This super easy pad Thai recipe features brown rice noodles, bean sprouts, carrots, green onions, and a delicious salty-sweet pad Thai sauce. Toss in your favorite protein, add more vegetables, or play with the sweet and salty balance to subtly change this dinner classic!
Traditional Pad Thai Ingredients
For a simple dish, fine-tuning the pad Thai sauce was surprisingly difficult. American pad Thai is an inaccurate reflection of authentic pad Thai. Traditional pad Thai incorporates a few simple ingredients, including palm sugar, tamarind concentrate, and fish sauce. These three ingredients create a delicate balance between sweet, salty, and savory.
American Pad Thai, on the other hand, often incorporates ketchup, sriracha, or paprika to create a more reddish-orange sauce. You’ll also likely find a ton of recipes out there using peanut butter to create a peanut sauce, which, while delicious, is not really pad Thai.
So let’s take a look at the main characters in authentic Pad Thai sauce.
Palm Sugar: palm sugar is a sweetener produced by boiling the sap from any variety of palm tree until it thickens. The sap is then cooled and formed into cakes or coarse crystals. The most common palm sugars are coconut, date, sugar, nipa, and Palmyra palm. Palm sugar varies in colors and form, depending on how long the sap was cooked. The prominent feature of palm sugar is its caramel flavor.
Most grocery stores carry palm sugar. When I made this recipe, I only had coconut sugar on hand. But don’t confuse coconut sugar with coconut palm sugar. Coconut sugar is made from the buds of coconut tree flowers, while coconut palm sugar is made from the sap. Often times palm and coconut sugar are used interchangeably, so double check the ingredients or have a brand in mind.
Substitutions for palm sugar include coconut sugar and brown sugar.
Tamarind Concentrate: tamarind concentrate is derived from the pods (i.e. fruit) of a tamarind tree. The fruit is a dark, sticky, mildly sweet pulp that is separated from the seeds within the pod. Many African, Asian, and Central American dishes use tamarind concentrate.
Tamarind has a unique flavor profile. It is sour and slightly sweet, with notes of citrus, caramel, and smoke. I’ve seen quite a few substitutions for tamarind, including using lime juice, a lime juice and water combination or a brown sugar and rice vinegar combination. For example, swap out 1 tablespoon of tamarind with 2 tablespoons of lime juice, 1 tablespoon of lime juice and 1 tablespoon of water, or 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.
For this recipe, I actually prefer a mix of lime juice and rice vinegar as a tamarind substitute. I found the 2:1 recommended substitution of lime juice was too strong of a citrus flavor and the rice vinegar gives a nice tang.
Fish Sauce: Traditionally fish sauce is made by crusting anchovies with sea salt, packing them in large barrels, and allowing them to ferment for anywhere from several months to several years. Eventually the fish breaks down into a briny liquid we know as fish sauce.
Fish sauce is distinctly fishy (shocker!). It is also incredibly salty. But its distinct flavor is crucial to traditional pad Thai. However, I use it sparingly, just because I find it can overpower my sauce with its saltiness.
One of the most highly recommended brands of fish sauce is Red Boat because it is made from just anchovies and salt, per the traditional methods. Many other popular brands, such as Flying Lion and Thai Kitchen, include added sugars.
Common substitutes for fish sauce include soy sauce, a mixture of hoisin sauce and miso, or Worcestershire Sauce. I prefer to mix a small portion of fish sauce with low sodium soy sauce to get the depth of flavor from the fish sauce without all the saltiness.
How to Make Pad Thai
Step 1: Prepare the Noodles
The first step to make amazing pad Thai is to cook your noodles correctly. I use brown rice pad Thai noodles. You can also use regular rice noodles or flat and thick pastas like fettuccine or linguine. If you prefer a vegetable-based dish, mix in spiralized sweet potato or zucchini noodles (“zoodles”).
Cook the noodles according to the package directions. There are typically two methods for cooking the noodles.
