom used a skillet and then poured the cooked mixture into a 9×13 glass baking dish before adding the rice. The dish freezes well and is perfect to make ahead.

The gluten-free version

This is an easy recipe to adapt to gluten-free diets. Gluten-free soy sauce is easy to find and there are also plentiful GF options for the cream of mushroom soup. Walmart has a brand and additional options are discussed in this article.

In recent years there seems to be a backlash against canned condensed soups, but I use them proudly in several recipes. Apparently though, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought canned soup back to prominence because you sure cannot find any in the stores right now. If you’re one of those people who have a hoard – you’re in luck. Pull out a can of cream of mushroom soup and use it before next Thanksgiving’s green bean casserole.

Because we are mostly Ethiopian in my family some need to spice it up a bit. Sure, Sriracha sauce isn’t Ethiopan, but it works.

Does my chow mein hotdish pass the Dad test?

My dad came out a few weeks ago and I made his requested comfort foods. Chow mein was on the list. So was mine as good as Mom’s?

You betcha

Mom’s cooking is always best

Chow mein hotdish is now a part of our regular rotation. It is an easy meal that satisfies everyone (except my vegetarian daughter – sorry Sara). Fortunately, Sara hasn’t perfected the eye-rolls and sighs I tortured my mom with.

I am glad I had the time to talk to my mother about this and other recipes she handed down. If you have favorites be sure to ask your mom or dad about them now, while you still can. Learn to make them and treasure them.

Print

If you liked this recipe you may also like these.