Chicken Pad Thai

Whether you’ve had chicken pad thai at a Thai restaurant or have been lucky enough to enjoy it in Thailand, it’s worth learning how to make pad thai at home. Our recipe keeps your prep and cooking time to under an hour, and it’s a pretty affordable meal to make at home once you’ve made a couple pantry purchases. While we make this pad thai with chicken, other popular proteins for pad thai include tofu, pork and shrimp.

What is pad thai?

Pad thai is a classic stir-fried noodle dish. It’s a fun fusion of flavors—like tangy tamarind and lime, caramel sweetness and salty fish sauce—and textures ranging from crunchy peanuts and crisp bean sprouts to chewy noodles. And while it’s very flavorful, it’s not spicy unless you add your own heat to it. Tang and hints of lime are the prevailing flavor notes essential to a good chicken pad thai recipe. These flavors distinguish it from its more savory and soy-based stir-fried noodle siblings like pad see ew and pad kee mao.

Ingredients for Chicken Pad Thai

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• Rice noodles: Pad thai is made with flat rice noodles, which have a nice bite and bring natural sweetness to the dish. They’re similar in shape to linguine or fettuccine. They make the dish naturally gluten-free.
• Fish sauce: Fish sauce is a standard condiment used in Thai cooking, and is a must for making pad thai. It’s a funky and more flavorful alternative to salt when making stir-fries, curries and sauces.
• Tamarind paste: Tamarind is a fruit pod which has a flavor comparable to biting into a lime. It’s very tangy with caramel notes, and is a great alternative to lime if you don’t want to add too much liquid to a dish. It comes either vacuum-packed or in a jar of concentrate.
• Brown sugar: Pad thai has a slightly sweet flavor thanks to palm sugar. Since palm sugar isn’t widely available, we opted for brown sugar to carry the sweetness and mimic the caramel-molasses notes of palm sugar.
• Limes: Lime is one of the key ingredients in pad thai with chicken. You’ll need two teaspoons for the sauce and extra lime wedges for serving.
• Chicken: Before getting started on this chicken pad thai recipe, cut boneless and skinless chicken breasts into 1/2-inch slices. If you prefer dark meat, purchase boneless and skinless chicken thighs instead.
• Oil: Canola oil is a neutral-flavored cooking oil that’s best for high-heat, quick-cooking applications like pad thai. You don’t want to use olive oil because it can’t withstand too-high heat, which could lead to burnt-tasting oil.
• Eggs: If you’ve never made or eaten pad thai before, there are scrambled eggs in the dish! Beat together two eggs and have them ready nearby so you can quickly add them when the time comes.
• Veggies: Onions, green onions and garlic permeate pungency into the pad thai. Looking to boost the amount of veggies? Check out our Variations section below.
• Peanuts: Roughly chop the peanuts to your desired size. Some people like big chunks of crunchy peanuts, while others like them a bit more blitzed.

Directions

Step 1: Soak the noodles

Soak the rice noodles in a large bowl of warm water for at least 30 minutes prior to cooking. Strain out the water and set the noodles aside until you’re ready to cook them.

Step 2: Make the tamarind sauce

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Mix the fish sauce, tamarind paste, brown sugar, lime juice and paprika (if using) in a small bowl and set it aside.

Step 3: Cook the chicken

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Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok set over medium-high heat. Add the onions and chicken, and cook until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked, four to five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one to two minutes.

Step 4: Stir in the rice noodles

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Add your rice noodles and cook until they’re partially softened. Then, add half of the peanuts, half of the green onions and about half of the bean sprouts. Use tongs to toss the stir-fry so that it’s thoroughly mixed.

Step 5: Add the tamarind sauce

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Finally, pour in the tamarind sauce and whisked eggs over the stir-fry until it’s well-coated. Stir it around until the eggs look cooked and the sauce has absorbed into the noodles. This should take another three to four minutes.

Step 6: Serve

Serve the chicken pad thai in bowls. Top it with the remaining peanuts, green onion and bean sprouts. Serve with lime wedges and red pepper flakes, if desired.

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Recipe Variations

• Add extra vegetables: Want more veggies? Toss in thinly sliced carrots, bell peppers and mushrooms once you add the garlic. Our vegetarian pad thai is suitable for non-meat and seafood eaters if that better suits your lifestyle.
• Bump up the spice: Right before you add the garlic, toss in a diced Thai chili or jalapeno to make this chicken pad thai recipe spicier.
• Change up the protein: The classic proteins used in pad thai are usually shrimp, pork and tofu. Our shrimp pad thai recipe serves four and cooks up in 30 minutes. Not a seafood fan? Opt for a pork pad thai. The pork tenderloin has a strip of fat along the length of it that adds delicious flavor to the dish as it cooks.

How to Store Chicken Pad Thai

Thankfully, pad thai is easy to store. Once it has cooled to room temperature, you can just toss it in an airtight container or a resealable bag and store it in the fridge for three to four days.

How do you reheat chicken pad thai?

The best way to reheat chicken pad thai is in the microwave. Cover the pad thai with a moistened paper towel and microwave it until it’s warm, taking the pad thai out to stir it periodically.

Chicken Pad Thai Tips

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Is there a substitute for tamarind paste in chicken pad thai?

The tamarind can be substituted with most things that have a very tart lime flavor; it’s the tang that you’re looking to replace. Start by substituting an equal amount of lime juice. I’ve also known folks who use blended dates and lime juice as an alternative!

What other noodles can I use for chicken pad thai?

To keep the dish gluten-free, I would try bean-thread noodles, as they’re just as great for stir-frying. For wheat-based noodles that are similar in shape and form, try using fettuccine or linguine. Use the cooking directions on the box, or cook them until they’re al dente.

How should you serve chicken pad thai?

If you’re looking for more sides to bulk up this meal, serve it with other Thai recipes such as pork satay, Thai-style green beans or these Thai chicken thighs, which have a gorgeous peanut, ginger and Thai chili glaze.

Serve your meal with a glass of rosé, riesling, sauvignon blanc or gewurztraminer. An ice-cold beer perfectly complements pad thai.