Pad Thai Recipe
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Served at street stalls, pad thai is the iconic dish of Thailand. Noodles and stir-frying were brought over from China and combined with the four flavors of Thai cooking: salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. Pad thai is an easy but fast-moving dish, so have everything chopped and ready to go before you begin. Ingredients like palm sugar, tamarind pulp, and fish sauce might scare people away, but they shouldn’t—they’re sold at most Asian grocers, and they make this dish as authentic as it comes.
Special equipment: Nonstick tongs, chopsticks, or two wooden spoons are useful for tossing the ingredients together to finish—metal utensils can scratch your pan.
This recipe was our featured Gateway Dish for Thailand.
INGREDIENTS
- 7 ounces medium dried rice stick noodles
- 5 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons tamarind paste or pulp (about 1 ounce)
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped palm sugar (packed light brown sugar can be substituted)
- 12 large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails left on
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- Salt
- 1 cup 1/2-inch-dice extra-firm tofu (about 5 ounces)
- 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 10 Chinese chives, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped dried shrimp
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved radish
- 1 to 3 dried Thai chiles, finely chopped (or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
- 1 1/2 cups bean sprouts (about 3 ounces)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped roasted, salted peanuts
- 1 lime, quartered
INSTRUCTIONS
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat, add the noodles, and stir briefly to separate them. Soak the noodles until they’re loose and pliable, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, place the measured water and tamarind in a small bowl and stir to combine, pressing on the paste to break it up. Let sit until softened, about 8 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into another small bowl, pressing on the solids to extract all the juice. Discard the solids. Add the fish sauce and palm sugar and stir to combine; set aside.
- Cut each shrimp along its back without cutting completely through, so it opens like a butterfly; set aside.
- Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the shrimp, season with salt, and stir-fry, tossing continually until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Place the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in the wok, add the tofu, season with salt, and stir-fry until the tofu starts to brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to the plate with the shrimp and set aside.
- Add the garlic to the wok and stir-fry for a few seconds. Add the reserved noodles and half of the chives and stir-fry for a few seconds more. Pour in the reserved tamarind mixture, stir to combine, then add the dried shrimp, radish, chiles, and half of the bean sprouts. Stir-fry until the noodles are coated with sauce, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Push the noodles to the side of the wok, pour the eggs into the free space, and scramble with a rubber spatula until almost cooked through, about 1 minute. Add the reserved shrimp and tofu and the remaining chives and toss all the ingredients together until combined, about 1 minute. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with the remaining bean sprouts, peanuts, and lime wedges.
I love Thai food. Will try cooking it.
i love food
Could the Thai masters here shed some light on the authenticity of this recipe and how it compares to traditional recipes? Thank you.
I found a small 3.5 oz. Vacuum packed pouch (not refrigerated) of spicy pickled radish in an aisle of a lot of pouches in my local Asian grocery. Just the perfect amount for a batch!
The salt in the recipe is for seasoning the shrimp and tofu when they're cooked, not simply added to the dish as a full-dish seasoning. At least it's to taste, I know some recipes that ask for exact amounts of salt and pepper...
You know, I always cringe when a recipe that has fish sauce in it calls for salt, of all things. Doesn't the fish sauce have enough salt in it?
@ bada bing Preserved radish: Daikon radish that is pickled and salted, sometimes with chiles; it is sold either in long strips or smaller pieces. Preserved radish adds a tangy, apricotlike flavor to dishes like pad thai. Look for the word sweetened on the package or for sugar in the ingredients, as there is a similar product that is salted only. Preserved radish can be found in the dried goods or refrigerated section of many Asian markets.
I made this twice, slightly upping the palm sugar component the second time. It's very good. The first time I made this dish with tamarind instead of (gasp) ketchup. Also the first time I used chinese chives instead of green onions (which, frankly, seem pretty interchangeable to me). However, I was not able to find preserved radish. Is that preserved in salt, or in some kind of pickle?
I love Pad Thai, thanks for sharing this recipe!
I love Phad Thai! I've tried many recipes so this is going to be one more recipe to try. Fortunately, I have all the ingredients, minus dried shrimp, in my pantry.
Made this last night! So easy!