How to make the 30-minute Authentic Pad Thai Recipe (2024)

Under 30 minutes fix dinner with this recipe of authentic pad thai recipe, with authentic pad thai sauce recipe, which makes this best and easy real pad thai any time! Add chicken, vegetable, and shrimp as you like and enjoy this restaurant style pad thai recipe at home under 30 mins or less. This is the best authentic pad thai EVER!

This post contains affiliate links. Please read mydisclosure policy.

Thai food is one of the famous cuisines and this authentic pad thai recipe is what you need in your life to make the restaurant-style Thai food at home.

Whenever Thai food comes to mind then the first dish we imagine is pad thai. You can always enjoy this in a restaurant but making this real pad thai at home with some easy authentic pad thai sauce recipe is such an amazing feeling, that you won't go for takeout anymore!

Customize this pad thai recipe with vegetables of your choice to make it vegetable pad thai, add shrimp to make it shrimp pad thai or chicken to make chicken pad thai. I have added vegetables, shrimp, and chicken along with egg in this recipe to make it one-in-all pad thai!

This restaurant-style pad thai recipe is made of a few basic ingredients which are very easy to put together.

What is Pad Thai?

Pad thai is a dish made out of rice noodles, cooked or soaked in hot water till soft, further drained and stir-fried along with vegetables, eggs, chicken or shrimp and tossed in sweet-savory, slightly sour sauce topped with crushed peanuts.

This is recipe will not yield that typical exact restaurant-style Thai noodle dish as they tend to add a lot of oil and this recipe is with less oil yet very addictive and delicious.

Pad Thai Ingredients:

Following simple ingredients make this best authentic pad thai :

Noodles: Rice noodles are used in making the pad thai noodles. As per the package, instructions either boil the noodles or soak them in hot water till they are soft and then drain them under cold water, toss with little oil.

Sauce: The pad thai sauce is made of a mix of tamarind puree, brown sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, vinegar, and water.

Vegetables: You can choose whatever vegetables that you love. I have used garlic, carrot, green onion, and bean sprouts.

Protein: Add the protein of your choice as per your personal preference. This recipe works very well with eggs, shrimp, chicken. I have used all three in this recipe just to make it tastier.

Toppings: Crushed peanuts, lemon wedges, cilantro chopped is something I have added on the noodles.

What are pad thai noodles made of?

What all vegetables can we use in pad thai recipe? The vegetables that go in this recipe of pad thai noodles aregarlic, spring onion, carrots, mung bean sprouts.

What is pad thai sauce? Pad thai sauce is made of mainly tamarind puree, fish sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, oyster sauce, brown sugar, water, and vinegar. If you like noodles with a lot of sauce then you can double the sauce ingredients.

Noodles used in pad thai are rice noodles, which are slightly wide. As per package instructions, either boil the noodles or soak them in hot water. Further, run them under cold water, and toss them with some oil to avoid sticking together.

The protein used in this recipe is shrimp and chicken, first, marinate them with salt and black pepper powder.

How to make pad thai noodles from scratch?

Step1: Cook the rice noodles as per package instructions or soak them in hot water. Further, run the noodles through the cold water, and toss with oil to avoid sticking to each other.

Step2:In a bowl, add the eggs and whisk well as shown in the picture below.

In another bowl add the ingredients for pad thai sauce and whisk well to make the sauce as shown in the picture below.

Step3: In a wok/cast iron pan, add oil and when its hot, add the chopped garlic and spring onion whites chopped. Saute well.

Step4: Add the chopped vegetables and saute well. Further, move this to one side of the pan, add some more extra oil.
Further, add the shrimp and chicken, saute till the shrimp and chicken are cooked well.

Pro Tips to make the pad thai noodles recipe:

Tamarind puree is the most important ingredient in the recipe of pad thai. If you are unable to find the tamarind puree in Asian markets then you can get raw tamarind from Asian/Indian stores near you. Just soak that in 4 Tbsp of hot water for a few minutes and squeeze to extract the pulp. Mix the extracted pulp with the hot water that was used to soak the tamarind and that is good to go.
Fish sauce and brown sugar are other important aspects of the pad thai sauce, so please do not skip these ingredients too. If you are worried about any foul smell f fish sauce then trust me, when all the pad thai sauce ingredients are mixed together then the fish sauce does not have any negative smell on the final noodle dish.
Rice noodles that I have used in this recipe required boiling and further tossing them under cold water. Please check the brand of rice noodles you use to see if the noodles need boiling or just enough to soak for a few minutes in hot water.

