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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This amazing Pad Thai recipe is easy, approachable and can be made in under 30 minutes, fresh ingredients and a delicious homemade pad thai sauce.
- 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
- 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
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!
Recipe Video
To use tamarind paste in the sauce, substitute 2 Tablespoons in place of the vinegar.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Betsy says
Ah-maz-ing! AND easy? Win-win!
Fish sauce scares me but tastes oh so good….
Lauren Allen says
Thanks so much Betsy! I’m thrilled you loved it <3
Jen Vincent says
This is totally a fan favourite with eaters, picky and not! Thanks for this! My range is 11-19 and it is loved waaaaaay more than take away!
Don says
Excellent! Made it tonight with the tamarind paste and peanut butter. . Quick and delicious.
Trina Eddy says
Delicious despite a few adjustments due to what I had. Replaced rice vinegar with Tbsn malt and braggs, used shitaki noodles and salted mixed nuts instead of peanuts. Loved every bite.
Jill says
This is the BEST Pad Thai that my husband and I have ever had!!! Thank you for the recipe. I’m making it again tonight!
Lauren Allen says
That makes me so so happy!!! Thanks for your kind comment 🙂
Olivia says
I cannot find fresh bean sprouts anywhere near me 🙁 is there a substitute I can use for them?
Lauren Allen says
You could use canned bean sprouts :-). I would drain and wash them and soak them in ice water before adding them to the dish, to make them a little more cold and crisp.
Jason Quinones says
If you plan your meals ahead. You could grow your own bean sprouts. Just soak mung beans in just enough water and sunlight for 3-4 days and voila! You have bean sprouts!
Denise says
I love pad thai and it is such a hassle to have to dine out every time I get a craving and let’s face it, the meal kits from the grocery store are not good. I decided to learn to make it and chose this recipe based on the “amazing” and “easy” comments, and it did not disappoint! So good and if you have any leftover, it’s even better the next day! I followed the recipe exactly using the rice vinegar version and included the peanut butter. YUMMY!
Lauren Allen says
That’s great Denise! I’m so glad you found my website and enjoyed the Pad Thai!
Priscilla Rodriguez says
This is so good!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so glad I found your site.
Lauren Allen says
Thanks so much Priscilla! I am glad you found my site as well 🙂
Nicole says
Wow! Made sauce as is with peanut butter. I did omit chicken and added bok choy and carrots. So good!! Person I cooked for said best pad Thai ever, I agree! Never made without tamarind paste and this made me nervous, but was not missed! Thank you so much! Definitely a keeper! May never make pad thai any other way! And so easy!
Lauren Allen says
Hi Nicole,
I am so happy to hear you liked the recipe! I love the bok choy substitution!
Kevin says
Fantastic – perhaps a bit more time to prepare if you’re a dad on his own, but it’s just time chopping and preparing. Fabulous flavor. Beware, the recipe makes a pile (and is good for lunch the next day)!
Lauren Allen says
Thanks Kevin, I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
Gillian says
This was great, thank you. Bookmarking as a recipe to repeat. We had leftover vermicelli (thinner noodles) and it worked great. The key is to make sure you get the noodles crispy, not just “boiled” in the sauce. Great recipe.
Mona says
EASY AND SO TASTY!!!
Sharri says
How big a taste difference will result from using soy sauce instead of fish oil? Thank you!
Lauren Allen says
They do taste different but I imagine it could be fine with soy sauce.
Karen says
OMG! I was very skeptical when I read the ingredients but this recipe is awesome! I would have been happy if I got it in a restaurant. Well done :)!
Raven says
This recipe is so easy but very delicious! I tried this with tamarind paste and with shitake mushroom to veganize. Thank you!
The Mrs. says
We did this for dinner tonight, we doubled the recipe for our larger family. It wasn’t like the pad thai that I crave, it was very peanut buttery and something just didnt go quite right. It wasn’t bad, but honestly I dont know if we will try pad thai from scratch again. It may not have been the recipe, rather, something really may have gone awryconsidering my husband and I both made it together, but we both followed instructions fairly closely.
Sally says
Do peanuts come already roasted? Or do hey come raw and have to be roasted? Sorry I don’t usually cook stuff like this so I do t know.
Lauren Allen says
You can buy them either way. I usually by them roasted.
Candace says
I’m a cook in the Coast Guard and tried this with my crew, they loved it! Multiplied the sauce by 4 but used 4 bags of noodle, no meat.
Lauren Allen says
Thank you so much Candace–that is amazing! Thank you for your service.
Natalie says
This is amazing! My picky boys & husband loved it! I followed the recipe exactly except omitted bean sprouts (not a fan), added bok choy, mushrooms & chicken. I will definitely be making this often! Thanks!
Scrungus Bingle says
3 TABLESPOONS fish sauce??? What kind of fish sauce are you using because the kind I have is so pungent even a teaspoon stinks up the whole kitchen and completely takes over the flavors of whatever I’m cooking.
Lauren Allen says
Yes, that’s right, and my fish sauce is just as stinky–it blends well once mixed into the sauce.
Amarie says
Love the recipe! I added canned baby corn and celery though since we didn’t have fresh bean sprouts here during winter. But it was awesome! Thanks!
