Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Pad Thai
Stir-fried rice noodles in a sweet-sour tamarind sauce with tofu, shrimp, egg, and crushed peanuts, Thailand's global icon.
Thai · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 15 min
~776 cal · 44g protein · 76g carbs · 37g fat · 6g fiber · 14g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Pad Thai is Thailand's most famous dish abroad, though it is genuinely a beloved everyday street food at home, promoted to national status in the mid-20th century as part of a campaign to define Thai identity through the noodle. It balances the four Thai flavour pillars in one plate.
Thin rice noodles are stir-fried hard and fast with a sauce of (sour), palm sugar (sweet), and (salty), then tumbled with tofu, shrimp, egg, garlic chives, and bean sprouts. It is finished with crushed roasted peanuts, chili flakes, and a wedge of lime to squeeze over, each eater adjusting the balance to taste.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
10 oz flat rice noodles
8 oz firm tofu, cubed
8 oz shrimp
2 eggs
3 tbsp
3 tbsp paste
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tbsp preserved salted radish (chai po), rinsed and chopped
1/4 cup dried shrimp, ground to a coarse powder
1 tsp, to taste ground dried chili
1/3 cup
3 tbsp palm sugar
2 cups bean sprouts and garlic chives
1/3 cup roasted peanuts, crushed
1 lime lime wedges
Instructions
1
Soak the rice noodles until pliable. Mix the tamarind, palm sugar, and fish sauce into a sauce.
2
Fry the ground dried shrimp in oil until fragrant and crisp, then the garlic, then the shallots and the chopped salted radish, 30 seconds each.
✎ Chef’s note
These three are what separate a real pad Thai from a sweet noodle stir-fry: ground dried shrimp for depth, and preserved salted radish for a salty, pickled bite. Thailand registered pad Thai as cultural heritage in 2011, and the official description names both.
3
Add the tofu and fresh shrimp to the wok, push everything aside, and scramble in the eggs.
4
Add the drained noodles and the sauce and toss hard over high heat until the noodles absorb it.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the wok blazing hot and the noodles moving. Pad Thai should be dry-fried and a little smoky, never wet and clumpy.
5
Toss through the bean sprouts and chives, then serve topped with crushed peanuts, ground chili, and lime.
✎ Chef’s note
The three flavours are sour, salty and sweet, from tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar. Each eater adjusts the balance at the table with chili, peanuts and lime.
Thai street-food tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bangkok (Central). Bangkok's Chinatown is as old as the city. When Rama I moved the palace in 1782 the Teochew community was resettled at Sampheng, and what grew from that is now the Yaowarat area, one of the largest Chinatowns anywhere. Much of what reads as Thai street food, the noodles, the braised pork, the rice porridge, came through those kitchens.
🗺️
Thailand. Thai cooking chases the balance of sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter in every dish, from fragrant coconut curries to fiery som tam salads and stir-fries fired in a screaming-hot wok. Fish sauce, lime, chili, and fresh herbs give it its unmistakable brightness.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Thailand
Pad Krapow Gai (Holy Basil Chicken)Bangkok's favorite one-plate meal: fiery minced chicken and holy basil over rice with a crispy fried egg.
Khao SoiChiang Mai’s coconut-curry noodles: soft egg noodles in golden broth, crowned with a crispy noodle nest.
Massaman CurryA mild, aromatic curry of beef, potatoes, and peanuts scented with cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise, Thailand’s gentlest, most fragrant curry.
Browse all Thailand recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Wok.
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
Make it a Thailand meal
Thai Iced TeaDrink
Mango Sticky RiceDessert
Pad Krapow Gai (Holy Basil Chicken)Dinner
Similar dishes from around the world
Nom Banh ChokCambodia
Penang Asam LaksaMalaysia
Katong LaksaSingapore
Chili Taiyo (Tinned Tuna Noodles)Solomon Islands
Marshallese Macaroni SaladMarshall Islands
Char Kway TeowMalaysia
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Pad Thai?
Stir-fried rice noodles in a sweet-sour tamarind sauce with tofu, shrimp, egg, and crushed peanuts, Thailand's global icon.
Where does Pad Thai come from?
Pad Thai is a Thai dish from Bangkok (Central), Thailand.
Can Pad Thai be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pad Thai recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pad Thai safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pad Thai take to make?
About 40 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.