by Jaden | Asian, Cooking Tips, Main Course, Recipes | 54 comments
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This easy Pad Thai recipe takes 10 mins to prep and 8 mins to cook – it’s so simple and so tasty! Silky noodles, slathered in a delicious sauce – what’s not to love!
Why This Easy Pad Thai Recipe Is So Good
- Cheater sauce! Enhance store-bought pad thai sauce with fresh, flavorful ingredients
- Less than 20 minutes, start to finish
- Looking for a no-carb version? Replace noodles with zucchini noodles “zoodles”
- Great mild or spicy
Ingredients
- Dry rice noodles
- Cooking oil
- Raw shrimp
- Egg
- Garlic cloves
- Snow peas, bean sprouts
- Pad Thai sauce
- Optional toppings; Sriracha, cilantro, lime, chopped peanuts
How To Make This Easy Pad Thai – Step By Step
- In a large bowl, fully submerge the dry rice noodles in hot tap water (not boiling, just hot to touch). Let them soak for 8-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a wok or large saute pan over high heat, add just half of the cooking oil. When the oil is hot, swirl it around the bottom of the pan and add the shrimp in a single layer. Let cook for 2 minutes. Try not to move the shrimp too much, let them develop a sear and then flip to sear the other side for an additional minute. The shrimp should be half-cooked. Remove the half-cooked shrimp to a bowl and set aside.
- Keep the pan on the stove and add the beaten egg to the pan, stirring constantly to fry quickly. Remove cooked egg to the same bowl as the shrimp.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the pan cool down a bit. Swirl in the remaining cooking oil. Add the garlic to the pan and stir fry until the garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the snow peas and bean sprouts and stir fry for another minute. Add the sauce to the pan from the jar. To get every bit of sauce from the jar, add a tablespoon or so of water, close lid, shake jar and pour that into the pan. Add the drained noodles into the pan. Turn the heat back up to medium-high. Stir to combine.
- The moment the sauce begins to simmer, add the shrimp and egg back into the pan and stir fry everything until the shrimp are fully cooked through, about another minute. Add optional garnishes and serve immediately.
Pad Thai Sauce
The Asian aisle at my local grocery store has soo many bottles and jars of Asian sauces – sweet-sour, kung-pao, ginger-garlic. Most of the time, I tell you to skip the pre-made stuff – it’s just easier to combine fresh ginger, fresh garlic, soy sauce or other easy-to-find ingredients to make your own type of sauce.
But when it comes to Pad Thai noodles, a do-it-yourself sauce can be tricky. The recipe for the sauce includes tamarind paste, which isn’t that easy to find in most American grocery stores. Thai Kitchen Pad Thai sauce is the only one my store carries, and it’s good! Let me know if you’ve tried others and have had good/bad results.
How To Cook Rice Noodles
Dried rice noodles are not cooked the same way regular pasta noodles are cooked. If you try to cook dry rice noodles in a pot of boiling water (like you do with spaghetti) – you’ll end up with a mushy mushy mushy mess. Instead, soak the noodles in hot (not boiling) water. That will soften the rice noodles and the stir-fry will finish cooking the rice noodles.
Shrimp In This Easy Pad Thai Recipe
Shrimp is not very forgiving to cook with. Because of their size, they are so easy to overcook! Then they become rubbery. To make sure that the shrimp is perfectly cook AND also get a nice sear – we sear them each side first before we do anything else. The shrimp are only cooked half-way. We’ll add them back into the pan near the end of the stir-fry. In fact, this is the technique that I use for stir-frying all meats and seafood. Sear at high heat, remove, then add back into finish cooking towards end.
Top Tips For This Easy Pad Thai Recipe
- Let the rice noodles soak in water for at least 8 minutes.
- The shrimp, egg, garlic, ginger and vegetables all cook at different heat setting and different times. In order to make sure nothing is under or over cooked, you have to adjust heat and add the ingredients into the wok or pan in a certain order. Prepare all of your ingredients first, and have them all ready within arm’s reach.
