Shrimp Pad Thai. Chewy rice noodles fried with jumbo shrimp, tofu and eggs with vegetables in a savory, sweet and tangy sauce. Ready in 30 minutes!
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What is Shrimp Pad Thai?
Shrimp Pad Thai is a popular Thai dish from Thailand. It's made of flat rice noodles stir fried over high heat in a wok with shrimp, tofu, eggs, garlic chives, bean sprouts, shallots, garlic in a delicious sweet, tangy, savory sauce. The sauce is made of tamarind, fish sauce, and palm sugar and it balances out the savory taste of the other ingredients. You'll often find this Thai dish served at many Thai restaurants or at food stands as street food.
Shrimp and tofu pad thai is one of my favourite noodle dishes ever. It's a great main dish I always order at the restaurant as I love that sweet and savory combination. But now you can easily make this Thai recipe at home.
Ingredients
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
Note: Your Asian grocery store will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
- Jumbo shrimp: peeled and deveined. I highly recommend purchasing the easy peel kind that has already been deveined to make things more swifter in the kitchen.
- Thin flat rice noodles: avoid using the wider flat rice noodles. The thin ones are about 0.5 millimetre wide.
- Firm tofu or Extra Firm tofu: I wouldn't suggest using medium or soft tofu as these will break easily in the pan.
- Eggs
- Mung bean sprouts: or substitute with soy bean sprouts if you can't find the mung bean version.
- Garlic chives: these are very long wide chives that are not the same as normal chives which are shorter.
- Shallot: shallots are commonly used in Thai cuisine over white onion. I highly recommend shallots if possible as they have a much sharper taste than white onions.
- Garlic
- Water
- Neutral oil: like vegetable oil, avocado oil or any scentless oil with a high smoke point.
- Lime: optional garnish
- Peanuts: optional garnish
Pad Thai Sauce
- Palm sugar: or sub with brown sugar
- Fish sauce: this isn't the same as soy sauce. It has a very deep umami taste. I highly recommend sourcing this key ingredient as it's very often used in Thai cooking.
- Water
Tamarind Concentrate
- Tamarind pulp: this usually comes in brown pulp block with tamarind seeds through out. You'll need to cut off a small piece of it to soak into the hot boiling water to create the tamarind extract or tamarind concentrate. This is the best way to create this concentrate and I highly recommend it over using store bought tamarind concentrate as it doesn't taste the same.
- Hot boiling water
How to make Shrimp Pad Thai
Chop Palm Sugar
Finely chop palm sugar into small pieces so you can easily dissolve it.
Make Tamarind Concentrate
To make your tamarind concentrate: submerge tamarind pulp in ⅓ cup hot boiling water. Allow for it to cool and then with your hands, squeeze and massage the pulp as best you can, until it dissolves in the water.
Strain Tamarind Liquid
Strain as much as the tamarind liquid through a fine sieve and discard the hard bits and seeds, reserving the liquid which is now your tamarind concentrate.
Combine Tamarind Concentrate with Sauce
Combine tamarind concentrate, fish sauce, palm sugar and water until sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
Soak Rice Noodles
Soak your rice noodles in hot boiling water for 2 minutes until limp but firm and strain. Set aside. Do not over soak the noodles!
Fry Shrimp
In a wok over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and your shrimp. Only fry until 50% cooked. Remove from heat and set aside. Do not fully cook the shrimp or they will dry out in the stir frying process later.
Fry Aromatics & Tofu
If needed, add another 1 tablespoon of oil. Fry shallots and garlic for 10 seconds. Add firm tofu and cook for 20-30 seconds. Be gentle when frying the tofu or it can break apart.
Toss Noodles & Sauce
Toss in rice noodles and sauce mixing everything together for 2-3 minutes. Taste your noodles to see if they're chewy at this point, if not add a 2-3 tablespoons of water to help cook them until they are.
Toss in Shrimp
Add shrimp, then push everything to the side.
Fry Eggs
If needed, add remaining oil into the empty space of wok followed by eggs. Scramble them first and then mix in with noodles.
Add Vegetables
Mix in bean sprouts and garlic chives for 10-20 seconds. Remove off heat. Do not overcook them as they will wilt with the residual heat anyway.
Serve & Enjoy
Optionally serve with limes and crushed peanuts. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Soak tamarind pulp in hot boiling water and then massage. This step is crucial to creating your concentrate. Allow it to soak for a few minutes until it’s warm to touch and then massage the pulp with your hands to squeeze out the pulp from the seeds. You can also use a fork if you don't want to dirty your hands but you won't be able to extract as much pulp.
- Use a fine sieve to extract the tamarind concentrate. Once your pulp has dissolved with the water, run it through a fine sieve to extract the concentrate and to remove the hard bits and seeds. This can be used for other purposes or composted.
- Do not over soak rice noodles. Just soak until they are limp but firm. It's always best to under soak the noodles versus over soaking them. You can always cook them for longer in the pan so they cook to your desired consistency.
Other Thai recipes you may like!
- Shrimp Pad See Ew
- Egg Pad See Ew
- Thai Glass Noodle Stir-Fry
- Thai Railway Fried Rice
- Thai Drunken Noodles
- Pad Woon Sen
📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Shrimp Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 10 jumbo shrimp deveined and your preference to leave it peeled or unpeeled
- 115 grams dried thin flat rice noodles
- 116 grams firm tofu cubed
- 2 eggs
- 1 ¼ cup bean sprouts
- ¾ cup garlic chives chopped into 1 inch length
- ½ shallot chopped
- 1 clove garlic roughly minced
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoon palm sugar
- 1.5 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3 tablespoon water
Tamarind Concentrate for Sauce
- 60 grams tamarind pulp
- ⅓ cup hot boiling water
Optional
- ½ lime garnish
- ¼ cup Peanuts crushed, for garnish
- 2-3 tablespoon water if needed to help cook noodles
Instructions
- Finely chop palm sugar.
- To make your tamarind concentrate: submerge tamarind pulp in ⅓ cup hot boiling water. Allow for it to cool and then with your hands, squeeze and massage the pulp as best you can, until it dissolves in the water. Strain as much as the tamarind liquid through a fine sieve and discard the hard bits and seeds, reserving the liquid which is now your tamarind concentrate.
- Combine tamarind concentrate, fish sauce, palm sugar and water until sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
- Soak your rice noodles in hot boiling water for 2 minutes (no more) until limp and strain immediately. Set aside.
- In a wok over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and your shrimp. Only fry until 50% cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.
- If needed, add another 1 tablespoon of oil. Fry shallots and garlic for 10 seconds.
- Add firm tofu and cook for 20-30 seconds.
- Toss in rice noodles and sauce mixing everything together for 2-3 minutes. Taste your noodles to see if they're chewy at this point, if not add a 2-3 tablespoons of water to help cook them until they are.
- Add shrimp, then push everything to the side. If needed, add remaining oil into the empty space of wok followed by eggs. Scramble them first and then mix in with noodles.
- Mix in bean sprouts and garlic chives for 10-20 seconds. Remove off heat.
- Optionally serve with limes and crushed peanuts. Enjoy!
Leanne
I’ve never made pad Thai at home. I appreciate that you’ve made this recipe easy to follow! I’ll have to try it some time!
Rosemary
Okay, I'm sorry to say that the last time I tried pad thai was back in like 2012 in NYC LOL!! I have to get them again soon hehe!
Leticia
I want to try this recipe, but, in the description, I don’t see when you put whisked eggs 😕
christieathome
Thanks so much for letting me know! I've added in the instructions for the eggs.