What is Pad Thai?
Simply said, it’s a Thai dish based on rice noodles. It’s typical street fare in Thailand, and it’s the dish you’re likely most familiar with from seeing it on the menu at Thai restaurants. Traditional Pad Thai called for wide rice noodles, and includes ingredients like egg, bean sprouts, some sort of protein, crushed peanuts and lime. Vibrant in flavor, it usually has a sweet and sour component from the sauce, which is a combination of sugar, vinegar and lime juice.
How do you make Pad Thai Shrimp?
My best advice for you in making easy Pad Thai is to have all of the ingredients ready to go. This will make preparation of your Pad Thai Shrimp pretty simple! The rice noodles are soaked with hot tap water until softened. That process takes about 20 minutes. While the noodles are soaking, you can stir together the sauce ingredients. Next you’ll stir-fry the shrimp, remove them from the pan, and then pan fry a little oil, garlic and eggs. The noodles are added to the eggs in the pan, along with the sauce. You’ll add in chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions, some water and the shrimp, and heat until all is tender. Individual servings of Pad Thai Shrimp are garnished with more green onions, peanuts and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro.
Is Thai food spicy?
There’s no doubt about it. Thai food has a reputation for being spicy. In fact, if you’re in a Thai restaurant, the menu likely has a “heat range” on the menu for each dish. You can certainly order your food to be “not spicy.” There are many dishes that are safe from the extreme spice too! This recipe for Pad Thai Shrimp is not spicy at all. It doesn’t call for any hot peppers. It just has a wonderful sweet and sour sauce that coats the shrimp, vegetables and noodles. It’s completely family friendly.
If you are looking for more shrimp recipes, you might like to try my Shrimp Po Boy or this Barbecued Shrimp with Remoulade Sauce. Easy Baked Garlic Shrimp, Browned Butter Honey Garlic Shrimp and Cheesy Shrimp and Grits are also great shrimp dinner recipes!
