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This Chicken Pad Thai Recipe is a quicker version than the traditional but still tastes absolutely delicious! Double win!
Today I’m posting a Chicken Pad Thai Recipe that gets you in and out of the kitchen in no time and keeps you off your feet. This Pad Thai is a very quick dinner to cook up that uses a bunch of ingredients you probably already have on hand. Traditional Pad Thai dishes typically call for fish sauce and tamarind juice concentrate. Do you have those in your pantry already? Yeah…me either. So, I subbed them out with more common things to make some seriously flavorful noodles. Not traditional but still amazing and fast enough to make this on a weeknight. Promise 🙂
Pad Thai Recipe Ingredients
Sauce – The sauce is made up of soy sauce, sugar, red wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, grated garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper flakes.I know it’s a lot but the flavoring is phenomenal.
Mix-Ins – We have carrots, bean sprouts, peanuts, cilantro, and an onion.They all compliment each other with taste and texture. They also add a lot of color to the dish.
Protein –Pad Thai can be made with chicken, shrimp, tofu and/or eggs. For this recipe though I stuck to the chicken and eggs for protein.
Noodles –Rice noodles are used in this recipe. I used noodles from the Thai Kitchen brand.
How to Make Pad Thai
Pad Thai Sauce
First up we’ll make the sauce–in a small bowl, combine some soy sauce, sugar, red wine vinegar, hoisin sauce,
grated garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper flakes altogether. Microwave for 30-ish seconds until the sugar dissolves. Set this aside. Yup, that’s the sauce. Takes about 2 minutes.
Pad Thai Noodles
Next, we’ll cook up some rice noodles. This was half a package of the Thai Kitchen brand. Cook these for 3-5 minutes, then drain and rinse in cold water. They should be slightly underdone because we’ll be cooking them up a little later. Set these aside.
Mix-Ins
Now, we can get to the main event. Slice up some onion,
1lb.boneless skinless chicken breastscut into bite sized pieces
1cupyellow onionsliced
2large eggs
3/4cupjulienned carrot
3/4cupbean sprouts
For Garnish-
cilantro
peanuts
lime wedges
green onions
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, hoisin, sugar, garlic, vinegar, Worcestershire and red pepper flakes together. Microwave 30 seconds to 1 minute or until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook rice noodles 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
In a large wok or skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken and onions together until browned. Move to one side of the pan.
Crack eggs into a small bowl and beat with a fork. Pour into the empty side of the pan and stir to scramble. Toss in carrots, bean sprouts, cooked noodles, and sauce until all coated. You may add in 1/4-1/2 cup water if you think there isn't enough sauce. Cook another 2 minutes to heat veggies through. Serve with cilantro, lime wedges, peanuts, and green onion.
What is Chicken Pad Thai Made of? This Thai street food dish is primarily made with small pieces of cooked chicken, eggs, rice, noodles, an assortment of veggies and seasonings. Then it's all tossed in a sweet and savory sauce. My sauce is made with ketchup, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, peanut butter, and lime.
If it's only made of those ingredients, what then makes it so unique? A Pad Thai has tamarind, fish sauce, garlic, dried shrimp, palm sugar, and red chili pepper. These simple ingredients make Pad Thai a bowl of five tastes—salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami.
Although ketchup is a common replacement for tamarind paste, we prefer this tasty mixture: 1/4 cup (50 mL) tomato paste, 2 tbsp (30 mL) rice vinegar or freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice, 2 tbsp (30 mL) Worcestershire, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 1 tbsp (15 mL) brown sugar and 1 tbsp (15 mL) water.
The dish is mixed with a tamarind sauce and served with lime. The flavors of this dish are centered around a sweet-savory fusion. Salty, nutty, and with that slightly sweet sauce, it's a treat for tastebuds! Of course, every Pad Thai can be different.
Pad Thai Sauce is made with fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and tamarind. Tamarind is the ingredient that is the heart and soul of Pad Thai sauce, giving the sauce the sour flavour that Pad Thai is known for. It's an ingredient used in South East Asian cooking, like this Malaysian Beef Rendang.
Although the ingredients in pad Thai are generally pretty healthy, the calories can still add up fast. Just one cup of a typical pad Thai has about 400 calories and 17 grams of fat, as well as loads of sodium. To balance it out, I always order mine with an extra serving of steamed vegetables to mix in.”
Consuming it in moderation is recommended. Heart Health: Vegetables, tofu, and nuts used in Pad Thai are enriched with healthy fats, fiber, and different vitamins and minerals. Thus, it can considered a heart-healthy option.
Add enough sauce: In addition to having a great pad Thai sauce, it's important to get the sauce to noodle ratio just right. Because no matter how good your sauce is, if you don't add enough of it, you're going to end up with bland noodles. And there's nothing worse than a bland pad Thai.
Dried fruit and lemon juice: Creating a paste with dried fruits (like apricots or prunes) and lemon juice is a good substitute for tamarind paste. Depending on the dried fruit you use, you can achieve a very similar flavor to tamarind.
In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth to make a slurry (see note). Whisk the slurry into the tamarind sauce and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, whisking continuously, for 2 minutes. As the cornstarch cooks, it will thicken up the sauce.
A popular alternative is to use lime juice (or sometimes white wine or rice vinegar) mixed with an equal quantity of light brown sugar as a substitute for tamarind.
Tamarind concentrate: This is the starring ingredient in pad Thai that gives the sauce its signature tangy, sweet, and fruity flavor. Granted, some American Thai restaurants have switched to using ketchup in its place, which gives the dish a notably different and less-tangy flavor.
Many restaurants will add ketchup and paprika to boost the colour in order to make it look more appealing, but this is not traditional. However, we DO make a type of pad thai that is a little orange, and that colour comes from shrimp tomalley which we render out into oil and use it to cook pad thai.
These are: salty, sweet, spicy, sour, and creamy. For the dish to taste authentic, all five flavors need to be in a perfect balance. Cooking Thai food isn't easy, and if the flavors don't complement one another, something will taste off.
The taste of Pad Thai is a harmonious combination of sweet, sour, salty, and sometimes spicy flavors. Here's a breakdown of the flavors you might experience: Sweetness: Pad Thai often has a subtle sweetness, which comes from ingredients like tamarind paste or palm sugar.
It's made from rice noodles sauteed with spices, peanuts, egg, and bean sprouts. Get it with shrimp, chicken, or tofu for lean protein, and extra veggies for fiber and vitamins. Just watch your portion: Pad thai clocks in at 300 to 400 calories a cup.
Traditional Pad Thai usually combines tamarind paste, fish sauce, dried shrimp, and palm sugar, creating a sweet, sour, and salty taste balance. It commonly includes tofu, dried shrimp, bean sprouts, and peanuts. However, Americanized versions might swap tamarind for ketchup, making it sweeter and less complex.
The most traditional protein to use in pad Thai is shrimp, but pork, chicken, and beef are popular options as well. Eggs and tofu are usually incorporated as part of the basic stir-fry. Pad Thai is often not vegetarian even without meat, however, because of the fish sauce and/or dried shrimp used to make the sauce.
Introduction: My name is Patricia Veum II, I am a vast, combative, smiling, famous, inexpensive, zealous, sparkling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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First up we’ll make the sauce–in a small bowl, combine some soy sauce, sugar, red wine vinegar, hoisin sauce,
