Pad thai
ผัดไทย
Stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar, egg and peanuts — a national dish with a 20th-century origin story.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: ผัดไทย.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- Mild
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Pad thai is wok cooking plus a sour-sweet-salty sauce. The noodles should be chewy, not sodden; the sauce should cling; the peanuts should be last. This is a home-wok version. A Thai steel wok over a roaring burner will always beat a suburban hob. We compensate with a hot pan, small batches, and noodles that were soaked, not boiled to death.
Ingredients
- Rice noodles, dried sen lek, soaked180 g
- Prawn, peeled (optional)150 g
- Tofu, firm, cubed (optional)100 g
- Egg2 large
- Shallot, sliced2
- Garlic, minced2 clove
- Tamarind, paste or thick tamarind water30 ml
- Fish sauce22 ml
- Palm sugar22 ml
- Fresh chilli, sliced, to taste (optional)1 small
- Bean sprouts80 g
- Peanuts, roasted, crushed30 g
- Lime, wedges1
- Spring onion, cut into lengths2
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Soak noodles in warm water until bendy but still firm, 20–40 minutes depending on brand. Drain. Mix tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar into a sauce. Taste: sour, salty, sweet, in that conversation.
25 minStep 2
Heat the wok until very hot. Oil, then prawns or tofu until just coloured. Remove.
3 minStep 3
Add a little more oil, shallot and garlic, 20 seconds. Push aside, scramble the eggs, then toss together.
2 minStep 4
Add noodles and sauce. Toss hard, scraping the pan, until the noodles absorb the sauce and look stained, 2–3 minutes. If they stick, a splash of water — not a flood.
3 minWatch: Overcrowding makes steam, not wok flavour. Cook two portions max.
Step 5
Return prawns or tofu. Add most of the bean sprouts and spring onion. Toss 30 seconds. Serve with peanuts, remaining sprouts, chilli and lime.
2 min
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.
Substitutions
Palm sugar → Light brown sugar
A little less complex. Fine.
Prawns → Pressed tofu only
A common stall option. Check fish sauce if you need it vegetarian — there is no true substitute, only omission.
Tips
- The sauce should be mixed before the wok is hot. Pad thai is not the moment to hunt for palm sugar.
- If it tastes flat, it needs tamarind or lime, not more ketchup. Ketchup pad thai is a different, sweeter diaspora style — name it if you cook it.
History & culture
You will meet pad thai as street food, hotel buffet, and diaspora takeaway. The best versions are still cooked to order in a hot wok. Prawns are common; pressed tofu and dried shrimp appear in many stalls. Garnish with lime and let people adjust.
Pad thai was popularised in the 20th century as a national noodle dish with Chinese stir-fry technique and Thai seasoning. It is Thai. It is also modern. Both things are true.
Modern adaptation — Dried shrimp and preserved radish are traditional in many stall versions and omitted here for a smaller pantry. Add them if you have them.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food.
