The Weeknight Kitchen · Asian

Simple Pad Thai

Name: Simple Pad Thai
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 280 g flat rice noodles; 340 g shrimp, chicken, or firm tofu; 3 eggs; 60 ml fish sauce; 45 ml tamarind paste; 30 g brown sugar; 30 ml oyster sauce; 30 ml neutral oil; 3 garlic cloves; 2 shallots; 120 g bean sprouts; Lime wedges, roasted peanuts, chili flakes, sliced scallions to serve

Streamlined pad Thai with proper balance — fish sauce, lime, sugar, and peanuts doing their jobs.

40 min total 30 min soak inactive

Spoon cost

Time ●○○○○ Anytime

Gluten-Free

Servingsamounts scale to match

Units

Ingredients

Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 30 minutes — don't boil them. They finish cooking in the wok and won't get mushy.

Method

Cook's notes

Tamarind is the authentic acid — tamarind paste is sold in the Asian aisle or international grocery (Tamicon brand, ~$4). The ketchup-lime backup works in a pinch but the flavor is different.

Fish sauce + lime + sugar is the flavor balance — taste the sauce before cooking and adjust: more fish sauce for salt, more lime for tang, more sugar to mellow.

Soaking NOT boiling the noodles keeps them from turning mushy when they hit the hot wok.

Prep everything before the wok goes on — this moves fast. Have your serving bowl right there.

Easier, if you like

Use A Taste of Thai Pad Thai Sauce (in the Asian foods aisle, ~$3) — skip making the sauce and use this directly. Still add a squeeze of fresh lime when serving.

GF as written; adaptable to vegetarian and vegan

Gluten-free: already GF (rice noodles + fish sauce); check the oyster sauce label or use a GF oyster sauce.

Vegetarian: firm tofu for protein; mushroom oyster sauce; omit fish sauce and use 2 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp lime juice instead.

Vegan: same as vegetarian, plus vegan fish sauce (sold at Asian grocery stores or online).