Pad See Ew is a Thai stir fry dish made with thick rice noodles, chicken, broccoli, egg, garlic and a sweet and savory soy based fish sauce.
It’s easy to make your favorite Thai Food recipes at home, including this Easy Pad Thai recipe and classic Thai Green Curry.
Thai food is one of our favorites! With just a few new ingredients in your pantry it can be a household favorite for you too. Pad See Ew is a delicious chewy rice noodle dish with authentic flavor, thanks to the garlic, soy, oyster, and fish sauces. The sauce caramelizes on the noodles because it also contains a little sugar, giving the dish a unique sweet and smokey flavor.
The bright, fresh flavors of Thai food include garlic, ginger, basil, and umami fish sauce. This recipe is a classic Thai rice noodle dish that you would find in any Thai restaurant, made with chicken, veggies, and broad rice noodles.
Once you start experimenting with these flavors and ingredients like fish sauce, dark soy sauce and oyster sauce, which is also an ingredient in this Favorite Fried Rice, you’ll see they aren’t as unusual as they may seem (or smell) individually. In fact the flavors of this Pad See Ew all come together to make a delicious stir fry sauce you’ll find yourself experimenting with for different recipes too.
This recipe makes an easy weeknight dinner in about 40 minutes. You’ll love serving these Thai Stir Fried Noodles with Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, Thai Shrimp Crunch Salad and Crab Rangoon. Don’t forget to put some chili garlic sauce on the table for anyone who wants to kick up the heat!
What is Pad See Ew?
Pad See Ew is a popular street food eaten in Thailand. It is also a common item on Thai restaurant menus. Pad See Ew is prepared by stir frying wide rice noodles with meat, commonly pork, and vegetables before adding a black soy sauce mixture. A little sugar makes the sweet soy sauce stick to the noodles and caramelizes them at the end of cooking. Pad See Ew Noodles, also called sen yai, are extra thick, flat rice noodles that are soaked before stir-frying.
How to Make Pad See Ew
Prepare Noodles: Soak the noodles for 30 minutes in cold water. You can also boil them in a pot of water for one minute and steep them in the hot water for five minutes before draining.
Cook Chicken: Cut the chicken into thin strips and toss with soy sauce. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil to the wok or large skillet on medium high heat. Sear the chicken on both sides for 2-3 minutes.
Prepare Sauce: While the chicken is cooking mix the sauce ingredients together. Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar together in a small bowl.
Stir Fry: Add in the egg to the skillet and chop it up with a spatula while cooking. Then add the garlic, broccoli and mushrooms with the remaining oil, cook on high heat before adding in the noodles and chicken. Cook the noodles until slightly crispy 2-3 minutes.
Add Sauce: Add in the sauce, toss well and let cook for another 1-2 minutes or until noodles caramelize a little.
More Thai Food Recipes
Baked Thai Peanut Salmon
Thai Beef Salad
Thai Curry Chicken Wings
Cold Thai Noodle Salad
Frequently Asked Questions
Fish sauce is a common ingredient in Asian cooking, especially Thai recipes. It is a liquid made from extracting salted fish, usually anchovies, krill, shrimp, or mackerel, and fermenting it for at least two years.
While oyster sauce and fish sauce both help to add a savory umami flavor to dishes, they are very different in how they are prepared. Oyster sauce cooks and extracts liquid from oysters and reduces it down, adding sugar, salt, and sometimes cornstarch to thicken it to a viscous consistency.
Light soy sauce is lighter in color, lower in sodium, and will not color the food that you are adding it to as deeply as dark soy sauce. If a recipe calls for light soy sauce, and you can’t specifically find it, a regular soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce can be used in its place. Dark soy sauce will be darker in color, stronger in sodium flavor and add a darker caramel color to the dish it is used in. Many recipes, like this one, use a combination of light and dark so that the savory soy sauce flavors are balanced and add enough color without overpowering the dish.
There’s no gluten in the rice noodles or many of the ingredients, but you have to ensure you are using tamari instead of soy sauce if you are trying to avoid gluten in your diet.
