Chicken Pad Thai Recipe – Just Like in Thailand

Pad Thai is undoubtedly one of the best-known Thai dishes in the world. Yet behind this seemingly simple stir-fried noodle dish lies a recipe far more subtle than it appears. In Thailand, a good Pad Thai is light, not overly saucy, and perfectly balanced between tamarind, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime. After living in Thailand for several years and tasting hundreds of different versions—each cook has their own way of preparing this great Thai classic—I’m sharing the recipe I make at home.

Des pad thaiI’ve eaten hundreds of plates of Pad Thai

When you’re European and enjoy eating all kinds of different food, living on a tiny remote island with no supermarket or international restaurants isn’t always easy. It means eating rice at every meal. Trust me, after two weeks of that, you start dreaming of mashed potatoes, any kind of sandwich, or even a bowl of plain pasta. But, of course, none of those things were available on my island!
The closest thing to a pasta dish—and one that doesn’t involve eating yet another bowl of rice—is Pad Thai. It’s inexpensive, quick to prepare, delicious and, most importantly, it isn’t a plate of rice. Plenty of good reasons for it to end up in my stomach!

The “one and only authentic” Pad Thai recipe

Pad Thai is the kind of dish you can eat for 50 baht at a street-side restaurant—although it generally costs between 40 and 100 baht.. To create this recipe, I did my research: I studied my Thai cookbooks, asked Google to reveal “the real authentic recipe” and questioned my neighbours… Well, none of that helped very much. There are as many Pad Thai recipes as there are cooks!

The one true authentic recipe is a myth. In all the restaurants I’ve visited here, I’ve never eaten the same Pad Thai twice: both the flavours and the ingredients vary considerably.
So, after plenty of experimenting, I can proudly share what I consider the best Pad Thai recipe—the way I like to eat it:
- with tofu and bean sprouts,
- made with spring onions rather than Chinese chives, also known as garlic chives;
- with vegetables : such as carrots and cabbage;
- with a tamarind sauce that isn’t overly sweet;
- with noodles that are just cooked through, never soft or mushy.
Of course, feel free to add or leave out whatever you like!

Pad Thai sauce: the secret to a perfect Pad Thai

The key to a delicious Pad Thai is, first and foremost, the sauce. Homemade tamarind sauce is incredibly easy to make. You can even prepare a large batch and store it in the fridge or freezer, so you always have some on hand.
Important: Pad Thai is not a saucy dish. The sauce acts as a seasoning, coating the noodles as they cook. By the end of cooking, it should be completely absorbed by the rice noodles..

How to adjust the sauce to your taste

The acidity of tamarind can vary considerably depending on its origin or the brand of concentrate you use. It is therefore important to taste the sauce and make sure the sour, salty and sweet flavours are properly balanced. If your sauce is too sour, add a little more sugar to balance the tamarind. If it tastes bland, add some fish sauce and a touch of sugar to enhance the flavours. If it is too sweet for your taste, add more tamarind.

🌿 Tamarind: the ingredient that gives Pad Thai its distinctive flavour

Tamarind is one of the essential ingredients in Pad Thai sauce. Its pulp provides a mild, slightly fruity acidity that perfectly balances the saltiness of the fish sauce and the sweetness of the palm sugar. This subtle balance of sour, salty and sweet flavours is what makes a good Pad Thai so delicious.

Unlike lime, which is added just before eating, tamarind is incorporated directly into the sauce and flavours the noodles while they cook. Its distinctive taste cannot truly be replicated with vinegar or lemon juice, although these substitutes are sometimes suggested.

💡 My tip: Use good-quality tamarind pulp or tamarind paste with no added sugar. Some brands are highly concentrated, while others have a thinner consistency, so adjust the amount according to their strength and always taste the sauce before pouring it into the wok.

Homemade tamarind concentrate

Tamarind is often sold as a block of compressed fruit pulp, which also contains the seeds. To prepare it, pour a little hot water over the pulp and leave it to soak for a few minutes. Mix thoroughly, then strain the mixture to collect the tamarind purée, discarding the seeds. You can refer to this post for detailed instructions on preparing tamarind for the sauce.
Ready-made tamarind concentrate is also available in jars or frozen in some supermarkets. Be careful not to use too much, as it can be very concentrated. Pad Thai sauce should be only slightly tangy.

🌴 Palm sugar: much more than just sweetness

Palm sugar is another essential ingredient in Pad Thai sauce. Unlike white sugar, it does more than simply sweeten the dish: it brings delicate caramel and honey notes that soften the acidity of the tamarind and balance the saltiness of the fish sauce.

In Thailand, palm sugar is traditionally made from the sap of palm flowers. Its flavour is more complex and less sharp than white sugar, resulting in a smoother, more harmonious sauce.

💡 My tip: Choose genuine Thai palm sugar, sold in discs or as a paste. It is often quite firm, so simply grate it or cut it into small pieces to help it dissolve more quickly in the sauce. If you cannot find any, coconut sugar is a good alternative, although its flavour is slightly different.

Which noodles should you use for Pad Thai?

Choose flat rice noodles approximately 2–3 mm wide Round noodles are not suitable for this dish. These flat noodles are available either fresh—I find them at my village market—or dried. I imagine fresh noodlesare difficult to find in Europe. Here, oddly enough, it’s the dried ones I can’t find!
To rehydrate dried noodles, soak them in cold water for approximately 15 minutes. Whatever the instructions on the packet say, ignore them! It is important not to precook or blanch the noodles, otherwise your Pad Thai will end up soft and sticky. Do not soak them for too long: 15–20 minutes should be enough. They are ready when you can bend them without breaking them.

Tofu 

Choose extra-firm tofu—the yellow variety is perfect for Pad Thai, although any firm tofu will work. I like my tofu crispy on the outside, so I fry it in a little oil before adding it to the dish.

My trick for making things easier

The most important thing to get right is cooking the noodles. There is nothing worse than Pad Thai made with overcooked noodles or noodles swimming in too much liquid. Here, everything is traditionally cooked in a wok. First the noodles, then the meat or prawns, followed by the eggs and finally the vegetables.
You need to be a real wok expert to manage the timing so that every ingredient is perfectly cooked without being overdone. 

It’s incredibly stressful! You need a gigantic pan to stop everything from flying over the sides, and if you’re cooking for several people, you need serious muscles to toss it all together. Needless to say, I’m no wok expert. For this kind of dish, I much prefer my non-stick frying pan, which also requires less oil.
So I developed my own method for stir-fried noodles and fried rice: I cook all the ingredients separately, one after another, taking my time. At the end, I return everything to the pan and mix it together thoroughly. This usually prompts a barrage of comments from Nan, but even he has admitted that the finished dish tastes no different from one cooked entirely in the wok. For this recipe, I recommend doing as I do and cooking the ingredients separately.

Mistakes to avoid when making Pad Thai

❌ Cooking the noodles like pasta

There is no need to cook rice noodles in boiling water. It is better to soak them in cold water for 15 minutes to soften them, then cook them directly in the wok using the moisture from the sauce.

❌ Using too much sauce

As with risotto, the noodles need to absorb the liquid from the sauce. Pad Thai is not a saucy noodle dish—it is a flavourful stir-fried noodle dish.

❌ Cooking the noodles for too long

Rice noodles can quickly become soft, sticky and mushy when overcooked. Watch them carefully and serve as soon as they are tender.

❌ Forgetting the lime

Lime juice adds another dimension to the dish and brings plenty of freshness. Serve a few lime wedges at the table—or directly on each plate—so everyone can add as much as they like.

Frequently Asked Questions about Pad Thai

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