7 Recipes

Shrimp Pad Thai

Pad thai you can make at home — Better-Than-Takeout Shrimp Pad Thai, Chicken Pad Thai, Garlic Butter Shrimp Pad Thai, Veggie Pad Thai — for busy weeknights.

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★ dinner

dinner

Better-Than-Takeout Shrimp Pad Thai

A delicious and easy-to-make shrimp Pad Thai that rivals your favorite takeout. Perfectly seasoned shrimp, soft rice noodles, and a flavorful sauce come together for a satisfying meal.

30 min520 cal23 g proteinServes 411 saves

Ashley Saville

Ingredients

3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp tamarind paste (1 tbsp lime + 1 tbsp of brown sugar if you don’t have paste)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce or sriracha
8 oz rice noodles (Pad Thai-style, ¼” flat)
2 tbsp neutral oil (vegetable, avocado, or peanut)
2 eggs
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot or small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
3 green onions, sliced
¼ cup crushed peanuts
for garnish fresh cilantro
for garnish lime wedges
for serving chili crunch oil

Instructions

1Soak rice noodles in hot (not boiling) water for 20–30 minutes until soft but slightly chewy. Drain and set aside.
2In a small bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients until smooth. Set aside.
3Pat shrimp dry and toss with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and sear 1–2 minutes per side until pink and cooked through. Remove and set aside.
4Add another tbsp oil. Pour in eggs and gently scramble until just set. Push to the side of the pan.
5Add garlic, shallot (and ginger or veggies if using) to the pan. Stir-fry for 1–2 minutes until fragrant.
6Add soaked noodles and pour sauce over top. Toss well to coat and cook for 2–3 minutes until heated through and glossy.
7Return shrimp to the pan, add bean sprouts and green onions, and toss everything together.
8Plate and top with peanuts, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and a generous spoon of chili crunch oil.

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More to try

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Pad Thai with Chicken or Shrimp

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Better Than Takeout Garlic Butter Shrimp Pad Thai

620 cal30 min6 saves

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430 cal30 min22 saves

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Noodles Faster Than The Takeout Drive

Pad thai looks like restaurant food, but it's really just soaked noodles, a sweet-salty sauce, and whatever protein is in the fridge. Once you've made it twice, it comes together in the time it takes to boil water.

Cooks on Pepper reach for this collection on the nights the takeout order feels too expensive and too slow, when there's a bag of shrimp in the freezer and everybody's hungry at the same time.

Every recipe here is a full dinner in one skillet: Better-Than-Takeout Shrimp Pad Thai, Pad Thai with Chicken or Shrimp when you want a choice, Garlic Butter Shrimp Pad Thai for something richer, plus Chicken Pad Thai, a tamarind-based Pad Thai, and a Veggie Pad Thai.

Quick Tips

1
Soak the noodles, don't boil
Cover rice noodles with hot tap water for 15 to 20 minutes until bendy but still firm. They finish cooking in the sauce and won't turn to mush.
2
Mix the sauce first
Whisk the fish sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar or tamarind in a cup before you turn on the heat. Stir-frying moves too fast to measure mid-pan.
3
Cook shrimp 2 minutes
Give shrimp about 1 minute per side over high heat, until just pink, then pull them out and add them back at the end so they stay tender.
4
Scramble eggs to the side
Push the noodles to one edge of the skillet, crack the eggs into the bare spot, let them set 30 seconds, then toss everything together.