Chicken Pad Thai
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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.
The ketchUp really ruined this for us.
This might be a dumb question but for those who doubled the sauce, would you mind putting the measurements. I don’t want to mess this up when my boyfriend and i cook this together.
Just made THIS for dinner, absolutely a great recipe, thank you, we’ll done!!!
Happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe, Michael!
I have made this RECIPE for the last 2 years and it is still great! It’s my go to for pad thai! definitely a HIt!
I’m so excited to hear how much you enjoy this recipe, Katie! Thank you for feedback!
Last night I made your Salmon and Asparagus foil wrap; tonight I made the Chicken Pad Thai! This is *outrageously* easy to make and SO good. Both of these dishes have been to my “favorite Recipes!” list! Thanks!
Yessss! Two in a row! Super excited to hear that you have found a couple recipes here that you love, Jess! I’m coming over for dinner tonight 😉
Such a GReat recipe. Made this for my boyfriend Ans he Said “wow this actually Tastes like pad thaI” will be sure to make it again !!
Way to go, Laura!! Sounds like you nailed this one! Thanks for your feedback!
i have a boy that wont eat chicken! No chicken! I made this for the rest of us. I Did add tofu, bokchoy, and baby corn. Probably not as pad thai, but i was trying to add more protein and vegetBles. My picky teEn boy said i dont know what this is but its so good! Is this tofu! I love tofu! Who freakin knew?thanks again super easy and super delicious!
Way to go, Rachel! Isn’t it the best when you can please the pickiest of the picky eaters?! Especially with something simple!!! Thanks for stopping by!
I made this a couple weeks ago and really liked it. (I was so skeptical of the ketchup.) This was just like something I’d get at takeout, or better. I live in the middle of nowhere so being able to have Thai without driving 90 minutes is great.
I’m making it again tonight. All I can find are canned been sprouts, I hope they’re good.
Hi Meg! Trust me- you aren’t the only one who has been/will be skeptical of the ketchup! But as proven, it’s a total must for this recipe!! Thanks for your awesome feedback! I hope that it turned out just as great the second time around 😉
ACK! Part of my comment disappeared. I meant to say: I’ve made this 6 Weeks in a row, and I’m still not tired of it!
While it’s best with The Pad Thai noodles, last weeK I made it with veggie “NooDLES” (sweet potato and butternut squash) and it was still super delicious. Thanks for a fabulously delish recipe!
Oh my! I am so happy that you loved this dish enough to make it over and over!!! I bet it is super yummy with veggie noodles- I should give that a try!
Hi Tiffany! I’ve made this 6 Weeks in a row, and I’m still not tired of it!
While it’s best with The Pad Thai noodles last week (sweet potato and butternut squash) and it was still super delicious. Thanks for a fabulously delish recipe!