Pad See Ew sauce is made with fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar which is added to soaked wide, flat, rice noodles in a stir fry.
There are two schools of thought about rice noodles. Some people like the all soaking method where you soak in cold water for 30-45 minutes before draining. The second method is to boil them for one minute, steep for 5 minutes, then drain and rinse before adding to recipes. If you are in a rush then use the boil/steep and rinse because you can do that while cooking the rest of the ingredients in the wok. For this recipe we soaked the noodles in water until they went from translucent to white, which took about 30 minutes.
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Key Ingredients in Pad See Ew
- Rice Noodles: Look for wide rice noodles in your grocer’s international aisle. Dry rice noodles can be prepared by soaking them in cold water for 30-40 minutes or boiling them for 1 minute then steeping in the hot water for an additional 5 minutes. You can also sometimes find fresh rice noodles in a pouch. These do not require pre soaking or cooking before you stir fry them.
- Chicken: Because you are quickly searing the skinless chicken breast at a high heat, make sure you cut them into thin strips so that they cook evenly.
- Veggies: Broccoli adds a bright crunch to the chewy rice noodle dish, and mushrooms give it a delicious umami flavor that complements the sauce perfectly. Cut them into bite sized pieces to easily grab with chop sticks.
- Egg: Scrambled egg is a traditional addition to Thai noodle dishes. It adds protein, and soaks up the delicious stir fry sauce, blending into the rest of the flavorful dish.
- Stir Fry Sauce: Light and dark soy sauces, along with fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar, combine to make the perfect balance of salty and sweet stir fry sauce that makes this recipe taste authentic.
More Asian Noodle Recipes
Sesame Noodles
P.F. Chang’s Garlic Noodles (Copycat)
Chicken Pad Thai
Beef Chow Fun
Variations on Pad See Ew
- Noodles: Pad See Ew traditionally uses wide dried or fresh rice noodles, called sen yai. You can also make Thai rice noodle dishes with thinner Pad Thai rice noodles or wide egg noodles. Add even more fusion to your Asian cooking by using a different type of wheat noodle like lo mein, yakisoba, udon, or ramen noodles.
- Meat: Change up your choice of protein for some extra variation. Instead of chicken, try Pad See Ew with stir fried shrimp or thinly sliced flank steak. You can also use ground chicken, pork, beef or turkey for this stir fry dish.
- Tofu: Tofu makes a delicious substitute for meat in Vegetarian Pad See Ew. Press a firm tofu block and slice it into cubes. Toss the tofu in a little light soy sauce and dust with cornstarch before searing it in the wok. This will give it a nice crispy exterior and tender, chewy inside.
- Vegetables: Instead of regular broccoli, use Chinese broccoli or add your other favorite choice of veggies. You can use thinly sliced carrots, eggplant, bok choy, zucchini, onions, or bell peppers.
- Low Carb: If you are looking for a lightened up way of stir frying noodles, try using hearts of palm linguine or zucchini noodles instead of rice noodles in Pad See Ew.
How to Store Pad See Ew
- Serve: Do not leave Pad See Ew at room temperature longer than 2 hours.
- Store: Seal in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Freeze Pad See Ew up to 2 months. Defrost overnight before reheating in a skillet, adding a little soy sauce if needed.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces extra wide rice noodles
- 2 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 1/4 cup canola oil divided
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 egg scrambled
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
Instructions
- Soak the noodles for 30 minutes in cold water or boil them for one minute and steep them in the hot water for five minutes before draining.
- Cut the chicken into thin strips and toss with soy sauce.
- Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil to the wok or large skillet on medium high heat.
- Sear the chicken on both sides for 2-3 minutes.
- While the chicken is cooking add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce and sugar to a bowl and whisk them together.
- Add in the egg to the skillet and chop it up with a spatula while cooking.
- Add in the garlic, broccoli and mushrooms with the remaining oil.
- Cook on high heat before adding in the noodles and chicken.
