Thai Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
These Thai Drunken Noodles taste better than any restaurant version I've ever had. This is one of the easiest and quickest recipes and one of our favorite dishes! A trip to your local Asian grocery store is necessary to get certain ingredients. You can make this dish plain, with veggies, shrimp, or any protein of your choice.
Ingredients
- 1-2 LB Shrimp or any protein of choice
- 1 LB Wide Rice Noodles wide or any rice noodles of choice
- 1 Thai Chili Pepper less or more depending on your preference
- 3 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 TBS Olive Oil for frying
- 1 Can Baby Corn drained
- Any other vegetables of choice I usually add whatever we have on hand
- 4 TBS Butter for baking shrimp
- 4 tsp Fish Sauce
Sauce Ingredients:
- 3 TBS Dark Soy Sauce
- 3 TBS Light Soy Sauce
- 6 TBS Oyster Sauce
- 4 tsp Sugar
- 2 TBS Water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel, devein and wash the shrimp. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels. Put shrimp into a large glass baking dish, add 4 TBS butter and bake for 15-20 minutes, until shrimp are cooked through. Once cooked through, set aside. Meanwhile continue to next steps.
- Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions. Some tricks I learned to attain perfect rice noodles is adding 1 TBS of olive oil to the pot of boiled water when cooking rice noodles to keep the noodles from sticking together. I also stir the noodles constantly to prevent sticking. Set cooked noodles aside.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a wok or large skillet, heat 1 TBS olive oil on medium heat. Add in 1 finely chopped Thai chili pepper (less or more depending how spicy you prefer), add in 3 minced garlic cloves. Stir until fragrant.
- Add in the cooked shrimp (butter/water drained). Add 4 tsp fish sauce. Cook a few minutes, until the shrimp crisps up to your preference, 5-10 minutes.
- Add in the cooked rice noodles. Pour the sauce over the noodles and shrimp. Mix well. Turn the heat down to low. Cook until rice noodles are hot and have absorbed the sauce, about 10 minutes.
- Lastly, add canned baby corn (drained) and/or any other veggies you want to add. Cook an additional few minutes until veggies are cooked through.
Notes
Make sure you use both Dark and Light Soy Sauce or the sauce will be too salty and not the right flavor.
Some tricks I learned to attain perfect rice noodles is adding 1 TBS of olive oil to the pot of boiled water when cooking rice noodles to keep the noodles from sticking together. I also stir the noodles constantly to prevent sticking.
If you decide to add diced onion, add it in the beginning with the Thai chili pepper.
This recipe reheats well. Fry the Drunken Noodles on a skillet with 1 TBS butter on low heat to heat up.
The Dark Soy sauce, Light Soy sauce, Fish sauce, Oyster sauce and wide Rice noodles can all be found at your local Asian grocery store.
You can customize this dish with your favorite veggies and protein. I sometimes add mushrooms, scallions, Thai basil. Sometimes I make it with sliced chicken breast instead of shrimp. It's super versatile!