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30 Minute Garlic Butter Chicken Pad Thai. An easy, weeknight dinner that’s better than any takeout. Quick-cooking rice noodles tossed with a Thai-inspired sauce, fresh vegetables, scrambled eggs, and garlicky chicken that’s pan-seared with a touch of butter. This Pad Thai is saucy, salty, and has just the right amount spice. It’s sure to become a family staple!
If there’s a cuisine my family loves universally, it’s anything Thai-inspired. Mexican too, but today we’re focusing on Thai since everyone has been requesting it nonstop lately. If it’s not some kind of rice bowl, then it’s stir-fry noodles. Or the most requested, chicken fried rice. Asher and Creighton can’t get enough Thai dishes.
I’ve made pad Thai a handful of times too, but each time I never felt the noodles were saucy enough. I always felt a little more flavor, spice, and color could be added.
Ω
After my younger brother Red requested Pad Thai a few weeks ago, I decided to perfect a good chicken pad Thai (I got the shrimp just right).
I took my time with this, like 3 or 4 weeks time, slowly making tweaks. In the end, a few tablespoons of salted butter ended up being the secret to the pad thai sauce.
And fewer noodles, which I certainly don’t usually recommend. But with this particular recipe, fewer noodles work better. It’s all about getting the portions just right!
Details
This recipe has a longer ingredient list but manages to come together in 30 to 40-ish minutes. The noodles should be a thicker-cut rice noodles, or find a box of Pad Thai noodles. Pretty much all grocery stores should carry one or the other.
Soak the noodles just as the box states. But I like to drain them for around 6 minutes to ensure they don’t get soggy while cooking.
While the noodles soak, make the sauce. It’s a pretty simple mix of tamari, maple (used to sweeten), fish sauce (don’ skip), rice vinegar, black pepper, and chilies.
Now we can cook! Cook the chicken and pepper together. Using ground chicken is ideal, it soaks up the sauce nicely and cooks quickly. Some other veggies that work nicely are carrots and broccoli.
Next, add the butter, toss in the shallots and some chopped garlic, and cook until golden.
Push everything to the sides of the pan and add the eggs to the center. Give them a scramble, then toss them with the noodles.
At this point, you should remove the noodles from the heat to ensure the noodles do not get overcooked. Add lots of sprouts, or you could use your favorite chopped greens, but sprouts are our first choice. And plenty of green onions!
Serve each dish of noodles topped with Thai basil, cilantro, roasted peanuts, and lime. Oh, and then I add Korean chili flakes too.
Yum!
If you plan to eat the noodles as a leftover, you can certainly add a touch of soy sauce to loosen the noodles back up. The noodles will be a little less saucy, but all the flavor is still there!
Looking for other dinner ideas?
Sesame Ginger Orange Chicken Salad
20 Minute Korean Beef Sesame Noodles
20 Minute Red Curry Basil Garlic Oil Noodles
Red’s Favorite Spicy Tuna Poke Bowls
Skillet Chicken Adobo with Coconut Rice
30 Minute Pineapple Chicken with Coconut Rice
Weeknight Sesame Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger Rice
Lastly, if you make this 30 Minute Garlic Butter Chicken Pad Thai, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
30 Minute Garlic Butter Chicken Pad Thai
Servings: 4
Calories Per Serving: 567 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 6 ounces Pad Thai/wide rice noodles
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons real maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- black pepper and chili flakes, to taste
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil (or olive oil)
- 3/4 pound ground chicken
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly slice
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2-3 eggs, beaten
- 2 cups mung bean sprouts
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro or Thai basil
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts, chopped
Instructions
- 1. Soak the rice noodles according to packaged directions. Drain.2. To make the sauce. In a bowl, combine the tamari/soy sauce, maple syrup, fish sauce, rice vinegar, black pepper, and chili flakes.3. Add the oil, chicken, and red bell pepper to a large skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the chicken is browned all over, about 5 minutes. Add the butter, shallot, garlic, and a pinch of chili flakes and black pepper. Continue to cook the chicken in the butter until the garlic begins to turn golden, 1-2 minutes.4. Add the noodles and sauce, tossing to combine. Cook until the noodles are warmed through and begin soaking up the sauce, about 1 minute. Push the noodles to one side of the skillet and add the eggs to the other side. Let cook until the edges start to set, 1 minute. Roughly scramble the egg, then toss it with the noodles. Remove from the heat. 5. Add the bean sprouts, cilantro, and green onions, and toss again.6. Serve warm noodles topped with basil, green onions, peanuts, and chili flakes. Add a squeeze of lime juice.
This post was originally published on February 20, 2023
This one is a keeper! It really did only take 30 minutes, it cooks so quickly and it was delicious! My whole family liked it, which doesn’t happen often!
