If you are one that LOVES Thai food as much as I do, a good Pad Thai Recipe with Chicken or Shrimp is a must have. I’ve tweaked and tried different recipes, and this is the result. I can’t imagine you’ll be disappointed. If you need more ideas for a fabulous Thai dinner, you will also want to try my Thai pad kee mao drunken noodles and my panang curry.

What is Pad Thai?

When looking at a Thai menu, when you see the word “pad,” you know it is a noodle dish. Pad thai is listed at number five on a list of “World’s 50 most delicious foods” readers’ poll compiled by CNN Go in 2011. It is probably the most ordered item on an American Thai Restaurant. You could look at it as a gateway to Thai cuisine.

Here is how it is described on Wikipedia, “Pad thai is made with soaked dried rice noodles, which are stir-fried with eggs and chopped firm tofu, and is flavored with tamarind pulp, fish sauce, dried shrimp, garlic or shallots, red chili pepper and palm sugar and served with lime wedges and often chopped roasted peanuts.”

* Affiliate links provided for your convenience. Anything you purchase through these links helps to support Meaningful Mama and the free resources I provide. Thank you for choosing to support us.

This recipe can be made fairly quickly, which is nice. You might be a busy mom like me, so I love recipes that cook rapidly. Most ingredients can be found in a everyday grocery store also. The only one that would probably require an asian store visit would be the tamarind paste. Once you have that, however, you will have enough to make Pad Thai Recipe with Chicken or Shrimp over and over again.

With cooking, I love to prep everything, and this one is easy. You’ll have to measure a few items, but the only thing to really prep is cutting the chicken or de-shelling the shrimp, shredding the carrots, slicing the green onions and chopping the garlic and peanuts. Shredding carrots is easy with this tool. Chopping garlic and peanuts is easy with this tool.

Ingredients Needed to Make Pad Thai Recipe with Chicken or Shrimp

10 oz fresh or packaged Thai style rice noodles
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces or shrimp
2 Tbsp tamarind paste
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 cup chicken broth
1/4-3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic
2 eggs
3 green onions, sliced
1 cups shredded carrots
1 cups bean sprouts
1/4 cup crushed peanuts
2 limes, quartered
parsley

How to Make Pad Thai Recipe with Chicken or Shrimp

If noodles are not fresh noodles, follow package directions to either soak or boil until soft but not mushy.
For sauce, combine tamarind paste, rice vinegar, fish sauce, brown sugar, and chicken broth in a pot. Bring to a boil.
Simmer until the sauce thickens.
Heat the wok or large heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Add oil.
When to temperature, add garlic.
After 30 seconds, add chicken and sauté until brown. Remove and set aside.
Add eggs to pan, and scramble them until just done.
Add red pepper flakes, green onions, carrots, and bean sprouts. Stir-fry until tender.
Toss in the noodles, chicken and thickened sauce. Stir until sauce is absorbed and noodles are well coated, about one minute.
Garnish with chopped peanuts, lime wedges and parsley.

Here’s the recipe in an easy printable version: