My Favorite Chicken Pad Thai

Chicken Pad Thai has been one of my most favorite dishes ever since I discovered it back in the mid-90s.  When I tried it for the first time, it was at a hole-in-a-wall Thai restaurant in which the clientele was almost 100% Asians.  You know you hit the jackpot when you find these small restaurants that hardly ever advertise, if at all, but are still packed with people who know that the food is authentic and good!

Since then, I’ve moved further away from my favorite Thai restaurant.  And I’ve had Pad Thai at countless restaurants, most of which I’ve been disappointed with.  This started my whole obsession to find a good recipe so that I can cook it for myself.  I’ve tried numerous recipes that are supposedly ‘authentic’ or have tried many pre-packaged Pad Thai sauces. But I was always disappointed with most of those, too.  So, I basically had to play around with the multiple recipes and “Frankenstein” them into one recipe that I’m happy with.

My version of Chicken Pad Thai

I’m not certain what makes an “authentic” Pad Thai but this recipe is exactly how I like it.  This recipe doesn’t use tamarind, which is what I ultimately decided is the reason why I don’t like many of the Pad Thai recipes.  I think tamarind’s tangy flavor is too overpowering.  Or maybe many restaurants use too much of it.

With or without tamarind, the main challenge I had with various recipes was that it always tasted like they were lacking some “depth” to the flavor.  So, what would a girl who is used to cooking with Japanese ingredients do?  I added a little bit of dashi powder to the sauce.  The sauce already has the fish sauce as the main ingredient. So, I just boosted the flavor a bit with dashi.  And let me tell you, it’s perfect (for me, for now, at least)!!  Until I have the chance to visit Thailand to taste the authentic Pad Thai, I’m sticking with this!

Meat substitution

I make mine with chicken, but you can also make this with shrimp or pork.  Or use tofu instead to make it completely vegetarian.  I only use ¾ pound of chicken but you can easily use one pound of chicken if you have meat lovers in your household. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

My Favorite Chicken Pad Thai Recipe

Chicken Pad Thai

Pad Thai is a popular Thai stir-fried rice noodle dish. Here is my version of the Chicken Pad Thai that was created after testing many recipes!

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

• 8 oz rice stick noodles, large
• 3/4 lb chicken breast tenders cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup onions sliced thin, about 1/2 small onion
• 1/2 cup carrots cut into thin matchsticks
• 2 eggs beaten lightly
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups fresh bean sprouts well rinsed
• 1/2 cup peanuts, chopped unsalted or lightly salted
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 lime cut into wedges

Sauce

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
• 1/4 tsp dashi powder
• 1 tbsp chili oil optional
• crushed red pepper optional, to taste
• salt to taste

Instructions

 

• Cover noodles with hot tap water in large bowl and soak until softened, about 20 minutes.  Drain noodles and set aside.  Noodles will not look fully cooked and that's OK since you'll be cooking it more later.
• While noodles soak, stir lime juice, water, fish sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, dashi powder, vegetable/canola oil and chili oil/crushed red pepper (optional) together.  Set aside.
• In a large skillet or a wok, heat peanut oil in medium heat.  Add garlic and heat until fragrant. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.  Add carrots and onions and cook for another 4-5 minutes until onions are translucent.  
• Push all the ingredients in the skillet to one side. Add eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the other side of the skillet and stir until eggs are scrambled, for 20 seconds. Then fold the scrambled eggs into the other ingredients in the skillet.
• Stir soaked noodles into the chicken/egg mixture.  Add sauce mixture, increasing heat to high and toss thoroughly until noodles are even coated and the sauce is mostly evaporated, about 5 minutes.  Add bean spouts and green onions to mix them into the noodles. Salt to taste if needed.
• Serve topped with peanuts if desired and lime wedges on the side.

Keyword asian food, chicken, noodles, pad thai

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