Shrimp Pad Thai is a healthy stir fry noodle bowl made with gluten free rice noodles, shrimp, and all the classic Thai flavors like ginger, garlic, lime, and cilantro ~ this meal beats take-out by a mile!
Don’t be afraid to make pad Thai at home!
Thai food can seem daunting if you’ve never attempted it in your own kitchen, but just like with so many ‘exotic’ cuisines, it’s mostly a matter of stocking your pantry with the right seasonings and condiments, the rest is pretty straightforward. Pad Thai is one of the simpler Thai recipes, so I recommend it as a starting point if you’re new to Thai cooking. For this Shrimp Pad Thai recipe there are really only 2 ingredients that are out of the ordinary:
- Rice noodles ~ rice noodles are traditional for pad Thai, you’ll find them in the Asian section of your market. Buy extra so you’ll have them on hand because trust me, you WILL be making this again! They cook up more quickly than pasta, and some of them need only a brief soak in hot water.
- Fish sauce ~ this is a fermented fish sauce that doesn’t taste great on its own, but adds an authentic touch to this dish. It’s right there along with the soy sauces in your store. The bottle will keep forever in your refrigerator.
TIP: I keep a section of my refrigerator door shelves dedicated to Asian condiments and sauces…that way I always know where they are, and I can access them easily. As your collection grows, so does your potential repertoire of authentic Asian dishes.
Prep all your ingredients ahead of time for pad Thai
I’ll cook the noodles, mix up the sauce, beat the eggs, and chop the veggies so all I have to do is orchestrate the stir frying. The shrimp goes in first, then the aromatics, the sauce, eggs, noodles, and toppings. Just make sure everything gets well tossed so all the noodles absorb those great flavors.
The nice thing about pad Thai is that you can eat it hot, warm, room temperature, or cold, and it’s wonderful all ways. The leftovers make a delicious packable lunch.
Shrimp is such a versatile base for quick and easy meals, check out all my shrimp recipes for lots of great inspiration. Some of my favorites are ~
- CHIMICHURRI SHRIMP ~ easy sauteed shrimp in a brilliant green herb sauce.
- SHRIMP SCAMPI FRA DIAVOLO ~ fiery shrimp with pasta based on an Italian classic.
- CREAMY SHRIMP BISQUE ~ this luxe soup is the prettiest pink color!
Shrimp Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 8 ounces rice noodles
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined
- 4 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 1 jalapeno or Serrano pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 small zucchini, shredded
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 packed cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
sauce
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 3 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
garnish
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, rough chopped
- a handful of fresh beansprouts, any type you can find
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Cook your noodles according to the package instructions. Set aside.
- Whisk together the sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large wok and saute the shrimp until it is cooked through. Remove the shrimp to a plate.
- Heat the rest of the oil in the wok and saute the garlic, ginger, and hot pepper for several minutes, stirring constantly. Add the zucchini and cook for 2-3 more minutes.
- Push the contents of the wok to one side to make room for the eggs. Add a touch more oil if necessary, and add the eggs. Scramble the eggs, stirring constantly, until they are just cooked through.
- Add the sauce to the pan, and heat it up, then add the noodles and shrimp to the pan and toss everything together thoroughly. When it's all icombined and hot, add in the cilantro and scallions and toss again.
- Serve topped with roasted peanuts, sprouts, and lime wedges.
Notes
- For a vegan version, see my VEGETARIAN PAD THAI RECIPE.
Nutrition
What a great recipe for pad thai. I absolutely love everything about this dish, it sounds delicious and it is packed with so many flavours and textures!!
Pad Thai is definitely famous for all those great textures, thanks Agness:)
Pad Thai is one of my favorite Thai dishes, love all the components of this dish and the gorgeous ingredients that you used.
It’s great comfort food, isn’t it?
I understand you add the shrimp after the aromatics, but how long do you cook the shrimp before adding the zucchini?
Sorry Penny, I just fixed that!
OK, so you just rocked my Sunday dinner recipe!! I’m house/dogsitting, and this will be PERFECT!! Ingredients get packed today!! Can’t wait to make it!! YUMMM!!!
Yay!!
This sounds very nice. If you can use tamarind in place of the lime juice, it would be more authentic. Tamarind is available at Asian groceries.
I do use tamarind sometimes, Susan, I love the flavor!
I don’t have a wok – what other type of pan might you recommend?
Any very large skillet would work, Mimi. Theoretically you could do it in a large pot, too. Anything big enough to fit all the ingredients and allow you to toss them.
You rocked this recipe Sue! Wow – it looks fantastic. I love all those flavors and your tips are spot-on! I really, really, really want a big bowl of this right now!
Your take-out I would gladly order ๐ This looks so fresh, vibrant, healthy and wonderfully delish! I love your little baby sprouts, I’m just learning to grow them myself!
It was funny, Chris, I looked for the classic Asian bean sprouts, the white ones, at several stores and it turns out lots of grocery chains aren’t even carrying them anymore because of the threat of recalls, so I substituted another type of sprout which aren’t as crunchy, but still add a nice fresh touch.
Just realized that I need to get a new bottle of fish sauce..I always love the combo of ginger, lime and fish sauce. Your stirfried rice noodle looks very tasty!
My bottle has lasted forever…I never use too much at a time ๐
Fish sauce really does seem to keep forever, doesn’t it? ๐ Anyway, such a nice dish. So much flavor, and a great way to use shrimp. Thanks!
Thanks John ๐