- Egg is also another funny ingredient – if you just crack an egg into a stir-fry, you’ll end up with a soggy mess. The egg will coat all of the ingredients and weigh down the dish, making it very “wet” and mushy. Instead, right after the shrimp are taken out of the pan, the egg is added to the pan. Give it a good scramble, and when it sets, remove the cooked eggs from pan too. You can just put the egg in the same bowl as the shrimp. This way, your Pad Thai will get nice bits of perfectly scrambled egg.
- Serve with Sriracha for an extra kick!
Cheater Pad Thai Recipe Video
Check Out These Delicious Stir Fry Recipes
- Shrimp Teriyaki Stir Fry Recipe
- Baby Bok Choy with Ground Chicken Stir Fry
- Green Beans with Chinese Preserved Radish Stir Fry
- Fresh Pear and Shrimp Stir Fry Recipe
Have you tried this Easy Pad Thai recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Easy Pad Thai Recipe
Jaden Hair
This easy Pad Thai recipe takes 10 mins to prep and 8 mins to cook - it's so simple and so tasty! Silky noodles, slathered in a delicious sauce - what's not to love!
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 8 minutes mins
Total Time 18 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian, Thai
Servings 4 servings
Calories 624 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry rice noodles about 1/4" wide
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil divided
- 1 pound raw shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 egg beaten
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1/4 pound snow peas sliced diagonally lengthwise
- 8 ounces bean sprouts
- one 8-ounce jar prepared Pad Thai sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
- optional toppings: Sriracha hot chili sauce torn fresh cilantro, lime wedges, chopped peanuts
Instructions
In a large bowl, fully submerge the dry rice noodles in hot tap water (not boiling, just hot to touch). Let them soak for 8-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a wok or large saute pan over high heat, add just half of the cooking oil. When the oil is hot, swirl it around the bottom of the pan and add the shrimp in a single layer. Let cook for 2 minutes. Try not to move the shrimp too much, let them develop a sear and then flip to sear the other side for an additional minute. The shrimp should be half-cooked. Remove the half-cooked shrimp to a bowl and set aside.
Keep the pan on the stove and add the beaten egg to the pan, stirring constantly to fry quickly. Remove cooked egg to the same bowl as the shrimp.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the pan cool down a bit. Swirl in the remaining cooking oil. Add the garlic to the pan and stir fry until the garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the snow peas and bean sprouts and stir fry for another minute. Add the sauce to the pan from the jar. To get every bit of sauce from the jar, add a tablespoon or so of water, close lid, shake jar and pour that into the pan. Add the drained noodles into the pan. Turn the heat back up to medium-high. Stir to combine.
The moment the sauce begins to simmer, add the shrimp and egg back into the pan and stir fry everything until the shrimp are fully cooked through, about another minute. Add optional garnishes and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Calories: 624kcalCarbohydrates: 103gProtein: 34gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 327mgSodium: 5560mgPotassium: 444mgFiber: 4gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 368IUVitamin C: 30mgCalcium: 238mgIron: 5mg
Keyword easy noodles, pad thai, pad thai recipe
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raju on 9/13/21 at 11:43 pm
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.Reply
Rachelle on 2/27/18 at 6:59 pm
Has anyone tried making the recipe with tofu? This is on menu for tomorrow, but just trying to figure out the best time to do the tofu.
Thanks
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Jaden on 2/28/18 at 10:44 am
Hi Rachelle – I love tofu in this. Works best with extra firm tofu cut into small cubes.
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sandy on 6/27/17 at 3:08 pm
Thank you, this is a good sauce that I can buy that’s already made…..instead of having to purchase so many ingredients to make from scratch.
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The Chatty Housewife on 3/2/17 at 11:41 pm
I am serving this as a side dish to go along with chicken satay, white rice and peanut sauce. We are having 17 people. I am wondering how much should I make?