You can see in the steps that I have used fresh mung bean sprouts. you can use the mung bean sprouts available in the Asian stores or make your own sprouts at home. I have not explained in this recipe the steps to make your own sprouts, but will surely try to add the details in the future.

More Thai Recipes you will love:

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Spicy Thai Drunken Noodles

Thai Basil Chicken

Thai Cashew Noodles

How to make the 30-minute Authentic Pad Thai Recipe

Servings: 5 Servings

Author: Savory Bites Recipes

Prep Time:: 20 MCook Time:: 10 MTotal Time:: 30 M

Ingredients:

For Thai Sauce:

3 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 Tbsp Rice/White Vinegar
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Sriracha
2 Tbsp Water
2 Tbsp Tamarind Puree

For Pad Thai Noodles:

4 oz/ 125 grams Rice Noodles
8 Small, Shrimp, cleaned, deveined
1/3 cup Chicken, cut into 1-inch chunks
4 Tbsp Oil
3 Garlic, cloves, chopped
2 Eggs whisked
1/2 cup Mung Bean Sprouts
1/4 cup Carrot, julienned
1/4 cup Green Onion/scallions, chopped
Salt and Pepper Powder as per need

For Garnish:

1/4 cup Peanuts, dry roasted and roughly crushed
Lime Wedges
Sesame Seeds
Cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

Cook the rice noodles as per package instructions or soak them in hot water. Further, run the noodles through the cold water, and toss with oil to avoid sticking to each other.
In a bowl, add the eggs and whisk well as shown in the picture below.
In another bowl add the ingredients for pad thai sauce and whisk well to make the sauce as shown in the picture below.
In a wok/cast iron pan, add oil and when its hot, add the chopped garlic and spring onion whites chopped. Saute well.
Add the chopped vegetables and saute well. Further, move this to one side of the pan, add some more extra oil.
Further, add the shrimp and chicken, saute till the shrimp and chicken are cooked well.
Move the cooked shrimp and chicken to again to one side of the pan, add the eggs, and scramble well and mix well with the cooked veggies, shrimp, and chicken.
Add the rice noodles in the pan as shown in the picture.
Add the sauce to the pan, and toss well to coat the noodles well with the sauce.
Finally, add the mung bean sprouts and further toss so that noodles, chicken, shrimp, and veggies mix well.
Garnish with crushed peanuts, chopped cilantro.
Serve while warm.

Notes:

Tamarind puree is the most important ingredient in the recipe of pad thai. If you are unable to find the tamarind puree in Asian markets then you can get raw tamarind from Asian/Indian stores near you. Just soak that in 4 Tbsp of hot water for a few minutes and squeeze to extract the pulp. Mix the extracted pulp with the hot water that was used to soak the tamarind and that is good to go.

Fish sauce and brown sugar are other important aspects of the pad thai sauce, so please do not skip these ingredients too. If you are worried about any foul smell f fish sauce then trust me, when all the pad thai sauce ingredients are mixed together then the fish sauce does not have any negative smell on the final noodle dish.

Rice noodles that I have used in this recipe required boiling and further tossing them under cold water. Please check the brand of rice noodles you use to see if the noodles need boiling or just enough to soak for a few minutes in hot water.

You can see in the steps that I have used fresh mung bean sprouts. you can use the mung bean sprouts available in the Asian stores or make your own sprouts at home. I have not explained in this recipe the steps to make your own sprouts, but will surely try to add the details in the future.

FAQs

How is Pad Thai traditionally made? ›

Pad Thai is stir-fry dish made with rice noodles, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, peanuts, a scrambled egg and bean sprouts. The ingredients are sautéed together in a wok and tossed in a delicious Pad Thai sauce.

What is pad thai sauce made of? ›

The main ingredients for Pad Thai are quite simple: yellow bean curds, prawns, eggs and flat rice noodles also called rice sticks (you can also use 'Bahn Pho' Vietnamese noodles as substitute). To make the Pad Thai sauce you need tamarind juice, palm sugar, fish sauce and some white vinegar.

Show Me More ›

Why is my pad thai soggy? ›

Overcooked noodles are too soft...too soft noodles break into bits. This is why I stress so much that you should only cook pad thai in batches of 2 servings, and the most delicate fresh noodles should be cooked ONE portion at a time. There is a reason why street vendors cook them one order at a time!

Discover More Details ›

What is the difference between traditional and authentic Pad Thai? ›

However, Americanized versions might swap tamarind for ketchup, making it sweeter and less complex. They may also add proteins like chicken or shrimp, which aren't traditional. The noodles in authentic Pad Thai tend to be softer, whereas Americanized versions often have a firmer texture.