Chicken Pad Thai

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My easy Chicken Pad Thai is a combination of two Pad Thai recipes I’ve recently drooled over. This dish is sweet with a little heat and utterly delicious!

I’ve always been one to play with recipes in my kitchen, and this one for chicken pad Thai is no exception.

I took my inspiration from two different places for this particular dish and married them together into one amazing meal!

The first is from a cookbook I’ve had on my bookshelf for a long time but don’t think I’ve ever actually used it for anything other than paging through it.

The second is a recipe from Chef Michael Symon of “The Chew”.  He recently demonstrated for Pad Thai on the show and I immediately knew I’d soon be making it in my own kitchen. Here is a photo of Chef Symon’s completed dish:

Before long I was headed off to the grocery store to pick up my list of Asian ingredients.  I was hopeful that the store would have everything I was needing… Not so much. 

I had to make some substitutions and I wondered how they would affect the authentic taste of my own Pad Thai.

The store didn’t have the specific rice noodles that both the cookbook and Chef Symon used. 

That’s OK, I’ll use the soba noodles I already have in my pantry.

I wasn’t able to find the fish sauce either but  I, fortunately, did have some oyster sauce in my fridge that I hoped would work in a pinch. 

Lastly, the store didn’t have tamarind concentrate but they did have some bottled Pad Thai sauce with tamarind in the list of ingredients…this would have to suffice!

Armed with my cookbook, my iPad (for Chef Symon’s recipe) and my available ingredients, I fired up my wok to get cooking.

PAD THAI MY WAY       {PRINT THIS RECIPE}

1 pound chicken tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2-3 ounces soba (buckwheat) noodles
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons shallots, minced
1/2 – 1 cup peanuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oyster sauce
6-8 tablespoons pad Thai sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-3 green onions, chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 limes
1 cup bean sprouts (plus more for garnish)

-In a large wok (or skillet) over high heat, add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil.
-Add the chicken tenders, garlic, shallots, and red pepper flakes, stirring occasionally until the chicken is no longer pink.
-Once cooked, remove the chicken from the wok and keep warm.
-In a large pot, cook and drain the soba noodles according to the package directions. Keep warm.
-Add the remaining peanut oil to the wok along with the peanuts and cook for a few moments, stirring occasionally.
-Add the sugar, oyster sauce, and pad Thai sauce and cook for another few minutes.
-Add the beaten egg to the sauce mixture and stir to thicken slightly.
-Add the chicken back into the wok and stir to combine. Heat thoroughly.
-Add the drained soba noodles and mix well (tongs work well here).
-Remove from the heat.
-Add the juice of 1-2 limes, the bean sprouts and the green onion to complete. Stir.
-Garnish your Pad Thai with additional bean sprouts, peanuts, and green onion.

Be still my heart!!!  This was simply THE most flavorful meal to come out of my wok in a long, long time.

The sweet from the sugar, heat from the red pepper flakes, the light bite from the green onion, and the tang from the lime juice and pad Thai sauce all came together perfectly! Someone had better stop me before I eat the entire contents of the wok!   SOOOO good!

Turns out the replacement ingredients didn’t hurt the flavor of the dish at all. Not one bit!  Good to know for the next time I make this recipe (and you can bet I’ll do so again…SOON)!

So the moral of this story here is:

WOK don’t run to the store to purchase the ingredients you’ll need to make this most flavorful of Asian dishes.  You’ll be glad you did!!!

Until we eat again,