Main dishes
Shrimp Pad Thai
Homemade pad thai with rice noodles, shrimp, egg and tamarind sauce, stir-fried in a wok in 10 minutes. Serves 4.
- Total time
- 55 min
- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Cuisine
- Thai
Ingredients
For the stir-fry
For the sauce
To serve
Method
Soak the noodles
Soak 200 g flat rice noodles in lukewarm tap water for 30 minutes, until they bend without breaking. Drain them.
Make the sauce
Mix 3 tablespoons tamarind paste, 45 ml fish sauce, 2 tablespoons palm sugar and 45 ml water until the sugar dissolves.
Prep the ingredients
Peel 250 g shrimp. Mince 3 garlic cloves and 1 shallot, cut 4 scallions into 4 cm pieces and chop 40 g roasted peanuts.
Stir-fry the shrimp
Heat a wok over high heat with 45 ml oil. Stir-fry the shallot and garlic for 20 seconds, add the shrimp and cook 1 ½ minutes, until pink. Push them to one side.
Cook the egg
In the empty space in the wok, scramble 2 eggs for 30 seconds.
Add noodles and sauce
Add the drained noodles and the sauce. Stir-fry 2 to 3 minutes, until they absorb the sauce and are tender. If they dry out, add a splash of water.
Add the sprouts
Off the heat, toss in half of 150 g bean sprouts and the scallions for 30 seconds.
Serve
Serve with the peanuts, the remaining sprouts, lime wedges and ½ teaspoon chili flakes.
The step photos are illustrative.
Notes
Nutrition facts
1 serving (1/4 of the recipe)
- Protein
- 22.5 g
- Carbohydrates
- 61 g
- Fat
- 18.4 g
- Sodium
- 1192 mg
Estimate per serving. Lime and chili flakes are not counted. Tamarind paste and palm sugar are calculated with reference values (raw tamarind and brown sugar). Sodium comes mostly from the fish sauce.
Reference source: USDA FoodData Central — SR Legacy (2018)
For general information only; it does not replace advice from a qualified health or nutrition professional.
About this recipe
Pad thai is a Thai stir-fry of flat rice noodles with shrimp, egg, bean sprouts and a sweet-and-sour sauce of tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar. The noodles soak for 30 minutes in lukewarm water; they are not boiled.
Stir-frying in a hot wok takes about 10 minutes. Serve with roasted peanuts, lime and chili flakes. It serves 4.
Frequently asked questions
What noodles do you use for pad thai?
Flat rice noodles about 5 mm wide. They are soaked in lukewarm water for about 30 minutes and not boiled.
Can you make pad thai without tamarind paste?
You can replace it with lime juice and a little more sugar, but the flavor will be less deep than with tamarind.
Why soak the noodles instead of boiling them?
They finish softening in the wok with the sauce. If you boil them first, they overcook and break when stir-fried.
