A quick and simple version of a Thai food classic, this Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai is packed full of flavour and takes just 20 minutes to make. Perfect for busy weeknights!
Quick and easy Chicken Pad Thai
Are you a fan of Chicken Pad Thai? Then you are going to love this Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai recipe – it’s so quick and easy to make!
All you need to do is mix together a simple Pad Thai sauce. Next you cook the noodles according to packet instructions / your own preferences. Meanwhile, stir fry red pepper and baby sweetcorn, before adding cooked chicken, mangetouts and beansprouts. Finally, add the drained noodles and sauce and stir to mix everything together, then garnish with spring onions, fresh coriander, salted peanuts and more beansprouts.
Not an ‘authentic’ recipe
I would be the first to admit that this Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai is not an authentic recipe…but it is, I hope you’ll agree, extremely delicious!
While my Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai is not perhaps the most authentic, I have tried to get the maximum flavour with the minimum amount of fuss… and without using any specialist / hard to find ingredients.
How I simplified the recipe…
I have made three key adaptations to make Chicken Pad Thai as easy as possible to make at home.
The first is the noodles. Here, I have used egg noodles rather than the more traditional rice noodles. This is partly because egg noodles are a little easier to work with, partly because egg noodles are a common store cupboard staple, and partly because I actually prefer the taste and texture of egg noodles… but if you want a more authentic Pad Thai, by all means use rice noodles instead of egg noodles.
The second is the Pad Thai sauce. An authentic Pad Thai Sauce contains tamarind. However, tamarind is not always easy to find in the supermarkets, can be fiddly to cook with (although tamarind puree makes things easier) and can be expensive. So I have instead used lime juice to get that citrussy, sour taste. Pad Thai sauce also traditionally contains quite a lot of sugar… Personally I do not like adding sugar to savoury foods, so I have omitted it. But if you want a more authentic flavour, I recommend adding 1 tablespoon of brown sugar to the Pad Thai Sauce.
And lastly, authentic Pad Thai recipes often include eggs and/or tofu. I have missed both of these out to make the recipe quicker and easier. But feel free to add either or both back in if you prefer a more authentic flavour.
Get everything prepped first!
Are you someone who likes to prep all the ingredients first and then cook? Or do you prep as you go along? I am usually in the second camp… however, not with this recipe! I strongly recommend you get everything prepped first, then do the cooking… This is because, once you start cooking, it’s a very fast recipe, and so you won’t have time to do any prep once you’ve started cooking.
Easy Adaptations
This Easy Peasy Pad Thai is very easy to adapt. You could…
- Use cooked prawns (shrimp) instead of, or as well as, the cooked chicken
- Use cooked beef or pork instead of the cooked chicken
- Omit the chicken and fish sauce to make this vegetarian / vegan
- Use different vegetables, such as mushrooms, carrots, broccoli or green beans
- Use fresh chilli instead of dried chilli flakes
- Omit the chilli altogether if you don’t like hot food (or add extra if you love chilli!)
What to serve with Chicken Pad Thai?
This delicious Thai noodle dish really is a meal in its own right. However, I like to serve Chicken Pad Thai with a side of my Easy Peasy Egg Fried Rice. If you’ve never tried this combo, you really should – the two dishes work brilliantly together!
Alternatively, this Easy Peasy Pad Thai would be a great partner to other Thai dishes such as Thai Massaman Beef Curry, Red Thai Curry or Green Thai Curry.
Easy Peasy Egg Fried Rice
What to drink with Chicken Pad Thai?
Chicken Pad Thai goes brilliantly with aromatic white wines, such as Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc.
What to do with leftover Pad Thai?
Pad Thai really is a dish best served fresh, so I don’t recommend you try and make this recipe ahead of time. In any case, it only takes 20 minutes to make – so it’s a great option on a busy weeknight.
If, however, you do end up with leftover Pad Thai, put your leftovers in a lidded container and place in the fridge, where they will keep for a couple of days. Either eat your leftovers cold or reheat them in the microwave until piping hot all the way through.
Can you freeze Pad Thai?
No. Pad Thai is not suitable for freezing.
If you like this recipe…
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Easy Peasy Chicken Pad Thai
Ingredients
Sauce
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes (or to taste – optional)
Pad Thai
- 2 nests medium egg noodles roughly 120g / 4oz (I use Sharwood’s medium egg noodles – see Note 1)
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil for stir frying (see Note 2)
- 1 red (bell) pepper sliced thinly lengthways
- 75 g baby sweetcorn halved lengthways (see Note 3)
- 360 g cooked chicken shredded (see Note 4)
- 100 g mangetout (see Note 3)
- 150 g beansprouts
Toppings
- 4 small spring onions (scallions) finely sliced
- 15 g fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves only
- A small handful of salted peanuts
- A small handful of uncooked beansprouts
Instructions
- Mix together all the ingredients for the pad thai sauce in a small jam jar, jug or bowl until well combined.
- Cook the noodles according to packet instructions / your own preferences and drain. (See Note 5.)
- Meanwhile, place the oil in a wok or large frying pan. Heat over a high heat for 1 minute, then add the sliced red pepper and baby sweetcorn. Stir fry for 1 minute.
- Add the cooked chicken, then stir fry for 1 more minute.
- Add the mangetouts and beansprouts and stir fry for 1 more minute.
- Finally, add the drained noodles and sauce and stir to mix everything together.
- Serve onto plates and garnish with the toppings. Alternatively, place the toppings on the table for everyone to add their own garnishes.
Notes
- Pad Thai is more traditionally served with rice noodles. If you want a more authentic Pad Thai, you can simply substitute with the same quantity of rice noodles.
- There are lots of options here – personally I use Tesco Stir Fry Oil, which is a blend of sunflower oil, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. But you can use sunflower oil, rapeseed/canola oil, peanut oil or any other neutral flavour oil. I don’t recommend coconut or olive oil, though.
- I use 1 x 175g mixed pack of Tesco Babycorn And Mangetout.
- I either use leftover roast chicken or, if I don’t have any leftover roast chicken, I use 2 x 180g packs of Tesco Ready To Eat Flamegrilled Chicken Chunks.
- If you cook your noodles right before adding them to the Pad Thai, you can add them straight in, but if you need to leave them hanging around for any length of time, I recommend stirring through 1 tablespoon sesame oil after draining to stop the noodles sticking to each other.
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