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Jaden on 3/4/17 at 10:33 am
Hi there – Wow, what a party! If you have lots of other food, and it’s more like a buffet style, I’d double the recipe – this will easily serve 17 with small serving sizes. If you’re only serving 5 dishes and each one is supposed to be a side dish to feed 17, then I’d make 4 batches.
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Duane Kitna on 2/9/17 at 7:46 pm
This recipe makes a lot. I’d say 6 servings. I substituted chicken for shrimp because I was serving with Coconut Curry Shrimp (Ree Drummond). I prepared the noodles according to package directions, much longer soak time and rinsed in cold water. The only draw back to this method was that the noodles should be stirred a couple of times during the soak to prevent the noodles sticking together. The Pad Thai sauce isn’t spicy at all. I added a couple of teaspoons of Chili Garlic Sauce because I had it on hand and that helped a lot. I’ll try A Taste of Thai brand nest time and report on the results.
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faith on 8/22/16 at 8:48 pm
Hey jaden I was wondering the procedure for if you didn’t have chicken or shrimp and wanted to start with the eggs, does the amount of oil mess with the egg taste if you put in the eggs first because I thought a larger meat would use most of the oil before the eggs would effect it.
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Jaden on 8/22/16 at 8:55 pm
Use a little less oil!
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valerie mcclusky on 8/21/16 at 9:00 pm
I like Pantai NoraSingh brand pad thai sauce. It’s high in sugar, but also the base ingredients tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar.
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Sheree on 1/23/23 at 9:14 pm
Pantai is my favorite brand of sauce, too! For so many years I was able to buy it locally, but none of our Asian stories have that brand any more. I’ve tried a long list of other brands I can find here in town, but they all come up short (for me). In my search for the best price to order Pantai brand pad thai sauce online, I came across this recipe. I was hoping for a simple, easy way to make my own sauce, but no such luck. 😉
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Nicole on 4/28/16 at 7:46 am
Typo in the first bullet point: “enchance” should, of course, be “enhance.” 🙂
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Tracy on 2/6/16 at 7:28 am
This dish was really good. Thanks for posting it. My husband who doesn’t care for Pad Thai really like it too. I have been on vacation in Thailand and love to cook but have never made Pad Thai, this dish was fantastic. The only different things I did was 1) used chicken instead of shrimp 2) used Hokan Stir Fry Wok oil. I think the oil topped the dish off.
Was great.
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Danielle Stilgenbauer on 12/4/15 at 2:12 pm
I’m excited to make this recipe tonight for my husband’s birthday! Do you know approximately how many this will serve? We will have four adults. Thank you!
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Jaden on 12/6/15 at 10:05 am
Hi Danielle – This feeds 4 people. If you’re having a party and also have other dishes, this recipe will do just fine!I would break the noodles into smaller pieces so that it would be easier to dish and serve. Sometimes long noodles are hard to serve in small portions!
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Amy on 4/19/15 at 11:06 pm
Perfect recipe! Thanks for sharing, we love Thai food and made this last night. We loaded up with vegetables and it was divine.
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Peggy on 4/17/15 at 5:19 pm
Last question, Jaden,
I finally found a 12 ozs. Jar of Pad Thai sauce at Loblaws,
Markham. We live in Canada .
Your video uses the entire jar.
Should I just use only 8 ozs from the jar.Thanks, peggy
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Jaden on 4/18/15 at 4:55 pm
Yes, use 8 ounces, taste and add more if needed.
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Peggy on 4/15/15 at 5:57 pm
Thanks Jaden
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Peggy on 4/14/15 at 3:48 pm
Sounds good Jaden,
I saw dry rice noodle Vermicelli. ( 1/4″ wide), is that ok.
Also, would mushrooms, carrots, bell peppers go well with pad Thai ? Can not eat snow peas..
Thanks..Reply
Jaden on 4/14/15 at 5:16 pm
yes of course!
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Peggy on 4/14/15 at 8:22 am
Hi Jaden,
Looks easy using the pad Thai sauce. Do you have to rinse the rice noodles in cold water, after soaking them in hot water for 10 mins ?
Thanks, good recipe:Reply
Jaden on 4/14/15 at 10:26 am
Hi Peggy – no you don’t have to rinse in cold water, just the hot water and drain is fine! jaden
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Helen Lazzaro on 12/11/14 at 5:16 am
How do I turn off Comments so I can view the recipes and articles? It seems comments are on top of the article/recipe and I cannot find a way to get to the articles or recipes.
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Jaden on 12/11/14 at 12:18 pm
Hi Helen, something on the site broke 🙁 We’re fixing it right now.
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LeeAnne on 9/16/14 at 7:00 pm
Just made this today!!! It was delicious–thanks for the easy post :)!
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Foodie70 on 9/13/14 at 12:12 pm
Tried the cheater Pad Thai recipe with exactly the same ingredients except for using chicken as a substitute for shrimp ( shellfish allergy). The dish came out super yummy and cost a lot less to make than getting a takeout. Thanks Jaden !
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Gillian on 7/23/14 at 9:32 pm
Thanks, Jaden. I’m not convinced this is worth the effort, though, since the ingredients would probably cost more than takeout food from a restaurant. Just a thought. Thank you very much for your inspiring blog. I’ve probably made at least 50 of your recipes over the past 2 years. Your pork chops with plums and star anise from your cookbook is my all time favorite, for sure. My family is grateful.
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sandy on 7/13/14 at 12:16 am
I do have tamarind paste…we have a great international store within an hour’s drive of my home…and a couple of great Asian store/Mediterranean ones as well. It requires a little more effort than popping into Kroger’s or WalMart but worth it in the end. All our of larger local grocery stores carry this sauce…and the noodles. So why pay for take out when you can make it yourself in just a few minutes, the way you want, however much you want, and put your own spin on it? I love your videos! Just discovered you via Ree Drummond’s blog…am hooked. I love Asian food and need to do a much better job making it. One thing I REALLY want to make is Hot and Sour Soup from scratch. None of the places around here make it well at all. My ex husband did a plumbing job for a little old Chinese man who owned a restaurant in Cincinnati (Reading actually)…and he made fresh every day the BEST BEST BEST hot and sour soup I’ve ever eaten anywhere…around here it’s neither hot, nor sour…just a gloopy mess. Would love a really good recipe for that because it truly is one of my most favorite soups of all time, when done right…and almost always never is and disappointing..,
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Kelli Kaltenbach RN on 3/9/21 at 7:44 am
How lucky you have been to have known someone close to make an amazing hot n sour soup! And in Ohio 🙂 just moved to south central Ky and absolutely craving great Asian food!! Hot n sour soup is my all time favorite and has always been a rating rule for any restaurant – if the hot n sour soup wasn’t good, anything else would be disappointing also.
So making the pad Thai for brunch for myself today!! Just missing the lime 🙁Reply
Samantha Velez on 4/25/14 at 11:43 am
I’m all for making the recipe easier with a cheater sauce. Sometimes you’re craving that delicious flavor but don’t have the time or energy to make it from scratch. Thanks for the video!
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Leslie - Definitely not Martha on 4/9/14 at 2:49 pm
I love Thai Kitchen products. Their pad thai sauce is pretty tasty (I do find it a little sweet, but then I dress up the dish with a whole boatload of sri racha). I also love their green and red curry pastes, and the fish sauce too. Basically, if it’s Thai food, I love it. My stepmother is Thai, so I’ve also been lucky to enjoy delicious authentic Thai dishes too.
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The Cook on 4/8/14 at 8:14 am
This looks like a simply stunning recipe and I can not wait to try it out!
Thia food is my preferred choice by far!Reply
Ninu on 4/2/14 at 7:10 pm
Thank you for such a wonderful easy to follow recipe. It tasted so good!!
