This amazing Pad Thai recipe is easy and approachable and can be made in under 30 minutes. It starts with fresh ingredients including rice noodles, chicken, shrimp, tofu, cilantro, bean sprouts, peanuts and scrambled eggs tossed in a delicious homemade pad thai sauce that is so good it tastes like it came from your favorite Thai restaurant.
I’ve not kept my love for Thai food a secret here (here are some of my favorite Thai recipes), but I really can’t believe it’s taken me so long to share a homemade pad thai recipe. Just see the recipe card for proof of how easy it is to make from home!
What is Pad Thai?
Pad Thai is stir-fry dish made with rice noodles, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, peanuts, a scrambled egg and bean sprouts. The ingredients are sautéed together in a wok and tossed in a delicious pad thai sauce. It’s common street food in Thailand and one of the most popular menu items at Thai restaurants around the country.
To make vegan or vegetarian pad thai, leave out the egg and substitute the fish sauce for more soy sauce.
How to make Pad Thai Sauce:
Traditional pad thai sauce includes fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and tamarind paste. Tamarind paste is not easily found at a regular grocery stores so I substituted rice vinegar. If you would like to use tamarind paste, substitute about 2 Tablespoons in place of the rice vinegar in this recipe. I also added a big scoop of peanut butter to my sauce, because I think it gives the whole dish an added creaminess and boost of flavor that I love.
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Pad Thai
Video
Ingredients
- 8 ounces flat rice noodles
- 3 Tablespoons oil
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 8 ounces uncooked shrimp, chicken, or extra-firm tofu , cut into small pieces
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
- 1 red bell pepper , thinly sliced
- 3 green onions , chopped
- 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
- 2 limes
- 1/2 cup Fresh cilantro , chopped
For the Pad Thai sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 Tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 5 Tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar * see note
- 1 Tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce , or more, to taste
- 2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter , optional
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package instructions, just until tender. Rinse under cold water.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
- Heat 1½ tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan or wok over medium-high heat.
- Add the shrimp, chicken or tofu, garlic and bell pepper. The shrimp will cook quickly, about 1-2 minutes on each side, or until pink. If using chicken, cook until just cooked through, about 3-4 minutes, flipping only once.
- Push everything to the side of the pan. Add a little more oil and add the beaten eggs. Scramble the eggs, breaking them into small pieces with a spatula as they cook.
- Add noodles, sauce, bean sprouts and peanuts to the pan (reserving some peanuts for topping at the end). Toss everything to combine.
- Top with green onions, extra peanuts, cilantro and lime wedges. Serve immediately!
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Taylor says
Great recipe! My girlfriend and I made this with tofu and we loved it. Not to mention, it was super quick to make! The prep time was the longest part.
Candace says
I made this tonight, and it was awesome. Some things I will have to remember for next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I did follow the suggestion to substitute 1 TBS ketchup for the vinegar. I need to cut my chicken smaller because by the time it cooked my bell peppers were mush. Also, I bought rice fettuccine, so it took 25 minutes to soak according to package directions. I hadn’t planned for that so it pushed dinner back a little. I forgot to buy the bean sprouts but I think it was ok without. Overall, it looked pretty,and tasted better than 2 of the three places that sell pad Thai here. It was quick and easy, most of the ingredients I had on hand. And it was super inexpensive to make. Thank you for sharing this!
Viraj Patel says
I made a low carb version of this by swapping out thev rice noodles for shirataki noodles and the sugar for Monkfruit sweetener. Tastes just about as good and much healthier! Try it!
Lucy says
This is seriously the best pad Thai I’ve ever had. It was easy and quick and made an amazing dinner. Made too much so had enough for leftovers for my husbands work lunch and he said it was amazing next day as well! Thank you for sharing! The pb & Sriracha is such a good addition!
Alex says
Ive made this a good 5 times now using the sauce recipe to the word w/peanut butter, while adding in whatever extra veggies I have on hand to make it a one pot dish (peppers, carrots, broccoli etc). My family LOVES it. I make this now every week almost! Thank you for such an accessible quick recipe that my whole family enjoys! Tastes better than any pad thai I’ve had in restaurants.
Avocadotozucchini says
I love Thai food and this was one of the first recipes my husband found and made to surprise me on my birthday ! It’s better than restaurant pad thai!
Linda says
Since I’m gluten free/dairy free, I brought this as a side dish for Thanksgiving dinner so I’d be sure to have something I could eat besides turkey. It was a big hit! I only used 2 Tbl brown sugar. I used gluten free tamari soy sauce. I didn’t have ketchup or tamarind so I used 1 Tbl rice vinegar and 1 Tbl tomato paste. I added almond butter since I didn’t have peanut butter. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Teasha Walker says
We love this recipe. Easy, quick and delicious!
Jessica says
I’ve made this a few times with chicken and it is delicious! It’s not too spicy and I’m kind of a baby about spice. My boyfriend requests this often!
MeLiC says
I love this recipe, was so flavorful and easy to make. Was craving pad thai and was even going to buy the bottled stuff when I decided to give this recipe a try. So glad I did.