Ingredients
Kosher salt
8 oz. wide rice noodles
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
Freshly ground black pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 c. roasted peanuts, chopped
Preparation
Step 1In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook noodles until al dente. Drain. Step 2In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, and cayenne pepper. Set aside.Step 3In a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add bell pepper and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook until pink, about 2 minutes per side.Step 4Push the shrimp and vegetables to one side of the pan and pour in the egg. Scramble until just set then mix with the shrimp mixture. Add the cooked noodles and toss until combined. Pour in the lime juice mixture and toss until the noodles are coated.Step 5Garnish with green onions and roasted peanuts before serving.
An easy alternative to takeout, our simplified Pad Thai recipe is designed to satisfy noodle cravings fast. Ubiquitous in Thai cuisine in the United States, our simplified recipe stacks up closer to the American-Thai renditions of this dish than the versions you would find in Thailand. Any beginner cook can accomplish this recipe. But it’s important to note that we skipped some traditional ingredients (such as dried shrimp, tamarind, pressed tofu, and bean sprouts), opting for ingredients that you can pick up at your local grocery store. Absolutely necessary for our recipe: fish sauce. It’s easy to find at nearly every grocery store, and it adds an unbeatable punch of umami goodness. Prep is the most important step With any stir fry, it’s very important to prepare and measure all the ingredients before you start cooking. We recommend whisking the sauce and eggs, chopping the vegetables and protein, then setting everything up in the order you will use it, right next to the stovetop. Once you start cooking, this dish is completed in under 10 minutes, so you need everything ready to go or you’ll miss a beat. The second most important step: a hot skillet A hot skillet ensures that the ingredients cook quickly and that they brown, adding another layer of flavor - that distinctive caramelized note that’s one hallmark of Pad Thai. In restaurants and on the streets, Pad Thai is traditionally cooked in hot woks. If you have a wok or a large cast iron skillet that can get hot and retain heat nicely, try preparing this dish in these. Amp it up with ketchup Yes, ketchup. While our recipe doesn’t call for it, add a tablespoon or two of ketchup to the sauce to up the sweet-savory flavor. While tamarind and ketchup are very different, ketchup is often a substitute in Americanized versions of this recipe. In fact, many restaurants in the US add a touch of ketchup to appease customers that feel Pad Thai looks tastier with a redder sauce. And let’s face it, we love our ketchup here. Cooking rice noodles 101 Cooking rice noodles can be confusing; every package seems to have different instructions. Some call for boiling and others for soaking the noodles in hot or room temperature water. Neither is wrong, but here we chose to boil the noodles, which gives more control over when they are perfectly toothsome - not too soft or hard. Another noodle tip: Rinse the cooked noodles under cold water to remove excess starch, and coat them in a little neutral cooking oil if you are not using them right away. If the noodles do clump, just rinse them under cool water again and drain right before using; they should come right apart.Customize your Pad Thai, just like a takeout orderShrimp isn’t the only protein Pad Thai loves… in fact this versatile dish works with most proteins such as strips of boneless skinless chicken, slices of steak, or diced tofu instead. Make sure to cook the meat completely before pushing the protein to the side and adding the egg. Another option is to keep it veg friendly and mix in stir fried or steamed vegetables like broccoli or carrot (note: omit the fish sauce if you want a truly vegetarian dish).How to cook the eggScrambling eggs takes a matter of seconds over high heat. Here we use the same method that we love for our fried rice recipes. Rather than cook the egg separately, just push the sauteed shrimp and veggies to the side of the pan, add the beaten egg to the other side and scramble. Then toss everything together and proceed. Have you made this Pad Thai inspired recipe? Let us know what you think! Looking to satisfy more Thai food cravings, cook up one of these 9 Thai-Inspired recipes that we can’t get enough of!
Editor’s Note: This introduction to this recipe was updated on October 24, 2021, to include more information about the dish.
