A Pad Thai Worth Making

Pad Thai without tamarind is like salsa without cilantro - just missing something. I added tamarind paste, cut down on the lime and bean sprouts a bit and kicked up the heat more. It came out great. I also didn't have a wok on hand so I cooked the chicken and garlic and green onions first, then removed them from the pan, cooked the eggs then added the noodles and sauce then added the chicken back in.

This recipe was excellent, but only after I followed the suggestions of several other reviewers: I used 1 T tamarind paste (because what is Pad Thai without tamarind?!) and also increased the amount of sauce. I was feeding four people so I doubled the whole recipe, but TRIPLED the sauce recipe and it came out perfect. I decreased the lime juice by 50% to account for tartness of tamarind, and didn't use as much fish sauce as the recipe called for. I omitted the oyster sauce (didn't have any) and used veggie bullion instead of chicken stock. I made other subs since I didn't have some of the veggies, and wanted to make it vegetarian: I used tofu in place of both the chicken and shrimp. I didn't have bean sprouts, but I DID have baby Bok Choy so I used that. And I used thinly sliced carrots. Other than that, I followed the recipe steps and amounts exactly and it made the best Pad Thai I've ever made (and I make Pad Thai often!). Excellent and very flexible recipe. Thanks!

I'm picky about my Pad Thai, and this was VERY GOOD! I thought it was a little heavy on the lime juice for my taste. It yeilded WAY more than 3 servings. I make a little extra of the sauce, about 25% more. I like alot of juice, and I like the noodles a little softer. Fantastic Recipe! I would recommend it to those that are picky about their Thai food!!!

This recipe is amazing. The v first time i made it, all my family and friends raved that it was better than all the thai restaurants. I did however add a lil tamarind juice to get the real pad thai flavor. It is only about 2 dollars in most stores. Just ask someone who works at the store where it is because it is hard to find on your own. I also reduced the fish sauce down a couple tablespoons and same with the lime juice because the tamarind has a sweet and sour taste to it already. I definetly suggest that you try this recipe. REVISED: So I have made this about 20 times by now and i think i have it perfected. First of all, if you are feeding a family of six, like mine, the recipe should be doubled. Also, I know this seems like overkill but I add a packet of pad thai seasoning to the liquid mixture and it makes the sauce just perfect. I also think it helps the sauce thicken up a little. The sauce packet should be near the asian sauces at the store and is usually like 1 dollar. I also suggest that you do not omit any ingredients. For example, the green onion, cilantro, and bean sprouts really make this pad thai worth making. I also add about 1/2 cup of brown sugar to the sauce and about triple the chili sauce because we love sweet and spicy food.

While I didn't follow this recipe to the letter I thought the basics of it were right on the mark. This is a delicious dish. Some changes I made: Instead of lime juice I now use "True Lime" packets. They work great. I also omitted the green onions since I didn't have any around. In stead I used what I had which included Asparagus, Spinach, Cabbage, Carrots. YUM! I sauteed the some onion for a bit and then added the other veggies. No chicken on hand so I went with shrimp that I had already cooked and frozen when it was cheap in the market. One other change I made... My husband and I love the peanut taste. I added nearly twice the sauce like other readers and then threw in about 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter for good measure. Try this recipe. It tastes like what you get in the Thai restaurants but 1/4 the price..and right now that's really important.

Considering how good this recipe was for the price and time it was a 5 star hands down. Great recipe. Next time I make it i'll add more vegetables and maybe some marinated mushrooms. Don't think about substituting the chile sauce it makes the dish.

This is reasonably tasty Pat Thai, but I felt it had a little bit of a Southwestern US thing going on which wasn't quite on the mark to me. It may have been because I used fresh limes and squeezed the juice in, but it seemed extra limey compared the kind I've usually gotten in Thai restaurants. I also feel that the cilantro is perhaps not the right herb to top this with, but I think restaurants perhaps use Thai basil, of if you can't find Thai basil, then regular basil. It's overall a decent dish, maybe not quite exactly right to me, though.

Loved it! Very happy to have a recipe for pad thai to make at home. I cut way down on the oil, which worked out fine, and used just 1 T of sriracha - I can't imagine how spicy it would be with more! Also didn't have any fish sauce, but just increased the oyster sauce and added some soy. Also didn't have (many other things), but put in diced tofu instead of shrimp. Tailor the recipe to your liking!

I added 1T Tamarind. Only 2T Lime juice.

It tasted a little too fishy. I wish I would of read the reviews before I made this, I would of added the tamarind. I probably wouldn't have used all that fish sauce either. But it is a good recipe to start with.