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Eloisa on 4/1/14 at 11:26 am
My Husband and I both love Pad Thai so I gave this recipe a try. We both absolutely loved it! The only problem I had was that 1 pound of rice noodles was too much so it was a little dry. But the flavor was great. I will be making this often.
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The Omnivore on 3/30/14 at 9:59 am
This looks great! I just wish there were a version of the sauce without so much sugar.
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Jennylou Raya on 3/24/14 at 2:26 pm
I have had this jar in my pantry. I think it is about time i use it. The line’s other product are pretty good.
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Shelly H on 3/18/14 at 10:31 pm
I have a Thai friend who introduced me to Thai cooking. She always used Maesri Pad Thai Sauce, then added extra ingredients. It was always amazing. I recreated at my house pretty close.
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Nabeel Alsalam on 8/4/15 at 4:39 pm
I would love to know what you combine with the Maesri pad Thai sauce to create the sauce you use.
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Jaden on 8/5/15 at 9:59 am
Hi there – I don’t have the Maesri brand on hand to look at the instructions. If it’s a jar sauce like the one I have in the recipe, just follow my recipe, substituting the Maesri brand.
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cheri on 3/18/14 at 7:25 pm
Can’t wait to try this recipe! looks so good, loved the video, will probably watch it one more time before I actually make this.
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MonaG on 3/18/14 at 2:04 pm
Tamarind(imli) paste is pretty common and easily available at Indian and South Asian grocery stores. It is used to make chutney. The chutney often accompanies samosas, fritters, and chaat(a savory snack often served at roadside stalls).
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mary on 4/18/15 at 4:32 am
“easily available at Indian and South Asian grocery stores.”
Easily available to me means at a regular supermarket!
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David O. on 3/7/14 at 6:04 pm
Looks like a nice recipe but….way too many photos.
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Julie Phelps on 3/18/14 at 5:07 pm
@David: There are not too many words though!
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Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures on 3/6/14 at 10:24 am
I’m a huge pad thai fan, but I’ve never gotten up the nerve to make it myself. Perhaps I should start out with this “cheater” version. Looks delicious!
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Tereza on 3/6/14 at 6:20 am
ami@naivecookcooks on 3/5/14 at 8:19 pm
will be trying soon for sure!
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Jane on 3/5/14 at 4:19 pm
I love pad thai, but i never tried to make it at home. Ive seen that sauce at my local grocery store too, so im definitely going to give it a try. I tried getting the sauces at the asian supermarket, but i was overwhelmed by all the variety. Thanks for the tips!
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Shaina on 3/5/14 at 3:44 pm
Yum! I love Pad Thai! I’ve never made it myself, but this “cheater” recipe seems pretty easy!!
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Heather on 3/5/14 at 1:22 pm
This looks amazing! I am going to be trying this one for sure. Do you know if the sauce has any traces of peanuts? I know you add the peanuts to the dish but if someone had a peanut alergy could they omit the added nuts and just have the sauce?
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Wendy on 3/5/14 at 4:34 pm
Just googled, here’s the ingredients:
Ingredients: Sugar, Water, Rice Vinegar, Tamarind, Salt, Tomato, Anchovy Extract, Radish, Chinese Chives, Soybean Oil, Garlic, Shallot, Modified Tapioca Starch, Red Chili Pepper, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Extractives of Paprika.
Warnings: Contains: anchovy.I did not see any nut warnings, but I’d double check at the market reading the label closely.
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Samantha @FerraroKitchen on 3/5/14 at 12:57 pm
Pad Thai has been on my bucket list for sometime now and I JUST went to the Asian store and bought ingredients to make it…tamarind concentrate, lemongrass, etc. I never knew there was an already made sauce! I can’t wait to make it, nonetheless!
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Keili Gunden on 3/5/14 at 9:16 pm
If you find a good ready-made sauce, you should totally use it. Otherwise, sometimes I make loads of extra sauce and store it in the fridge. I am not sure that it would keep for very long (I use it up in week-long Pad Thai binges), but it really cuts down on prep time to have the sauce already made.
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