Make this brown rice pad thai the next time you’re in the mood for tasty noodles and Netflix. This recipe is easy to make, comes together quickly, and is healthier than your usual take-out dinner! It can also be made vegan and gluten-free.
Jump to: Story | What is it? | Benefits | Nutrient Density | Tips | Variations | Similar Recipes
The Story Behind This Brown Rice Pad Thai
I don’t usually order take-out when it comes to eating at home. Growing up, buying take-out wasn’t common in my household either. While we saved money, the main reason was that my mom loved to cook and always figured out how to make recipes from all over the world. Once in a while, I do dine out, and one of my favorite cuisines to eat is Thai. I have tried some fantastic pad thai from various restaurants in NYC.
One day when I was in college, I was at a friend’s apartment. He didn’t cook his food, and when we got hungry, we agreed to order some Thai take-out. The pad thai we ordered was pretty bad. There was no balance in the sweet, sour, salty, and umami flavors. It just tasted like the noodles were over-sweetened and had a splash of soy sauce. The shrimp was overcooked, aka rubbery.
I knew I could develop a good recipe using the motivation from other restaurants’ actual well-made pad thai. After scouring the internet for the most authentic ingredients, I could find and a few recipe tests, I came up with this recipe. I was also inspired to make this recipe from my go-to cookbook to make Thai food: Simple Thai Food.
What Is It?
Pad Thai is one of the national dishes of Thailand, a beautiful country in Southeast Asia. Although it’s common to sell it as street food, it is easy to make at home. This recipe may look complicated due to the long ingredient list and a large number of steps, but trust me, it’s all straightforward. My favorite thing about this dish and Thai food, in general, is how it balances salty, sour, sweet, and umami flavors so perfectly. Salty comes from the soy sauce, sour comes from tamarind, sweet comes from the palm sugar, and umami comes from the fish sauce. If you can’t find these ingredients at your local supermarket, look up the nearest Asian grocery or check online!
Why This Brown Rice Pad Thai Is Healthy For You
If you are looking for an easy swap to make the traditional pad thai dish a tad healthier, look for brown rice noodles instead of white rice noodles. Brown rice noodles have more fiber since the flour for the noodles uses the entire grain. Besides that swap being the main difference in this recipe, Pad Thai’s traditional ingredients are generally healthy for you:
- Tamarind is good for the heart and protects your liver.
- Fish sauce is an excellent source of omega 3s, which is great for your skin health.
- Palm sugar (while it’s still sugar) has a significantly lower glycemic index of 35 than table sugar, about 70.
How To Make This Brown Rice Pad Thai Nutrient-Dense
- Source wild-caught shrimp: Wild-caught shrimp is better for your health since it contains a high protein and an excellent combination of nutrients such as selenium and iodine, which can help protect your thyroid.
Tips
- Cook the brown rice noodles last after prepping the sauce and other ingredients. When you cook them first and set them aside, they will stick together, and it’s pretty hard to separate. It’s best not to leave them in the cooking water even after turning off the heat. They will overcook from the residual heat (nobody likes mushy noodles). Cook them, strain them, and cook in the stir fry right away. The residual starchy water from the noodles will help bind the pad thai sauce to the noodles even better! Since stir-fries come together quickly, you won’t overcook the noodles too much in the pan.
- If adding veggies to bulk up this dish, make sure to add thinly sliced, so they cook quickly. I went with carrots sliced into ribbons with a julienne peeler and some sliced scallions.
- Cook some of the bean sprouts with the stir fry and reserve some raw ones as toppings which will add a variety of textures to this dish.
Variations
- To make this vegan omit the eggs, replace the fish sauce with a vegan alternative, and swap out the shrimp for tofu. Find my Kitchen Staples guide for how to prepare tofu here.
- This recipe can be easily gluten-free if you use tamari for the soy sauce.
Other Southeast Asian Recipes To Try
Brown Rice Pad Thai
Equipment
- Wok or large skillet
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 8 oz brown rice noodles
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 2 small shallots
- 1-2 dried red thai chilies (optional)
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 lb large shrimp
Toppings
- roughly chopped cilantro
- toasted crushed peanuts
- fresh bean sprouts
- lime wedges
- sliced cucumber
Instructions
Prepare the sauce
- Whisk together tamarind, soy sauce, fish sauce, and palm sugar until homogenous in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Prepare the aromatics
- Smash and peel the two garlic cloves.
- Mince the garlic.
- Peel the shallots and slice them thinly
- If using the dried chilies, crush them in a mortar and pestle or give them a rough chop. Set aside all prepared aromatics.
Prepare the veggies (optional)
- Peel a clean carrot into ribbons with a vegetable peeler.
- Chop the scallions into 1-inch pieces, separating the whites and the greens.
Prepare the toppings
- Roughly chop cilantro and chives to desired consistency.
- Cut lime into small wedges.
- Toast whole peanuts until fragrant and give them a rough chop.
- Thinly slice a cucumber.
Prepare the eggs
- Crack both eggs in a separate mixing bowl and whisk together until smooth.
- Heat 1-2 tsp of oil in your frying pan of choice.
- Cook the eggs into a thin omelet.
- Slide it onto a clean cutting surface.
- When cool enough to handle, roll the omelet up and cut into thin strips. Set aside.
Prepare the shrimp
- Devein and clean the shrimp if needed. Peel the shrimp and reserve the shrimp shells for making stock.
- Heat another 1-2 tsp of oil in the frying pan.
- Fry the shrimp in a single layer (not overcrowding the pan) for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. When flipping over to the second side, it should take less time than the 1st side. Set aside cooked shrimp in another bowl.
Prepare the noodles
- Cook rice noodles according to package directions.
- Strain the noodles and set aside until ready to combine in the stir fry.
Stir Fry
- Heat wok with remaining oil.
- Sauté shallots with a pinch of salt until softened.
- Add in garlic and stir until fragrant.
- Add chopped chilies if using.
- Add noodles, eggs, shrimp or tofu, veggies, sauce. Stir fry until well coated. If noodles look dry, add starchy noodle water if needed.
- Plate the dish and add toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cook the brown rice noodles last after prepping the sauce and other ingredients. When you cook them first and set them aside, they will stick together, and it’s pretty hard to separate. It’s best not to leave them in the cooking water even after turning off the heat. They will overcook from the residual heat (nobody likes mushy noodles). Cook them, strain them, and cook in the stir fry right away. The residual starchy water from the noodles will help bind the pad thai sauce to the noodles even better! Since stir-fries come together quickly, you won’t overcook the noodles too much in the pan.
- If adding veggies to bulk up this dish, make sure to add thinly sliced, so they cook quickly. I went with carrots sliced into ribbons with a julienne peeler and some sliced scallions.
- Cook some of the bean sprouts with the stir fry and reserve some raw ones as toppings which will add a variety of textures to this dish.
- To make this vegan feel free to omit the eggs, replace the fish sauce with a vegan alternative, and swap out the shrimp for tofu. Find my Kitchen Staples guide for how to prepare tofu here.
- This recipe can be easily gluten-free if you use tamari for the soy sauce.
gluten-free, seafood, Thai