This was absolutely wonderful. Here were my modifications: 1T Tamarind paste instead of fish sauce. 1/2 of the lime juice, Tamari sauce instead of oyster sauce, added thinly sliced carrots, and doubled the sauce. I also boiled the noodles first, instead of the soaking method which can make rice noodles gummy. Will definately make this again.

This was really good. Gave it four stars because there needs to be more sauce in the recipe. Next time I will be doubling or tripling the sauce.

Ok I have now made this like a gazillion times. It is totally awesome. The only changes I made were to add tamarind paste and to double the sauce. Oh I also put in peanut butter. Everyone who has it wants more and the recipe.

I made this for my mom on Mother's Day and she loved it. It was very simple to make. I just added a little bit more sugar than suggested.

sorry, not recommended. I have concluded you have to be Thai to cook this dish. 1st it is not sweet, 2nd not very spicy (and according to the recipe you add to taste but the whole point is to cook it in for flavor thoroughness) , 3rd the sauce basically evaporates (it is not saucy). It is edible though so not a waste.

Very very good, but it needed a little something. I'll try adding tamarind apste next time, and there definitely will be a next time!!

I usually just run out to the Thai Restaurant when I need my chicken Pad Thai fix, this was my first time actually making it at home and I have to say I was pleased with the results. I didn't add the oyster sauce, peanuts or the shrimp, I did add an additional 8oz of diced chicken and cayenne pepper for spice and it turned out great, Will keep this recipe to try again.

I still needed to add ketchup and I wanted more spice rather than heat so I will add ginger next time. But a great recipe!

This recipe was a great recipe, but I did some of the suggestions from past reviewers as well as made few modifications of my own. I used half the lime juice, added 1 tbsp of tamarind paste, upped the sugar and reduced the oil. I also added a bit of ketchup, I know that's not a Thai ingredient but lots of restaurants use it and adds a nice balance of flavor. I left the chicken out and added small pieces of deep fried tofu instead. It turned out to be VERY close to the restaurant Pad Thai that I love!

This is tasty though not as good as the Pad Thai from restaurants and it's also on the salty side; you might want to try reduced-sodium chicken broth and soy sauce.

Yummy Yummy Yummy

I made this and I thought it was OK. Except it was SUPER salty. I did as some others suggested and doubled the sauce but I didn't add any extra anything.

Delicious! This was my first time making phad thai, and I was pleased. I took the suggestion of another reviewer and added tamarind paste (1 T). I also omitted the oyster sauce (didn't have it) and the shrimp (don't like it). Next time I will add a little more sugar to counteract the tartness of the tamarind. Oh, I also reduced the chili sauce just a bit as I am a bit wimpy with spice. With these changes, the recipe is nearly perfect. Four stars for an excellent recipe as written.

Pretty good, but quite bland. It was more like a regular stirfry.

This recipe is awesome. I followed it quite closely (my mistake buying lo mein noodles by accident) we cut back on the chile sauce for the sake of the kids. My teenager called it an "epic win". Need I say more?

you can make substitutions for the ingredients: white wine vinegar if you don't have limes ,regular onions for green onions, ground beef instead of shrimp and chicken, and still have a Pad Thai that turns out good. However, I think the fish sauce is a must. I always add a lot of ground peanuts and chopped cilantro. An authentic Pad Thai requires crushed red chiles. I substitute diced red bellpepper which I think makes it taste even better.

If I could give this a 0 I would! I did not care for this. I don't know if I prepared it wrong or what happened but it was not good.

Tons of flavor in this dish. I thought too much of it came from the fish sauce though. It was too strong for me. I had to double the chicken because I didn't have shrimp. This dish was fun to cook, but again the fish sauce was too strong for me.

it was definitely a pad thai worth making!

I thought it was good but a little bland. I added some curry powder, which made it more like singapore noodles, but it was still yummy. Easy to make and quick.

Made it with the suggestion of tamarind. Followed it nearly to the recipe except for using about 2 tablespoons of tamarind concentrate, 3 red thai chiles in addition to the sambal chili pepper sauce, and forgot to add the sugar. Added an extra egg, and used homemade chicken stock. I will def make again, and probably add tofu. Oh, you also don't have to measure the oil, just add enough to coat - it will not turn out greasy and will not be missed. Oh, I also found fresh rice noodles and so I just soaked them for about 5 min instead of 20. Perfection!

Perfect! Quick, easy and So yummy.

VERY tasty. If you don't have a wok, use big good quality dutch oven, otherewise you just end up steaming it all in their own juices. Next time I will increase the heat, double the sauce, and add chicken.