In the first method, you will place the noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. The noodles will soak for 5 to 6 minutes until tender. In the second method you will boil hot water in a pan and add the noodles and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the noodles using a colander. Promptly rinse the cooked noodles with cold water to prevent them from sticking together.
Step 2: Prepare the Sauce
While the noodles cook, prepare the pad Thai sauce by whisking together the coconut sugar, low sodium soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, and fish sauce. I like to make my sauce ahead of time because once I mix the ingredients together, some of the fishy smell dissipates.
Step 3: Cook Vegetables and Combine Ingredients
Next, heat the sesame oil over medium heat and add the garlic. I prefer to use sesame oil over olive oil because it lends an extra nutty flavor to the pad Thai that elevates the dish. You could also try peanut oil if you want an even nuttier pad Thai.
Once the garlic is fragrant, add the shredded carrots and bean sprouts. Let the vegetables cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Then push the vegetables aside to form a small circle in the middle and add your eggs. Let the eggs scramble on the pan, then stir into the vegetables once cooked.
I like to add a lot of eggs to my pad Thai, especially if I don’t have any supporting protein, like chicken, shrimp or tofu.
Add in the cooked noodles and saute a minute before adding in the pad Thai sauce. Mix well to incorporate the sauce.
When you are ready to serve, add crushed peanuts, green onion, and a wedge of lime for garnish.
Pad Thai Recipe Variations
The beauty of pad Thai is that you can make it so many different ways. Each variation is a new dish. Here are a few of my favorite variations.
- Add Protein: chicken, shrimp, or crispy tofu make excellent protein options. Just cook the chicken or shrimp with the garlic and add the vegetables once the meat is cooked. Or cook the tofu in the oven separately and toss in with the cooked vegetables.
- Add Veggies: Sometimes I like to add a ton of vegetables to my pad Thai. Incorporate yellow onion and julienned zucchini, bell pepper, and yellow squash.
- Swap out Noodles: If you don’t have brown or white rice pad Thai noodles, you can use flat pasta like fettuccine or linguine. You can also turn your dish plant-based by replacing traditional noodles with spiralized zucchini or sweet potato noodles. Simply cook them at the same time as the other vegetables. Drain any excess liquid before adding the pad Thai sauce.
- Add Some Spice: If you prefer a spicier pad Thai, add 1 tablespoon of Sriracha, 1-2 teaspoons of chili paste, or a dash of red pepper flakes.
- Make it Sweeter: If you want to make your pad Thai sauce a little sweeter add 1 tablespoon of coconut sugar.
- Reduce the Saltiness: If this sauce is too salty or if you’re watching your sodium content, swap out the fish sauce with 2 to 3 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce.
- Make it “American”: If you’re craving that “American” pad Thai flavor, add 3 tablespoons of ketchup and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. It will give you that rich red color and familiar restaurant pad Thai flavor.
- Make it a Peanut Sauce: I love a good peanut sauce. If that’s what you’re craving, whisk in 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter.
If you love pad Thai, try out these related recipes:
Try any combination of these variations and you’ll be sure to have a delicious meal ready in no time! Share your favorite variation in the comments or tag us in your photos on Instagram @sticksscratchkitchen.
Easy Pad Thai
Ingredients
Pad Thai
- 14 oz brown rice pad Thai noodles
- 3 carrots, shredded
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 c bean sprouts
- 4 eggs
- ½ Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves (about 2 tsp)
- 2 Tbsp peanuts, diced
Pad Thai Sauce
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ Tbsp lime juice (about ¼ of a lime)
- 1 tsp fish sauce
Instructions
- Cook pad Thai noodles according to package directions. Rinse cooked noodles under cold water and set aside.
- In the same sauce pan, heat the sesame oil over medium heat. Add the garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add the carrots and bean sprouts and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- While the vegetables cook, whisk together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Push enough vegetables aside to form a small circle in the center of the pan. Scramble the eggs in the circle and then mix in with the vegetables.
- Add in the noodles and pad Thai sauce and mix well. Top with green onions and peanuts and serve.
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