Once upon a time, I was 24 years old and had a (short lived) blog by the name of “Cookies and Wine.” If you would like to view some poor design choices, but five (five!), very solid, and easy-to-follow recipes, I invite you to check it out. Otherwise, keep reading here, and I’ll share one of them with you.
This recipe is great for a cold Saturday evening when you’re craving take out, but don’t want to leave the house and you’ve had one too many bad Grub Hub experiences. It could be easily doubled or tripled to make more servings.
My favorite part: The sauce is rich with a nice peanut essence, but not too heavy.
| Prep: 15 mins | Servings: 2 |
| Cook: 10-15 mins | Total: 25-30 mins |
Your Ingredients:
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
- 2/3 cup evaporated Milk
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
For the Chicken and Noodles:
- 8 oz. uncooked linguine or pad Thai rice noodles
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 & 1/4 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 & 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (or more if you are adventurous)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 oz. boneless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped into tiny pieces
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 cups fresh bean sprouts
- 1 cup of chopped green onions
- 1 cup of chopped carrots
- 1/3 cup chopped peanuts, divided
Directions:
Step 1: Make the peanut sauce first. Dump peanut butter, evaporated milk, ginger, and soy sauce into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. You should have around 1 cup of sauce, which can be set aside for now.
Step 2: If you have not already, slice your chicken breast up into small pieces, maybe about an inch and a half wide each. Set these aside in a bowl, disinfect any areas that came into contact with the raw chicken, and then wash your hands thoroughly (I’m really big on safety in the kitchen).
Step 3: Next, cook your noodles of choice according to the directions on the package. You can do Steps 4 through 6 while the pasta is cooking, just don’t forget to check your boiling pot occasionally and make sure to remove the noodles once they are done.
Step 4: In a small bowl, mix the sugar, water, ketchup, and soy sauce. Depending on the juiciness of your limes, squeeze in one or two wedges of lime. You should end up adding about one teaspoon of lime juice total, but it does not need to be exact.
Step 5: When your noodles are done cooking, drain the water and set them aside in a bowl. Keep this covered and out of the way for now.
Step 6: Pour the vegetable oil in a large skillet and heat it up a little using medium-high heat. Next, add your chicken and minced garlic. Cook the chicken thoroughly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. To ensure that your chicken is fully cooked, cut into one of the larger pieces and examine the center of the meat for pink. Pink meat = NOT COOKED, so please be sure that you do not see any pink.
Step 7: Once you’ve fully cooked your chicken, stir in the cooked noodles, stirring quickly to keep them from sticking to the skillet. Pour the ketchup mixture from earlier over the noodles. Heat everything on medium for 2 minutes, or until the sauce is absorbed. Stir constantly to help the liquid get absorbed.
Step 8: Push the noodles to one side of the skillet, making enough room to add the egg. Add the beaten egg to your skillet, stirring until it’s cooked through. Stir in all your veggies, half of the bean sprouts, and half of the peanuts.
Step 9: Now it’s finally time to plate your Pad Thai! With a large serving spoon, pile your skillet noodle mixture onto large serving plates. You should be able to fill two standard dinner plates with a little leftover.
Pour half of the peanut sauce on the center of each noodle pile. Sprinkle both piles with the rest of the peanuts and bean sprouts. Squeeze 2 lime wedges over noodles and garnish with the remaining wedges. Put the remaining peanut sauce in a small dish so that diners can add more to taste.
Step 10: Enjoy!!!
This recipe is open to interpretation. If you don’t have Pad Thai rice noodles or even linguini on hand, all is not lost. Plain old spaghetti, or even spiralized veggie “noodles” would work with this recipe.
If you use veggie noodles, I would recommend adding them only at the very end, to prevent them from becoming soggy.
Have you tried this recipe? I want to hear all about it! Leave a comment here or send me a message.
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