Sorry guys, but this is not good. I adjusted this as others suggested...added 1 tbsp tamarind, cut the lime juice in 1/2, made extra sauce...but truthfully, the sauce just isnt pad thai flavored...ended up very limey, spicy and sour. I threw mine out....pad thai should be delicately flavored...this doesnt have the right sugar, the lime overpowers, and the flavors are not the right blend.

I have made this about 10 times now, and here is what makes it perfect for me: no oyster sauce and a scant 3 TBSP fish sauce, add thin sliced carrots, add 2 TBSP minced ginger and add 1/4 cup peanut butter A staple in our household now!

Delicious! I did add some more oyster, lime and fish sauce as I found it a bit bland. I also used tofu instead of chicken. I will definitely use this recipe again. Fast, easy, healthy and hubby loved it!

Early warning.. This is one of those reviews where I didn't exactly follow the recipe. Rating it high anyway. Myself, my wife, and my daughter all LOVED it. There were a couple of servings left over but by the way my daughter acted, it won't be around for long. I used chicken bullion instead of stock and I completely cut the shrimp, fish stock, oyster sauce, and bean sprouts. But only because I couldn't find them at any of the local grocery stores. I will definitely make this again. Might add the shrimp next time, but the meal was substantial without it. . . .oh, and my wife and daughter both added a little bit more of the chili sauce to their servings. I didn't think it needed it.

I used tamarind paste (asian speciality store - it is a soup base concentrate) and a lot less vegetable oil. Make sure not to oversoak the noodles otherwise it comes out a little gooey. Not awesome, but I gave it 4 stars for the quick easy dinner.

I did not care for this recipe. I'm not a professional cook by any means, but I can hold my own, and it was so BLAND. I don't know if I did something wrong or not but I followed the recipe to the letter. I've never written a review before but felt I had to this time to let other people know, don't make this or kick it up quite a few notches if you do!

This is the best Pad Thai I have ever eaten. Authentic, wonderful. I did, however, add Hoisen Sauce as suggested by reviewer (1tbl). Also, I doubled the eggs & omitted the chicken & fish. This makes it a really quick a easy dish & still has a lot of protein. Thank you for sharing your recipe! :)

Very good Thanks Iris Lady

Good flavor, but very expensive considering the amount and prices of the multiple condiments. More cost effective in a restaurant, but a successful base recipe.

I followed this recipe as per the directions. It was easy to prepare, flavorful, moderate heat. Very enjoyable.

delish -- really liked the chili sauce in this. I used pork for the meat. I did add 2 tablespoons of tamarind sauce and a little peanut sauce. I didn't have any oyster sauce. Also used a little sesame oil with the vegetable oil. Served a simple green salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar first and then served the pad thai. Wonderful meal.

While this turned out to be a tasty dish, it did not have the true pad thai flavor that I craved.

AMAZING........

This was pretty simple to make and delicious. I cut the amount of chile pepper sauce in half (I have younger kids). They both liked it. I will be making this again, but I think I will use a little less oil.

Sorry but i did not care for this, my husband and son who will eat anything had a really hard time making it half way through..way to much fish sauce or something...but no thanks

This recipe is delicious! I agree with other reviewers that the ease and quickness of this recipe combined with the delicious taste makes for a 5 star recipe. I will definitely be keeping this one around. One note- soak the noodles for longer (maybe 40 min) then you won't have to add water and cook more. . . just don't soak for so long that they get soggy. Also, if you have a hard time finding the Sriracha sauce and are from the South, go to Food Lion. This is the only place I can find it!

This wasn't the best Pad Thai I have ever eaten but it was definitely better than Pad Thai I have had at a lot of restaurants. The only changes I made were to omit the chicken (forgot to defrost it), and I ended up adding a couple of tbsps of Pad Thai powder (bought it from a Thai grocer) because the sauce was a little too tart, plus the powder contains shrimp and lobster which gave it a little extra depth of flavor. Also, I really dislike the texture of rice noodles so I used extra thin angel hair pasta. Very good. Thanks, Fatty!

This was really good. I made the mistake of using no hot sauce so it was a little bland but after adding sauce post-cooking it was really good. The fresh limes made a difference. Overall, this is one of our new favorites, it was quick and easy.

Delicious! Made it for the first time today! Almost perfect but...i added a little less lime juice, more chili sauce, and a splash of soya!

A great Pad Thai recipe. I cut the fish sauce / oyster sauce in half, omit the shrimp (my wife doesn't like them) and add a little extra lime (since we really like that). Next time I make it I'll try the extra tamarind--that sounds good too.

