Easy Pad Thai – A Beautiful Mess

While I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting Thailand (it’s high on my list!), I am a BIG fan of their national dish: Pad Thai. If you’ve never had it, it’s a stir fry noodle dish that usually has shrimp, egg, bean sprouts and rice noodles stir fried in a sweet and savory sauce and topped with chopped peanuts and fresh lime. Traditional pad thai has a lot of different flavors going on and so much taste! It’s probably one of my top comfort foods!

This pad thai recipe is not particularly authentic, but it is tasty and super easy for any home cook to make in about 30 minutes (or less).

Related: If you love shrimp dinners, next up, try shrimp scampi or ceviche.

Ingredients

• Rice noodles
• Red bell pepper
• Bean sprouts
• Garlic
• Shrimp – I use cooked (cocktail) shrimp
• Egg
• Sesame oil
• Rice vinegar
• Fish sauce
• Soy sauce
• Ketchup
• Brown sugar
• Red pepper flakes

You will also want fresh cilantro, peanuts, lime wedges and green onions to serve on the side.

Instructions

Start by cooking (soaking) the rice noodles. Boil enough water in a pot for the rice noodles to easily soak. Once the water comes to a boil, remove from heat. Add the rice noodles and cover for 10-12 minutes. Drain before adding to the stir fry.

Next, prep the sauce. In a small bowl, combine the rice vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar and red pepper flakes. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Thaw the shrimp. If needed, remove the tails and devein. Sometimes cooked shrimp will already have this step done. Chop the bell pepper. Mince the garlic. If you are using canned bean sprouts, drain from the can liquid.

In a large skillet or wok, heat the sesame oil over medium-high heat. Stir fry the bell peppers for a couple minutes, and they should blister. Then add the shrimp, bean sprouts and garlic. Cook for another couple of minutes. Push everything to one edge of the pan and turn the heat down slightly to medium. Add the egg and stir to scramble, then stir the other ingredients into the egg.

Add the noodles and pour the pad thai sauce over everything. Stir fry so everything gets coated in the sauce and gets hot. I use tongs to toss everything easily. To serve, top with chopped cilantro, green onions and peanuts. Squeeze a little fresh lime juice over everything.

Notes & Substitutions

• You can substitute the shrimp in this recipe for other proteins like extra firm tofu or chicken. Or you can leave it out entirely for more of a stir fry noodle side dish option.
• To make this pad thai recipe more authentic, use tamarind juice, sometimes called tamarind water, or even tamarind paste, sometimes called tamarind concentrate. I have a hard time finding these ingredients in the grocery stores I normally shop, so I tend to stick to this less traditional but still super tasty version that involves ketchup. 😉
• You can substitute the brown sugar for palm sugar.
• The best way to thaw frozen shrimp is to place the sealed bag in the refrigerator overnight.
• If you or a family member has an egg sensitivity, you can skip the egg in this recipe. It’s still great without it!
• Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. When I rewarm pad thai, I will place it on a microwave-safe plate, cover with a damp paper towel, and then microwave for 45 seconds to a minute. The damp paper towel will help to keep the noodles from drying out.

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