It is mostly a vegetable dish, with bits of beef or pork. Typical ingredients for chop suey are usually local vegetables, but tend to include: bok choy, broccoli, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, green pepper, celery, onion, and snow peas.
It is not an authentic Chinese dish, and is considered typical American Chinese cuisine to the point of being the topic of a song in the musical Flower Drum Song.