My husband is Thai and this was not at all like the Pad Thai my mother in law makes. This was way too salty. I will try to make again with some modifications. Probably less fish sauce and just water instead of chicken stock. Will re-rate in the future with modified recipe.

This was very good. I would definatly make it again. Thanks for the recipe.

My husband and I got hooked on Thai food recently and we do not have many restaurants in our area so I decide to make it myself. This recipe was so good even our dinner guests commented that it was just like what a professional Thai cook would make. Thank you for sharing!

Good recipe!

I am happy with result. I love the idea of extra lime - but I went too far. Next time less lime. Added 1 TBS tamarind paste. My chile sauce was too weak - needed more heat and depth. Did eggs in a separate pan. Used coconut oil. Skipped chicken stock which I will add next time. Added a peanut sauce from another post and tossed in at the end. Stores did not have the wide noodles so the owner of a Thai food stand gave me a huge bag of noodles! They were presoaked but needed more soak. Microwaved them in water a few minutes at a time to get the right al dente. Restaurants get different noodles. This is a dish to keep experimenting with - a lifetime qwest. I have had pad thai in Thailand and all over the Portland Oregon area. I like how they make it here better. Experiment sliced Kefir lime leaves - which I think is one of the most distinctively thai flavors. Plain raw peanuts can be hard to find. I found a peanut butter machine in the health food section and took some out of the top.

Delish!

Wow, this IS a Pad Thai worth making. I followed the recipe to the letter except for adding the eggs and chicken (used only shrimp for the protein) and it came out incredibly tasty. Best of all, it had very little oil, so very little fat. Everyone who ate it, (8 people ranging from age 11 to 55) LOVED it.

Best pad thai recipe I've tried making - but definitely needs more kick. I tripled the amount of chile sauce and substituted hoisin sauce for oyster sauce since I didn't have any - turned out great!

Very tasty and easy to make.

This is pretty tasty...I used shrimp and tofu (instead of chicken). No other changes. Pretty easy and straightforward recipe.

Ahhh this isn't working at all. I wish I would have boiled the noodles first. Now I had to add this liquid to the main dish to cook up the noodles with the meat.

Just like the restaurant

My first time making Pad Thai and a very straight-forward and deicious recipe to follow. Needed a bit more spice, but easy to add after! Great with chicken skewers and peanut sauce.

Love this recipe.

This is the best Pad Thai recipe I've ever tasted! I didn't have shrimp so just used chicken and added a bit of tamarind paste, other then that followed recipe to the tee! I now make a double batch cause there's never any leftovers!

Very good. We have moved to a town that does not have a Thai restaurant. This is a good substitution. I used half the spice but barely noticed the heat. I will decrease the lime and increase the pepper sauce next time I make this meal. Thanks.

Good recipe but definitely not like the restaurants. I think it was missing the tamarind like most reviews said. I also miss the peanut taste so at the end I added 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter and I think that helped the dish a lot.

I love pad thai and I was determined to find the best recipe possible. I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe. It is a great base for pad thai with options to tweak it as you like. I like the peanut flavor, so I added 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter to the sauce when cooking and it was outstanding. Also, given my new budget constraints, I used what I had on hand, so I had to replace the oyster sauce with soy, which turned out fine, but next time will reduce soy to 1 Tbsp. only. Thanks for sharing!

This was delicious! Thank you!

This was very good, my husband and son loved it. I used it as a side dish with chicken satay so it was alot more than 3 servings. That was ok becaused it was even better reheated. I did not add lime and I only used shrimp because had a chicken dish with it. Will make this again.

Very Good. Pad Thai is one of my favorite dishes...(and it's ALWAYS been served with cilantro and lime).

Overall good recipe, made it as written, but with fewer sprouts, we don't like them that much. We also found the lime flavor a bit strong, but adding more chili sauce did even it out. Next time I would use half the amount of lime juice. Also, I'd say the yield was more like 5-6 servings.

This was good. I didn't have oyster sauce, so I subbed some stir-fry sauce. I left the meat out and skipped the peanuts. I didn't cook the noodles quite long enough, but that was my own fault. We enjoyed this- I served it with some eggrolls and it made for a great dinner. Thanks for sharing!

My husband judges a Thai restaurant by their Pad Thai recipe so I was hesitant to try this on him. However, he gave it a good review and I've made it a bunch of times. I am not a fan of chicken so I use shrimp and tofu and double the sauce. It's perfect for us. I adjust the heat for days my kids are eating it with us and they love it too.

