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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.
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 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.
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.
When it's sold in restaurants outside Thailand, the noodles are sometimes bright orange – that's because sauces or spices, like paprika, have been used instead of tamarind. Authentic Pad Thai is a light reddish-brown colour.
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.
There is a scientific reason why Pad Thai is so delicious. It follows a Thai culinary tradition of using all five tastes which are salty, sour, sweet, spicy and bitter. That is why the dish is so tantalizingly tasty!… It hits all five flavor profiles in the mouth!
The name of this establishment refers to the five flavors (ha/ห้า=five, roat/รส=flavors) which are present in a good pad Thai: salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and savory.
Pad Thai is a popular Thai dish that typically consists of stir-fried rice noodles, eggs, tofu or shrimp, bean sprouts, peanuts, lime, and various seasonings. The taste of Pad Thai is a harmonious combination of sweet, sour, salty, and sometimes spicy flavors.
Why is Pad Thai pink? The thing that has turned rice noodle into pink colour is a tamarind sauce and fish sauce that commonly use when cooke Pad Thai. So basically Tamarind sauces add to give a hint of sour and sweet.
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.
Lime or Lemon Juice. While I have used tamarind in the past, these days I prefer to keep my pantry more simple so if I'm cooking something that calls for tamarind my first go-to is a squeeze of lime juice. ...
It can definitely be a part of a balanced, well-rounded diet. While pad thai includes many nutritious ingredients, its sodium content is considerably high. You can reduce its sodium by requesting the eatery go easy on the sauce and salt-contributing condiments.
When taste-testing, keep in mind that your pad thai sauce should taste sweet first, followed by spicy and salty, then sour last. If needed, adjust the amount of sugar and chile sauce. Note that the sauce will taste almost too strong at this point, but once distributed throughout the noodles, the flavor will mellow.
Authentic Pad Thai in Thailand is not red! Sometimes if they use a lot of Tamarind paste it can have somewhat of an orangish tinge. Many places that make Pad Thai especially in the States use Ketchup (disgusting) and that Pad Thai is red and taste nothing like authentic Pad Thai which is delicious!
It is usually a mixture of fish sauce (condiment made of fish), oyster sauce (made from oyster extract), brown sugar and tamarind (tree seed), but can also include shrimp, garlic, shallots or red chili pepper. Some establishments or chefs may use soy sauce, which is traditionally made by fermenting soybeans and wheat.
Sweetness: Pad Thai often has a subtle sweetness, which comes from ingredients like tamarind paste or palm sugar. This sweetness helps balance the dish and complements the other flavors. Sourness: Tamarind paste contributes a tangy and slightly sour taste to Pad Thai. Lime wedges are.
Introduction: My name is Duane Harber, I am a modern, clever, handsome, fair, agreeable, inexpensive, beautiful 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,
