Introducing my favorite Thai dish in the form of these EASY, fast, and fiery Drunken Noodles. This delicious recipe is ready in 30 minutes!
Looking for more Thai food recipes? Try my popular Fresh Spring Rolls, Panang Curry, and Easy Pad Thai.
Drunken Noodles, also known as Pad Kee Mao (ผัดขี้เมา), is a stir fry noodle dish that is very popular in Thailand and found in most Thai restaurants. It's my personal favorite and I'm adding this recipe to my list of “better than take-out” Thai food recipes, like this pad gra prow.
What I LOVE about this recipe:
- Choose the spice level: I love fiery hot pasta, sandwiches, etcetera, but my young kids don't so I can easily customize this dish to add more or less red chili sauce depending on who I'm serving.
- Adaptable: This recipe allows for a lot of modifications and substitutions depending on what you have on hand. If you can't find wide rice noodles, substitute thinner Pad Thai noodles, or even linguini. if you don't have chicken, substitute another protein (tofu, shrimp or pork would all taste great), and add any vegetables that need to be used from your fridge. (See more adaptation ideas below).
About the basil:
As explained previously in my Thai Basil Beef recipe, Thai cooking usually includes a variety of different types of basil. Here are the main three:
- Thai Holy basil (or hot basil): this is what's used in this drunken noodles recipe! It's a basil leaf known for adding heat to dishes. It's harder to find, even in Asian grocery stores, but you can have it shipped directly to you on Amazon, OR you can substitute regular (sweet basil) that you find at the grocery store.
- Thai Basil: this basil leaf can be recognized by it's purple stems and spicy licorice-anise flavor. It's not typically found at your American grocery store but it can be found in most Asian grocery stores.
- Sweet Basil: this is the basil we are all probably most familiar with because it’s the most common type found in grocery stores. It's also used most commonly in all types of sauces, marinades, and other recipes. This is a perfectly fine substitute for Thai basil in any recipe, you just loose a little of the unique flavor that Thai basil and Holy basil provide.
About the noodles:
Drunken noodles are traditionally made with rice noodles, and in particular, extra wide rice noodles. My grocery store only carries thinner Pad Thai rice noodles, which will work well for this recipe, but I buy extra wide rice noodles from Amazon or an Asian market.
If you can't find or don't want to use rice noodles, linguini noodles can also makes a decent substitute.
The directions for cooking rice noodles vary per package, so follow the directions found on your rice noodles and cook them while you prepare the rest of this dish.
How to Make Drunken Noodles (step-by-step)
Ingredients:
-
- Produce: shallots, carrots, garlic, fresh ginger, zucchini, bell pepper, green onions, roma tomatoes, basil
- Rice noodles
- Sesame oil (or canola)
- Chicken (or other protein)
- Sauce ingredients: oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, water, red chili sauce
1. Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions. Drain, rinse with with water and set aside.
2. Prepare the sauce: Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Cook chicken and vegetables. Heat oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add shallots and carrot and cook for 2 minutes. Add more oil and cook chicken. Add garlic and ginger, add bell pepper, zucchini, and the whites of the chopped green onion and sauté.
4. Add noodles and sauce. Toss and cook for a few minutes until warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in chopped basil.
5. Serve immediately, garnished with remaining green onion and extra chili sauce, sriracha, or crushed red pepper, for added spice.
Other Variations and Adaptations:
- Add more vegetables: yellow squash, broccoli, baby corn, etc.
- Swap out the protein: shrimp, tofu, beef, chicken thighs
- Vegetarian drunken noodles: substitute tofu for chicken. You may choose to sauté the tofu separately until browned on all sides before adding to the dish.
- Vegan Drunken noodles: substitute tofu for chicken, soy sauce for the fish sauce, and hoisin sauce for oyster sauce.
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Recipe
Drunken Noodles
Ingredients
- 8 oz wide rice noodles
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil (or canola)
- 2 shallots , chopped
- 2 carrots , thinly sliced
- 1 large chicken breast , chopped (or shrimp or tofu)
- 3 large cloves of garlic , minced
- ½ teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 1 zucchini , thinly sliced
- 1 green bell pepper , thinly sliced
- 2 green onions , chopped
- 1 roma tomatoes , sliced
- 1 cup fresh Thai Holy Basil leaves (or substitute regular basil) , roughly chopped
For the sauce:
- 3 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 teaspoon Thai red chili paste , more or less, to taste (or substitute sriracha or crushed red pepper flakes)
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package instructions.
- Mix sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add shallots and carrot and cook for 2 minutes. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add chicken and season with pepper, cooking until it's cooked through. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 10 seconds. Add bell pepper, zucchini, tomato and the whites of the chopped green onion and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add noodles to the pan and pour the sauce over the noodles. Toss and cook for a few minutes until warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in chopped basil.
- Serve immediately, garnished with remaining green onion and extra chili sauce, sriracha, or crushed red pepper, for added spice.
Nutrition
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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Loved this recipe! The family also loved it. I doubled the veggies and added some cabbage. It was so yummy. Definitely a keeper!
Cabbage sounds wonderful! I’ve never eaten Thai food at all but it looks delicious- so flavorful. Salivating as I browse the Internet. We live in a rural U.S. area so ordering the basil & some more ingredients w/Amazon would be necessary. A question for you and others: for this & other Asian foods, is a Wok absolutely necessary? Thanks!
This recipe was simple but took time to cut up all the veggies. Loved the texture of the chopped chicken in this dish. My family loved this, and I wanted to lick my bowl!
Sooooo good! Definitely a keeper. I will make this again and again.
Tried this today and it’s so good! I did add a little less fish sauce and oyster sauce per some suggestions( half the amount it called for) and added a little more brown sugar (heaping tablespoon). I also added a 1/2 tablespoon of corn starch to the sauce mixture for the thickness and it was fantastic! Not too salty just right! The store didn’t have any fresh Basil so I bought basil paste. I used a tablespoon of that last minute and it gave it that flavor needed. I love spicy so I doubled the chili paste. Overall the bones of this recipe are amazing! If you like salty don’t change a thing, adjust as needed for you. Love this recipe!
Easy and delish! I used smoked 🦆
It’s tasty but it definitely tastes different from versions I had before. If I make this again, I will increase the brown sugar to subdue the salty taste. I will also add a little cornstarch to the sauce to make it a little thicker.
Wonderful dish. I did all the prep the day before while waiting for my local market to get more fresh Thai basil. The next day it was so fast and easy to put together and it came out wonderful. I only used 1/4 teaspoon of the chili paste and let everyone add more to thier own taste at the table. Thank you for the recipe.
Made this for the first time and it was a hit with everyone. I browned the tofu before adding. It was delish! Thank you.
Would it work with a whole wheat pasta like spaghetti instead?
You can find pasta pad kimour(drunken)at the hiend restaurant of course you have to pay more and it more delish by my opinion.so go ahead with any of your favorite pastas.
Just like in Bangkok