This came out really well. We modified the recipe by double the amount of shrimp and not using chicken. We also did one with tofu that came out very well.

Delish

Way too much fish sauce for this recipe. One tablespoon would have been plenty. It's also missing some spice that can be tasted from authentic thai food. I think I'll try another recipe before I try tweeking this one. Something was just off.

This was OK... I had to add extra chicken stock to finish cooking the noodles so I think it diluted the flavor. The sauce tasted a little too fishy for me... Was just different from pad thai I am used to. Would probably make again and tweak the floavors to my liking.

I agree with the other reviews that it seemed like something was missing, but still very good. Nice and tangy!

Tastes like Thailand! I took the advice from earlier comments and added Tamarind sauce to the recipe and even taught my friends in Switzerland who missed some great Asian food!

Made as is- pretty darn good. Have made this dish before using sauce mixes, but I think i like this better. I do think I will increase the sauce next time.

I had to scale back on the spice for my family, and found the fish sauce too overpowering. However, the next day I had leftovers and added a bit more spice and found it more palatable

I made this as an all veggi dish. I made the sauce the same, but used tofu, broccoli, and mushrooms as a substitute for meat. The sauce had way too much lime juice. I think I will play with this recipe just a bit more. My husband loved it and said it was better than some restaurants' pad thai.

I really enjoyed making this. it was easy and i made it with a little less fish and hot sauce. all in all a very nice recipe.

Pretty good but it was missing something

I have fixed feelings over this one. I have never made Pad thai at home before. I have had it many times at Thai restaurants though. First off, I didn't have the oyster sauce and Asian chile sauce. I subbed w/ cocktail sauce (because I saw another recipe out here that used KETCHUP!) and Thai Red Curry paste, as that was all I had on hand. I doubled the sauce, and tasted it after making. It tasted too much like the cocktail sauce! I panicked. So, I threw in some sesame oil and soy sauce. That did the trick. Saved! Other than that, the noodles took way too long for me, as I was using leftover chicken, so this should have been a very quick recipe to put together. But, having to wait for the noodles to soften was a pain! Not a bad recipe, and I have plenty to have for lunch. I will make again. Thanks for the post Fatty!!

I followed the recipe exactly but found it a little bland. The lime was a little overpowering as well. Next time I'll follow the suggestions others have made.

Terrific! Ate it for 3 meals in a row.

This was so delicious! Thank you for sharing.

This recipe is easy and delicious. I made half of the recipe because hubs doesn't like pad thai at all, but I was craving it. It made enough for dinner last night and lunch today. My only complaint with this recipe is that it seems a little heavy on the fish sauce. The flavor is good, but it's overwhelming as far as the smell goes, and that's a bit distracting. I had replaced a bit of the lime juice for tamarind nectar (which is located with the cans of other nectars in the ethnic aisle of the grocery store, if you can't find paste), but I think I will keep playing with the ratios of tamarind nectar, lime juice and fish sauce to find the right balance. I couldn't decide whether to use sweet chili sauce or sriracha -- I went with sweet chili sauce, but may also play with the heat next time.

This recipe IS really worth making! :) I made as written, except with a few changes. First, I could not find oyster sauce, so I just omited that. Second, my bf does not like anything spicy, so I didn't add the chili sauce either (I just used spicy sauce on mine). Also, between going to two stores, they only had 3 packs of bean sprouts (8 oz. I think) and 2 looked bad, so I only bought one, but next time I will definitely add more. I did not add shrimp. I made as written, and it came out so good. My bf ate all his and said it was as good as a Thai restaurant! I will be making this again.

Tasty!

This is my go-to recipe for Pad Thai although I've made a couple of minor adjustments. The noodles need to soak longer than 20 minutes or you will end up with chewy, stuck together noodles. I pour boiling water over them and let them set 30-40 minutes. I do not use white sugar. It does not help at all. Use 2 tbsp brown instead and if it's still too salty for you (the fish sauce is super salty) add more and maybe more oyster sauce. The recipe says to divide the chili paste but never says where to add it in after the 2 tbsp to the sauce. I like mine spicy so I add it all in to the sauce. Family love this one!

Excellent, I like a lot of sauce, so I doubled the sauce, substituted broccoli slaw for bean sprouts (which I can't get here). It was a tad salty, I may cut a little fish sauce next time, but overall simply excellent, my husband raved! I used a lot of crushed peanuts and cilantro.

This recipe was lacking a ton of flavor

We followed the recommendation to add the tamarind and cut down the lime juice and it was fabulous! Thanks for the suggestions and recipe. It's now one of our favorites