Stephanie Krantz says
Hello. Thank you so much for this recipe! My best friend of 27 years is going through chemotherapy and she can’t eat much. But she loves Pad Thai. I make it with rice because she doesn’t really like the rice noodles. Jasmine rice works well. So thank you, she loves your recipe!
Joneline Eugenio says
Tried your Pad Thai recipe today and its amazing! I added a tad more fish sauce and sriracha because we like it spicy and a bit more salty. It’s my first time to make this and pretty happy with how it turned out. Thank you for sharing your recipe! ?
Food coma says
I loooooove pad thai and usually hate my own cooking but oh my god. This was awesome.
ErikaD says
This was phenomenal! I did leave the sriracha out of the pad Thai sauce since only my husband can take the heat (he just poured the sriracha over his own plate) My whole family loved it! Only bad thing was that there was no leftovers 🙁 Thank you! I will be making this again and again
Pam Smith says
This is delicious! I had 2 chicken breasts that were just over a pound and 16 oz of noodles, so doubled the sauce recipe. My grocery store did not have fresh bean sprouts, and I came home with 2 bunches of cilantro and no green onions! But I did have matchstick carrots so used them in addition to the red pepper. Despite the missing sprouts and green onion, this was delicious! Would be good with shrimp too. Next time I make this I will probably make make it saucier – probably use 1 1/2 times the ingredients listed. My roommate loved it too! I added the peanut butter and used rice vinegar instead of tamarind paste but next time I want to use tamarind paste to see which one I like best.
Emma Potterbaum says
Super yummy!! I made this yummy recipe for lunch for my Momma and I. We both loved it and will be making this again in the future, since we both are major fans of Pad Thai. Many thanks for sharing for this yummy recipe 🙂
Deb says
Loved your Pad Thai recipe with shrimp! The recipe for 4 was eaten by the two of us in one sitting! Sooo good! Next time, I’ll double the sauce though. Thanks for sharing!
Carolyn Ellison says
Very good! Will be making again. Good meal to prepare for several people!
Nancie says
Yummy & easy pad thai. I had tamarind paste, so that helped make it particularly tasty. Next time I will add more heat & maybe a bit more tamarind because it was a bit on the sweet & non-spicy side for me & my husband. I think it tasted even better the next day for lunch, right from the fridge!
Karen says
OMG. I made this for my sister and before the meal was over she asked me if I would make this again next week. It is amazing everything I have made on this site has been wonderful! I was always intimidated on making Thai food until now she has made it so simple to make! Love this website!
Naomi says
Just to let you know that the recipe video link doesn’t work. I’m saving this recipe and looking forward to trying it sometime. I live alone and as a senior person am eating much less these days, but sure would love to try this.
Barbara says
The recipe was wonderful. The ingredients were easier to find than I expected. My husband loved it. I substituted basil for cilantro since my husband is not a fan of cilantro and it was a good substitute.
Bee says
Did not go well for us – should have omitted the fish sauce – the stink was overwhelming and the fishy taste and fishy aftertaste from the first bite ruined it for us. We did not eat it, what a waste.
Jessica says
This is good. Doubled the ingredients, tripled the sauce ingredients (except for the peanut butter and the sriracha, used a double portion for the peanut butter and sriracha). It’s the closest thing to what they serve at the Thai restaurants. I will definitely make again!
Lauren Allen says
I’m really glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Jessica!
Sarah Collins says
I want to try this recipe but was wondering if I have to use rice noodles or any noodles? Can I try it instead with pasta? I’m not sure if the sauce will absorb into the pasta or if there is anything like that.
Lauren Allen says
Hi Sarah, that would be fine–it wont be the same as pad thai, but it would still taste good 🙂
Heather C Rupp says
My 14 year old son and I just made it with shrimp and it was yummy!!!
Whitney says
Great recipe, restaurant worthy! I used about 3 tbl spoons of sugar instead of 5 and it was great! I included the peanut butter.
Brittaney says
I made this dish and it was awesome! I added the juice of half of a lime and it was spot on! Thanks for the great recipe!
VJ Mehta says
Made this today with some minor tweaks for the crowd. Actually made two side by side – one veg and one with shrimp. Double instant hits. Thank you for sharing!
Allie says
Do you notice a difference when you make the pad thai with vinegar verse tamarind paste? They smell and taste so different on their own, so I would assume so, but who knows what magic happens while cooking. Thanks!
Jennifer Oh says
I just made this and it was so easy and delicious. I did add a tablespoon of siracha and some red chili flakes to the sauce and used honey instead of sugar. I also added in zoodles when I added in the noodles. This recipe was so easy to follow and absolutely delicious!
Kenna Schneider says
Thie sauce was just perfect! Loved the spice level (used one tablespoon as mentioned)
D. Da Silva says
Very tastey. Will definitely be making this a lot more. I hadn’t had pad thai before and the flavors are so good. The things I did different was added a juice from a whole lime to the cooked chicken. Also added extra garlic and omitted the fish sauce. Just for our families taste. Very good reviews from the 4 of us who enjoyed tonight’s dinner.
Michele says
Absolutely LOVED this recipe!! Even my fussy son gave me 9/10 😂 Will be making this again 😍❤️