Thailand’s Best Pad Thai (Stir-fried noodles) Recipe!
Prepare Pad Thai Sauce for 2 Servings
2 Big tbsp. of palm sugar
3 tbsp. concentrated tamarind juice
3 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
Prepare Ingredients to Cook the Noodles
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. minced shallot
1 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. cut yellow tofu
1 tbsp. sweet radish (minced)
2 handful thin noodle if you can’t find the specific one, just use any noodle, mung bean noodle is also good. (Soak the noodle in regular water for 2 hours)
2 eggs
1 handful of a garlic-like vegetable -> garlic Chives/ Chinese Chives.
10 big shrimp (peeled, De-veined and cooked)
Final Pad Thai Decoration
1 handful bean sprouts
1 tsp. dried red chili powder
2 tbsp. roasted peanut (crushed)
1 tsp. sugar
4-5 branches of Uuicnri leaves/ garlic Chives/ Chinese Chives.
1 piece of sliced lime
Cooking Instructions
1. Heat the pan and add palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind juice, oyster sauce and a little bit of water. Now used medium or low heat to let the sauce boil and thicken. Keep stirring. Make sure you don’t burn the sauce. Golden pad Thai is good pad Thai. Be careful, it will be bitter if you use the maximum heat and burn it.
2. Taste the sauce and make it the way you like. Some people really love it to be sweeter and some just love it a little more salty but the trick of Pad Thai sauce is the proper balance of 3 tastes: sweetness, sourness, and saltiness. So change it the way you like. If you like it sweet, keeping the taste the way it is will be the right taste for you. However, my trick is to add some Maggi brand soy sauce to make it saltier as my husband loves it that way.
3. When the sauce gets thick enough, remove from the stove.
Next, We Will Cook the Pad Thai Noodles
1. In a different pan, heat the pan and add vegetable oil. When the pan is hot, add garlic and shallot Fry until it has a nice aromatic smell.
2. Next, add tofu and sweet radish.
3. Now, add noodles and 4 tbsp of the sauce we made earlier. (that’s for 1 serving). You can keep adding the sauce if the amount of the noodles is more than one handful. Make sure you don’t add too much because the noodles will be too wet and overcooked. (add it little by little) Then, make a quick stir.
You may want to pick the noodles out and taste them to see if the noodles are cooked properly.
4. If you like the bean sprouts and the sliced garlic Chives/ Chinese Chives to be cooked, add it in this step.
5. Push the noodles aside. Add the egg and cook it until it is halfway done then mix it with the noodles. Now add shrimp and mix.
6. Turn off the fire. Arrange the noodles on a plate. Put dried chili pepper, sugar, roasted peanut, fresh bean sprouts, one piece of lemon and the garlic Chives/ Chinese Chives on the side.
Another option for Pad Thai is to make an omelet from duck’s eggs. Make it as thin and as big as possible. Put the noodles in the middle of the omelet. Fold four sides then put another plate on top. Turn it upside down. Decorate it with bean sprouts, the genus Allium or scallion, dried chili powder, sugar, peanut, and one piece of lemon.
We call this Pad Thai with an omelet in the Thai language, “Pad Thai Kai Ho.” Pad Thai is a classic Thai Food dish and one that we eat a lot – a couple of times per month at least. Tourists, when they come to Thailand know “Pad Thai” from the Thai food restaurants in their home country.
They always seem to know to order this dish! My husband when he first came from America only knew pad Thai and a couple of other dishes like yum woon sen and tom yum soup.
Pad Thai Variation: Pad Mee Chai Ya
Our friend Darren seems to be far more adventurous than us in taking images of food he and his wife Aorn order! Here is a variation of Pad Thai that many people love (us included). We first had this Pad Me Chai Ya in the small province of Ang Thong Thailand north of Bangkok by about 100 km. (62 miles).
The main difference is the addition of some other ingredients like shrimp paste and ground chilis are added. There is also coconut milk which gives it a nice sweet taste. The result is this Southern Thailand dish which began in Chaiya Thailand (where Suan Mokkh Temple is) and is even more delicious once you prepare your mouth for it!
Oops, BONUS – Below is a video of me making Pad Thai another time – this was the best Pad Thai my husband said he ever ate!
This PadThai page has been viewed over 28,000 times on this site! Recently we revised the page to fix the title and reformat the spaces. Look better? This is an amazing Thai food recipe that we must have a couple times per month. Right now as we speak Joy is making some Tom Kha Gai (Spicy and Sour Chicken Soup with mushrooms…) yum, one of my favorites. She just handed me a “Dragon fruit” one of my top 3 favorite Thai fruits! Thai food is the best! – Vern, Joy’s husband.
WOW, can’t believe how many people have viewed this recipe on your site — congratulations!! 🙂 Of course I had to check it out after discovering you from the Times’ list of best blogs. Congratulations and thanks for the fabulous resource! I’ve tried a few Pad Thai recipes and nothing quite hit the spot yet. I can’t wait to try this one!
Thank you for writing in Jackie – 🙂
My husband says that it’s the peanut, sprouts, scallions and lemon or lime juice that make the whole pad thai delicous. I think you’ll enjoy this recipe, many have written in to tell me they loved it! 😛 Joy
Thank you Jackie!
Hi Joy,
Your recipe for pad thai looks great. Just one comment: the “garlic-like vegetable of the genus Allium” that you listed in your ingredient list is called garlic chive (in thai: pak gui-chai).
-Tina
Help please!
I tried cooking pad thai but though it was delicious, it became very sticky. It stuck to each other and became a big blob after a few minutes! Did I overcook it? I cooked the noodles in the sauce and waited for it to reduce and thicken. Is it the brand of flat noodles? Should I have added more oil? How do I prevent this?
Thank you! I’m so glad I stumbled upon your site!
ummmmm seems kind of a spicy and yummy…will try this one on sunday…
my first try was phenomenal…it’s even better than in restaurants around here…trust me, i’m asian too so my taste bud wouldn’t compromise for anything bland…i was in complete and utter shock when i tried this recipe…
I didn’t have the dried shrimp nor tofu and sprouts and i used brown sugar (whatever i have in the cabinet), I can’t wait to try with the complete ingredients. This recipe deserve that many hit, you really nailed the recipe very well. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING..
Thanks Nadya! 🙂 Joy
JOY!
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve never had authentic Pad Thai before but I’ve had mock versions at restaurants before and this one FAR surpasses anything I’ve ever been served. Thank you again!
Can you use anything besides oyster sauce? I mean, is it really necessary?
Yes! 🙂 The main point of the oyster sauce is to make the stir fried dish thick like gravy sauce. Instead of oyster sauce you can use 1 tbsp. corn starch mix with 1/4 cup of water. Then, pour it into the food. Cook until the sauce get thick. 🙂
My search for Pad Thai ends here. Beautiful recipe, Joy. Lovely blog. Love Thai cuisine and I find a lot of similarities between Indian and Thai food. Am going to be a regular at your space. 🙂
hi! i made this for my mom & i and we both enjoyed it 🙂 it’s even better than all the ones i’ve tried in the restaurants. never going out to eat pad thai again! thank you 🙂
That’s so cool!!! 🙂 Thank you to you too for the great feedback. I am so energetic to keep up good work from that. 🙂
It is so delicious and healthy food.I really enjoyed this recipe.Thank you so much for sharing this recipe
I am glad to know that it works for everybody. 🙂
Hi Joy,
I was wondering, can I use regular sugar or brown sugar in place of the palm sugar? I don’t have any palm sugar, but want to make this dish tonight!
thank you!
Yes of course! 🙂 Regular sugar is fine! 🙂
To thicken padthai all you do is shimmering the sauce a little longer that’s all u need and is best to put crushed peanut stir it in the wok that’s even tasted better…
Great site! I’ve made Pad Thai numerous times and always manage to get the noodles to clump together into a mess. Don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I also either over or under sauce it. I’ll try this recipe out.
The way you presented this recipe is so simple that even college student can make it own their own at home.
I did a cooking class when I was last in Chiang Mai but it was a full on day. Your Pad Thai recipe and cooking style is so simple and I can see where different meats can substitute
Love your style Joy
How to keep noodles from sticking together? I used refrigerated pad thai noodles and didn’t boil them but added to wok with a bit of water. Help!
Hello! Greetings from Brazil!
I´m gonna make this one tonight for my girl (it´s Valentine´s Day here today).
Just one question: I can´t find yellow tofu and sweet radish here. Can I replace them with something else?
Thank you and congratulations for your successful recipe!
Eder Wen
BrasÃÂlia – BRAZIL
Hi, I made this for the first time and it was delicious. I like it very sweet so next time i think i will use more sugar. I couldnt find palm sugar so I used brown sugar. Is the palm sugar what it gives the orange colour? Mine wasn’t very orange 🙁
Thanks for sharing your recipe!!
Hello Joy,
I have been trying for a couple of years to recreate the pad that that I had in a Thai restaurant in Canada. My fiancée has served as a guinea pig in my experiment and I think I have been successful only a few times. Your video showed me what I wa missing. A lot of sugar and some Oyster sauce. I have never had this ingredient in my pantry but I will from now on. Keep posting great that recipes and I will be watching. Cheers ! Alex
I am a big fan of Thai food, could eat it everyday. Unfortunately not possible because I am living in the Netherlands…I tried your Pad Thai recipe and I succeeded to et it right in the very first time, tasted like I remembered from Thailand. This one time hit quite overtrew me in a very positive way, I did not expected it to be this good!
Will surely explore your site further, hope you post a lot more delicious dishes, I will try them at home for sure!
kind regards,
Ben
from the Netherlands, Arnhem area
Thank you for the amazing recipe! It was so delicious and so easy to make.
We’ve missed authentic Thai food since our trip to Bangkok and this recipe hit the spot!
Lorna
Hi Joy. I have been drooling over this dish for about 2 years, but have been too lazy to cook it because I can’t find all the same exact ingredients. I want mine to look perfect like yours before cooking. Hehe. 🙂 Anyway I finally discovered palm sugar at one of the store, but it is a solid palm sugar about the size of a round plate. How would I make the palm sugar look like yours?
Thailand is such a lovely place for food. When I was there I was invited for vegetable carving and sure enough these food were there.
Excellent recipe! I did over noodle it this first time so will watch this next time, but this recipe will be a staple for us. We just moved back to the U.S. after a two year stint in Bangkok where the Pad See Ew is one of our favorite dishes! Thanks for sharing this great recipe. I look forward to sharing this meal with friiends and family
I loved this recipe. I added more chili in my pad thai and it tasted even better. Was going to make this for my friends but ended up finishing this all by myself. Whoops! Great pictures!
it happens to us here too sometime! 😛 Thanks John