Easy Pad Thai Recipe
This easy Pad Thai recipe is better than takeout! Learn how to make Pad Thai at home with a fresh, flavorful sauce, crispy tofu, and perfectly tender noodles for a dinner everyone will love.
Servings: 8 Servings
Cost: $10
Equipment
- chef's knife
Ingredients
Pad Thai Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 Tablespoons water (or fish sauce)
- 5 Tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons tamarind paste (or lime juice)
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon chili sauce
- 3 Tablespoons peanut butter
Pad Thai
- 8 ounces udon noodles (or Pad Thai Noodles - see notes)
- 14 ounces extra firm Tofu (cut into ½" cubes)
- 4 Tablespoons peanut oil (divided)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup carrots (julienned)
- ¼ cup green onions (finely sliced)
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups bean sprouts (4.5 ounces)
- ¼ cup peanuts (crushed)
- ¼ cup cilantro (chopped)
Instructions
Cook the Noodles
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse.
Make the Pad Thai Sauce
- Whisk the soy sauce, water, brown sugar, tamarind paste, lime juice, chili sauce and peanut butter in a small bowl until smooth. If necessary, gently warm the ingredients until the peanut butter is easy to whisk and combine with the other ingredients. Set aside.
Make the Pad Thai
- Heat 2 Tablespoons of peanut oil in a wok or fry pan over high heat.
- Add the tofu and cook, stirring often, over high heat, until it is just starts to brown.
- Then, evenly sprinkle the garlic powder, salt, and ginger over the tofu and stir until it's evenly distributed.
- Continue cooking until the tofu is lightly golden brown.
- Then, add the carrots, onion, garlic and 1 Tablespoon peanut oil, stir and cook over medium-high heat until carrots are soft. Be sure to stir often.
- Once the carrots are cooked, turn the heat to low.
- Move the ingredients aside, add 1 Tablespoon peanut oil and the beaten egg to the empty space int he fry pan or wok.
- Cook and scramble the egg over low heat until it's done.
- Then add the cooked noodles, bean sprouts, peanuts, cilantro and sauce and stir to combine.
- Cook for 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring often. Until sauce has coated everything evenly and beings to stick to the Pad Thai.
- Serve immediately with a sprinkle of extra crushed peanuts, chopped cilantro and sliced green onions, if desired.
Video
Notes
Notes on the Noodles
Different noodles behave very differently. I tested this with so many different noodle varieties and I believe udon noodles work the best. They are the easiest to cook.
These pad thai rice noodles are probably the most authentic – but 8 oz translates to a ton of noodles and they soak in a lot of sauce. So I’d add them slowly to the sauce to make sure it isn’t too try. Plus, they are finicky and hard to cook just right.
Pad Thai Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Peanut oil. canola or sesame oil are good substitutes.
- Carrots. I like to buy shredded carrots to save time cutting whole carrots!
- Extra firm tofu. Regular tofu works well too.
- Water. Fish sauce can be used in place of water for a more authentic flavor.
- Tamarind paste. I ended up getting this from whole foods, however you can also order it on Amazon. I tried making this Pad Thai recipe without it and I just felt like it wasn't as good. So I personally think this ingredient is a must - however you can use extra lime juice if you'd like.
- Lime juice. use fresh or bottled.
- Sweet Chili sauce. choose your level of spice here.
- Peanut butter. creamy or crunchy both work well. I prefer unsweetened.
Nutrition
Serving: 1.5cups | Calories: 325kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.004g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 780mg | Potassium: 315mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 2816IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 2mg