Authentic Pad Thai Recipe

Pad Thai is one of Thailand’s most iconic and beloved dishes — a flavorful stir-fried rice noodle dish. You can find it on nearly every street corner in Thailand, as well as in Thai restaurants across the U.S. It has a perfect balance of bold flavors and satisfying textures, with chewy rice noodles, crunchy peanuts, tender shrimp or chicken, and a zingy lime finish. If you’ve been craving a homemade version that tastes just like what you’d get in Bangkok, this is the recipe for you. Let’s get started!

Pad Thai Recipe

Serve 2
Prep time: 15 minutes
Rehydration time: 1 hour
Cook time: 10 minutes

For the Pad Thai sauce:
5 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons palm sugar
3 tablespoons tamarind paste
2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
Pinch of salt

For the Pad Thai noodles:
6 ounces dried rice noodles, medium size, rehydrate in water for 1 hour.
1 lime, cut into wedges
¼ cup roasted peanuts, chopped
2 tablespoons dried shrimp, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped sweet preserved daikon radish
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup extra-firm tofu, cut into small rectangular pieces
1 cup garlic chives, cut into 2-inch pieces
½ pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 tablespoons extra light olive oil, separated
2 large eggs
2 cups bean sprouts, separated

Pad Thai Instructions

1. To prepare the dried rice noodles, rehydrate them in a bowl of room-temperature water for 1 hour. Drain.
2. To prepare for other ingredients, cut the lime into wedges. Roughly chop the peanuts, dried shrimp, shallot, and garlic. Cut the tofu into bite-size pieces, and cut the chives into 2-inch pieces.
3. To make the sauce, in a bowl, add in the hot water, and palm sugar, stir and dissolve it.
   Also, add the tamarind paste and fish sauce. Mix well. Set aside.
4. In a wok over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of extra light olive oil, and place the shrimp in. Stir-fry both sides until pink. Remove and set aside.
5. In the same wok over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of extra light olive oil, transfer in the sweet preserved daikon radish, dried shrimp, shallot, garlic, and tofu. Stir-fry until aromatic, 2 minutes.
6. Turn to high heat, transfer the noodles and sauce. Stir-fry until the noodles have absorbed all the sauce.
7. Push the noodles to the side, add 1 tablespoon of extra light olive oil, and crack in the eggs. Pan-fry the eggs for about 1 minute. Mix the noodles and the eggs. Return the shrimp. Place the chives and about 1 ½ cups of bean sprouts. Mix together. Lastly, add the peanuts.
8. Serve on a plate. Garnish with lime and additional bean sprouts on the side.