Chicken Pad Thai
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Rave reviews have been pouring in for years for this better-than-take-out Chicken Pad Thai. It’s a quick-and-easy family favorite ready in just 30 minutes!
If you love this better-than-takeout Chicken Pad Thai, you’ll love Sticky Chinese Lemon Chicken, Best Fried Rice, Sheet Pan Sweet Fire Chicken, and Slow Cooker Broccoli Beef too!
I always thought that I preferred lo-mein over other Asian noodle dishes, until the day I tried Pad Thai. Where had this heavenly dish been all of my life? When I met my husband, I was overjoyed to find out he was a Pad Thai lover as well — a match made in heaven!
I’ve made this dish with shrimp before (Best Pad Thai Recipe with Peanut Sauce,) which is a pretty common way of serving it. Sometimes though, you just don’t have shrimp on hand so chicken comes to the rescue. Which is pretty much exactly what happened when I made this chicken pad Thai. The result? Big. Fat. Success. My husband raved about it!
Why This Recipe Works
This Chicken Pad Thai recipe has been bringing in rave reviews for years, let me tell you why.
- Minimal prep time: Just boil the noodles, cook the chicken, whisk together the sauce, and throw everything in a pan. Bata-bing-bata-boom! Dinner is served.
- Simple-to-find ingredients: Even the rice noodles can be found at just about every grocery store chain. Look in the Asian or international section if you’re not sure where to find them.
- Easy to customize: No bean sprouts? No problem, use shredded cabbage or finely chopped broccoli — get creative with what you have on hand.
- Vegetarian adaptable: Easy to make vegetarian but substituting tofu for chicken — just as easy and tasty!
Here’s How You Make It
1. Season the chicken pieces all over with salt and pepper.
2. Add the chicken to a large wok or pan over medium heat, stirring until all the pieces are cooked through, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer chicken to a bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce and put them aside also.
4. Go back to your wok or pan and crack the eggs into the pan and let them fry for about one minute, then start to break them up with a spoon, adding in the white onions and bean sprouts.
5. Add the chicken and the sauce into the wok with the eggs and veggies.
6. Then, add the cooked noodles. Toss to coat everything all together.
7. Stir in green onions and cilantro, add peanuts (optional), and serve!
Frequently Asked Questions
This Thai street food dish is primarily made with small pieces of cooked chicken, eggs, rice, noodles, an assortment of veggies and seasonings. Then it’s all tossed in a sweet and savory sauce.
My sauce is made with ketchup, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, peanut butter, and lime.
I hate to say it, but a lot of Asian foods purchased at restaurants aren’t going to win any awards for being the healthiest meal options. But, that’s why I like to make these dishes at home, because I can control the amount of unhealthy oils and fats that go into cooking them. And, they taste just as delicious as take out.
I use very little oil, sugar, and sodium in my sauce.
This Thai dish has just about all the flavors — salty, sweet, sour, and even a bit fermented. There are probably just as many recipes for pad Thai as there are many Asian dishes, so experiment until you find one that you love.
Expert Tips
- Prepare the chicken ahead of time and go ahead and cut it into small pieces before cooking. This will ensure it cooks up much faster and also makes sure every piece is just as flavorful as the one before it. If you cooked the chicken breasts whole, then cut them up, this dish wouldn’t be nearly as tasty. And it would take longer to cook, negating any time you would have saved by not cutting it up in the first place.
- I recommend cooking in a wok because you get more even cooking, and you can fill up the pan with all the ingredients more easily. You can also serve right out of the wok. A large pan will work too, but make sure it has higher sides if possible, so the ingredients don’t spill out.
- Flat rice noodles work best in this dish, but if you don’t have them, fettuccine pasta will work too. Make sure to only cook them to al dente and don’t overcook or they will become chewy and clumpy.
- There aren’t many (if any) substitutions that work for fish sauce. It’s such a distinct condiment and flavor, I suggest you do use it instead of skipping or substituting or the pad Thai just won’t taste right. Believe me — I’ve tried.
- Cilantro makes a great garnish but you can also use parsley or skip this step all together.
More Asian Inspired Recipes You’ll Love
- Mongolian Beef and Broccoli with Noodles
- Korean BBQ Chicken
- Chicken Chow Mein
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Pork Lo Mein
- Teriyaki Steak Stir Fry
Did you make this dish? Please rate the recipe below!
Chicken Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 8 ounces flat rice noodles , (found in the Asian section in most grocery stores – may sub fettuccine noodles in a pinch), cooked al dente according to package instructions
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, pounded to ½ inch thickness and chopped into bite-sized pieces
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
- ⅓ cup sliced green onions
- ¼ cup sliced white onions
- ⅓ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- optional: peanuts
Sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce , (found in the Asian section at most grocery stores)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon peanut butter
- juice of 1 lime
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook chicken in a large wok or pan over medium heat, stirring throughout until cooked through (about 6-8 minutes), transfer chicken to a bowl and set aside.
- Whisk together all sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Crack eggs over preheated pan (where you cooked the chicken) and allow to fry for a bout a minute ,then break it up with a spoon and add the white onions and bean sprouts.
- Add chicken and sauce. Add noodles and toss to coat the noodles in the sauce.
- Stir in green onions and cilantro. Garnish with peanuts if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My husband loves pad thai but can’t have fish sauce. Is there any substitute? We’re huge fans of ur cooking! This looks amazing and I don’t want to miss out!!
Hi Talia, I have only tried this recipe with fish sauce. You might be able to skip the fish sauce? Maybe try hoisin sauce? I love hoisin sauce but be careful because it has a very strong flavor, you wouldn’t need very much. 🙂
This was delicious. I doubled the sauce ingredients though. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad I doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers. It’s delicious! I didn’t have quite enough ketchup, so I topped the measuring cup up with hoisin sauce and it worked out well. Is it just me, or do the leftovers taste even better the next day!? Thanks for this recipe.
I made this tonight and it was great! I smelled the sauce after I mixed it and it did not smell good. I was very pleasantly surprised by how delicious the final result was! Definitely adding it to my recipe book. Thanks for sharing!
I was skeptical when I saw ketchup on the ingredient list….but I made it anyways and I’m glad I did! This is delicious and it is just as good if not better than ordering takeout!
This is the best Pad Thai recipe! I’ve already made it a handful of times using this recipe and everyone just loves it. Adding lemon right before you eat it brings out the cilantro much more. Mmmmm mmmm mmmmm!!! Thought I’d leave a comment since I keep coming back to This recipe to make sure I havnt forgotten any ingredience for the sauce. Delicious! 5 stars!
Oh my goodness fresh lemon right at the end is genius – perfect! Thanks so much for commenting Maria, I’m thrilled that you like this recipe!!
My husband and I love this recipe!! We have made it several times and it is always delicious. We like to add about half a can of coconut milk to the sauce which adds a really tasty flavour to an already excellent recipe! Thanks!!
Ooh, I definitely have to try that because I love coconut milk in my Asian dishes!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I made this last night for a quick Friday night meal as I was craving pad thai. It was a big success with the boyfriend too! In fact, I’ll be making it again tonight but this time with tofu. Thanks again! 🙂
I just made this for dinner! It was perfect for my craving for thai food, and as a light dinner. 4 of us sharing 1 chicken breast seemed like a pretty small meal, but it was great!
Thanks!
The sugar ingredient doesn’t specify – white or brown? Does it matter?
Hi Ashley, On my site I always use “sugar” for white sugar and “brown sugar” when appropriate!