- Cook the noodles until slightly crispy 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the sauce, toss well and let cook for another1-2 minutes or until noodles caramelize a little.
Nutrition
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Recipe doesn’t specify to use a separate skillet for the egg. Also doesn’t specify what to do with the 1 TBS sugar.
Awesome! I added a bit more sauce because I line it saucy but awesome! I am going to reduce the fish sauce next time as it was a little overpowering.
Thanks for the 5 stars, Shawnte.
I’d probably use either peanut or coconut oil as well and palm sugar.
Sorry but the directions are absolutely horrid. No mention of when or how to add the garlic or the sugar, and no mention to remove the cooked chicken from the wok even though later is says to add the chicken back to the wok!
So sorry about that – I mentioned in other comments but there is a glitch in the recipe card and it’s not showing all the sentences. Everything gets cooked together and you don’t need to removed the chicken. Hope this helps if you decide to try the recipe!
Hi – Recipe doesn’t mention what to do with the sugar. Also, can only assume you cook the chicken then remove it while cooking the egg & veggies? Not very clear.
Sorry about that! It looks like there was a glitch not showing half of the sentences in that recipe card. Everything gets cooked in the same skillet and goes together. Hope this helps!
where do i get it in the detroit area…pad see-ew
I’ve never commented on a recipe before, this new made me d it!!! It is just like a Thai dish I always get when going out for Thai food. The steps didn’t make sense but I put it all together and it was fantastic!!! Thank you
I’m glad you loved it so much that you wanted to come back and tell me.
I grew up in Thailand and this recipe is as authentic as it gets! Thanks!
Thanks for the 5 star rating, Jim!
Great site Sabrina! Can’t wait to try some of these recipes.
Wow ! I tried to cook the Pad See Ew. That was super super tasty my kids loved it ! I followed the way how it supposed to …step by step & it came out close just the way it tastes the one we ate at the Thai Restaurant…??
I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Amazingly easy and tasty! I had trouble with the noodles. I did the boil for a minute and let sit in hot water for 5 minute method. They all stuck especially when drained and were sitting for a while. They were also very mushy and never got crispy. Maybe I need to cook them separately.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Sorry to hear you had issues with the noodles. They really can’t sit for too long of a time. If they do, add more water to help stop them from sticking. Hope this helps for next time!
Hello. I don’t mean to be rude, but you should probably check the recipe again. It’s just a bit confusing. Like, am I supposed to cook the chicken with the egg? Are the veggies supposed to be cooked in a different pan, then you add the two together? When was I supposed to add the sugar?! I’m sorry, but these seem a bit important. Please fix. It was absolutly delicious, but there was alot of guess work involved.
It looks like there was a glitch not showing half of the sentences in that recipe card. Thanks for catching that! Everything gets cooked in the same skillet and goes together.
I’m so glad you enjoyd it!
This looks really good! My family loves stir-fried noodles!
It’s such a family friendly dish!
A friend hooked me on Pad See Ew years ago, and I am so excited to try this recipe at home!
It’s so good and now you don’t even need to go out for it anymore!
Those noodles (the entire recipe, actually) look amazing. I’ll have to give your recipe a try.
Enjoy!!
This looks like a fabulous changeup from a traditional stir fry!
Another delicious dinner that I must try!
Sounds amazing! Adding to the menu this week!
Enjoy!
I (try) to make many dishes like this. I am always disappointed with the taste, seemingly from the Dark Soy I use. I know there are about 50 variations of soy sauce. I use a bottle labeled ‘Dark Soy’ (Kimlan Lou Chau Soy Sauce) that I got from my local asian market, but it’s very thin, like regular soy sauce. It has a very pronounced taste.
My dishes never taste quite like the restaurants, so I’m left wondering if I’m using the wrong kind of ‘dark soy’. Any recommendations for brand/label?
Here’s a link to the brand that I use. https://amzn.to/2qgCgM8
Use healthy boy brand sweet soy sauce! it has a picture of a baby in red holding a soy bottle in his lap.