Easy Chicken Pad Thai with rice noodles, Scallions and peanuts in less than 30 minutes that tastes just like your favorite thai takeout restaurant.
We are all about Asian noodles including Easy Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Chicken Lo Mein and Classic Chinese Chow Mein. I’d pretend I’m healthy and don’t eat a lot of carbs but I think this site shows my noodle love runs pretty deep.
Chicken Pad Thai
Chicken Pad Thai was the first Pad Thai we ever made at home. Making the leap to noodles with fish sauce was big enough for our household, so we kept it as kid friendly as we could by swapping out the shrimp and tofu for easy (super thinly) sliced chicken breast meat.
We try to keep the chicken pad thai healthy, using chicken breast meat, and we often add in zucchini noodles and carrot noodles like in one of our favorite recipes, Healthy Thai Peanut Chicken Zucchini Noodles.
The key in this recipe, look at the photos closely is how thinly the chicken is cut. It isn’t about cutting the chicken into fajita sized strips, this is about cutting them to the shape of a very thin matchbook. This makes chicken pieces that are so tender that they are so easy to chew through. The reason the chicken is so tender is because you are cutting the chicken against the grain. This means instead of chicken you’re use to pulling apart in recipes like BBQ Pulled Chicken, this cuts across those muscle fibers so it’s like a group of super thin pieces of chicken instead of a long piece of a single cut of meat.
It also cooks through in no time. And with a quick stir fry like this, chicken cooking in no time is super helpful.
How to cut chicken thinly:
One of the traditional takeout things about chicken stir fries is how they have chicken that looks like it was almost shaved, similar to Mongolian Beef in restaurants. The trick to this is to freeze the chicken for about one hour. Once you do you can very easily slice the chicken very thinly against the grain. Since the slices are so thin you’ll find that even though it was in the freezer, it will come back to a good cooking temperature very quickly.
The only way this could be an even more authentic chicken pad thai recipe would be to add a couple tablespoons of tamarind paste. You’re totally welcome to add it but in a blind taste test this version won over that version 5-0.
If you want to cut back on the chicken pad thai calories, you can cut back on the oil to two tablespoons instead of a ¼ cup and cut back on the sugar to two tablespoons, but the flavors won’t be as rich and deep.
We have also played around with this recipe coming up with alternative versions and flavors. We often make a Chicken Pad Thai with Peanut Sauce instead of the classic version.
What do you serve with Pad Thai? We love to serve Crab Rangoon or Papaya Salad. Other great appetizers include dim sum or egg rolls.
Chicken Pad Thai with Peanut Sauce
Following all the same instructions, swap out 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce for 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and one tablespoon of soy sauce. The flavors are much more muted and kid friendly, be sure to top with lots of crushed peanuts as well.
P.F. Chang’s Chicken Pad Thai is a recent recipe addition to the menu. I ran a few tests based on a corporate training video that was posted online which gives away the basic recipe and cooking methods, but with all the ketchup it was too inauthentic for my tastes. If you would like me to make a copycat of the recipe I’d be happy to give it a try, but I’m pretty confident if you all love authentic pad thai, you will love this recipe.
Ingredients
- 14 ounces rice noodles
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 pound chicken breasts sliced very thinly
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 3 carrots julienned
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1 lime cut into wedges
- cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Add the rice noodles to boiling water for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and let sit for five minutes.
- When softened rinse with cold water and set aside.
- Toss the sliced chicken with the soy sauce.
- Add canola oil to a wok on high heat and add the chicken without crowding the pan.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, then remove the chicken from the pan (leave the oil in the pan).
- Add the eggs into hot oil, and chop with a spatula into little pieces as your cooking them.
- Add softened noodles, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and red pepper.
- Serve topped with bean sprouts, carrots, green onions and lime wedges.
Nutrition
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Photos used in a previous version of this post:
I made this as directed, plus at end, added maybe 4 tablespoons peanut butter with about 3 Tablespoons soy sauce. It taste exactly like pad thai..but its only a baic recipe. How do I add heat for a fire dragon hot. I love my food hot till my eyes and nose water. You’re recipes are great, keep them coming.
Do you cook and taste test all of your posted recipes, or only some of them? Love your recipes. Ty!
I cannot wait to try the Pad Thai recipe. It looks soooooo good.
The ingredients call for noodles where the shown weight of 14 oz is actually for a six-pack. If you substitute with rice noodles from another vendor, take note or you will end up with a huge pot of them! The flavor was too mild for my taste and I added some soy sauce, perhaps 2 tbs and a 1/4 cup of hoisin sauce as well as the tamarindo paste.
Tasted good but didn’t taste like Pad Thai at all. I reviewed the recipe afterwards to make sure I had all the ingredients and quantities right but that was not the problem.
Looked fresh and tasty, just not Pad Thai.
Someone please help with the peanut butter sauce recipe. I’m find it very confusing the way it’s listed. Can someone please post what is needed for the sauce. TY
To make the peanut sauce, swap out 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce for 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and one tablespoon of soy sauce.
Thank you this is so good.
Love love love this recipe! Tastes just like our favorite Thai restaurant down in FL that we rarely get to visit seeing as we live in DE. I make it for my fiance at least once every two weeks! I doubled it once for a Sunday family dinner and now my family requests it constantly. My mom actually requested it for her birthday dinner this coming Tuesday! Safe to say we’re obsessed. Thanks for such a great recipe!
Sounds like a family winner to me! Thanks for coming back to let me know, Ashley.
Just made it. Awesome!!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Could you clarify the ingredient quantities for the peanut sauce? Does it end up needing 3 tablespoons of soy sauce or are we decreasing the 2 tablespoons down to 1 tablespoon? And is the fish sauce decreased from a quarter cup to 3 tablespoons? Thanks!
Yes, you are correct on everything. You’ll end up using 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and the fish sauce is decreased to 3 tablespoons. I really hope you enjoy it!
This recipe is fantastic! This really is just like what you get at a restaurant. I ended up taking away 1/4 the fish sauce and adding a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter. It came out just the way wanted! I will be looking at your recipes in the future! You are terrific!
Thanks so much, Julia.
Another solid winner Sabrina! Made this exactly as written and it tasted even better than our favorite Thai spot. Thanks for another perfect recipe!
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Looks great! Cannot wait to try it!!
This ended up being a huge hit with my household! Initially I had done the sauce without peanut butter or soy sauce and I got worried it might be too strong, so I ended up adding two spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter and two spoons of soy sauce extra, like you recommended, and it was just perfect! The color wasn’t as orangey red as I wanted, but the taste was great. The garnishes made all the difference, too. I ended up adding a wee bit of sriracha for an extra kick and color. Thanks for the recipe!!
I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I finally found a fool-proof recipe for pad Thai! I’ve tried other recipes, mostly complex with hard to find ingredients, and they never turn out that good. Yours was easy and straightforward and came out incredible, thanks!
Woohoo! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know how much you enjoyed it!
Amazing! My wife loved it! Going to try other recipes- 5 star!
Thanks so much, Nick!
In your directions I don’t see where you add the peanuts. I assume last step to simply add on top.
Yes, thanks for catching that!
I tried this today and it was delicious!
I added a little bit of hoisoin sauce 🙂
Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it, Cathy!
That is the best Pad Thai Recipe ever. So so good!
Thank you so much, Mindy!
Hi Sabrina – I run a travel blog and ran a poll on which country my followers would like to go to Thailand or France – Thailand won by a landslide, so I decided to make a Thai dish for tomorrow and I’m excited as heck. This looks delicious!!
just made this for dinner and it’s delicious!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I have to make this for dinner soon! Looks delicious!
I love easy and quick dinners! And this one looks just wow!
This looks really good! I’d definitely try this for weeknights!
This looks so good and sounds easy to make!! Definitely will try soon!
Cutting the chicken that way is so smart! I love that it makes it such a fast dish to put together!
One of my most favorite take out dishes, can’t wait to give it a try.