Hey Jill,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for making this dish and sharing your review, I’m so glad it turned out well for you! xT
very favorable, I agree not to over do on the noodle (which I used more) bec it was slightly dry. Simple and easy I used precooked pad Thai noodle, worked well too.
Hey Linda,
Happy Tuesday! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks so much for making it! xT
This was absolutely delicious, and fast and easy as well! The only modification I did was to use honey in place of maple syrup which I didn’t have on hand. That worked great. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks so much Jill! I love to hear that this dish turned out well for you, thanks for trying it out! xT
I normally love most of your recipes but if this is a 30 minute recipe I will eat my hat. No way with the prep unless you have a samurai degree in mizen plas. Leaving the noodles to chance was/is the fatal flaw of this recipe. I pulled out a save but it was only because of years of doing Thai recipes. The flavor is terrific and I will make it again my way. Unfortunately you need to work on the execution for this one, very misleading.
What on earth is this incoherent gibberish? I think the term you are searching for is “mise en place”. 😂
Please, do go eat your hat, since it appears you shouldn’t try cooking. Why, with “all your years” of preparing Thai dishes would you need to copy a recipe on the internet, yet not be able to boil the noodles correctly yourself, instinctively? You didn’t “pull a save”. You pulled a poorly written B.S. story out of your backside. Quit whining…Karen. 😒
Hi Karen,
Thanks for making this recipe and sharing your feedback. Sorry to hear the directions were misleading for you. Let me know what I can fix! xx
This is hugely frustrating: a great recipe I very much want to add to my recipe box but every time I hit the “save” button I’m routed back to the “Join/Sign in” page.
I have been having the same problem! Seems like there is a glitch in the system? I need to be able to save these recipes! Lol
Sorry to hear this Carla!! Definitely could be a glitch!! Anytime you have issues, please feel free to reach out to contact@halfbakedharvest.com for troubleshooting! xx
Hi Gail,
Sorry to hear you are having some issues. If you send an email to contact@halfbakedharvest.com someone from my team can help you troubleshoot! xx
For those people who are nervous about fish sauce it’s subtle and is used in Thai recipes. don’t let the ingredient scare you off of trying something new.
I cannot wait to try this! Thanks so much, Tieghan!
Thanks so much Chris!! I hope you love the recipe! xT
Maple syrup and soy sauce in this pad Thai worked very well, great flavor. We loved it!!!
Hey Joyce,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks so much for making it! xT
Sounds great can’t wait to try it!
I seriously don’t know how you do it without telling all the negative people to just plain f**k off! You’re a stronger girl than me , I admire your work and your tenacity!❤️
She openly asks for comments. Not all are going to be good. I admire her work and have personally made about 20 of her recipes and have truly loved all but one. You’re not going to win them all, but in my book she’s got a pretty good record.
She doesn’t “ask for comments”. She graciously allows them, and some individuals take advantage of this privilege and abuse it by being deliberately over-the-top obnoxious. So yeah, Tieghan has the patience of a saint to not tell such individuals where to stuff it, or, as Gail so aptly put it – f**k off.
Sam, she does ask for comments. On every recipe post, you’ll find this at the end:
Lastly, if you make this 30 Minute Garlic Butter Chicken Pad Thai, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment.
Negative feedback or constructive criticism does not automatically equate to obnoxiousness or rudeness. The people here saying the recipe took longer than 30 minutes, or that they were confused by the instructions, are being very polite, actually. These days it seems like the comments “defending” Tieghan have been really aggressive, and it’s making it so unpleasant to read here. 🙁
She still graciously allows them by having an un-moderated blog (which I think isn’t the best choice) but I guess adults are left to their own devices to actually act like adults when given an opportunity to participate in something.
I’d say these days it seems like the comments “constructively criticizing” Tieghan have been really aggressive, and it’s making it so unpleasant to read here. 🙁
Saying a recipe took longer than expected isn’t obnoxious, (and no one says it is) but merely reveals more about the person preparing the dish than it does about the recipe itself. The same could be said for “confusion”. Often these claims are totally disingenuous. Let’s not pretend that these “critical” comments are all from sincere and helpful people who can’t figure out how to boil noodles, and just need someone to lead them out of the woods.
Some people do indeed ask for clarification in a polite way and Tieghan answers in a helpful way back to them. Others come here to snark, and cloak their attacks in thinly veiled venom masked as “confusion”. It’s obvious who is who. It’s ridiculous when those in the former camp act shocked that their childishness is not well received.
Put it this way: If comments defending Tieghan make you uncomfortable, your agenda is showing. 😉
Spot on Sam. Anyone who has a question just asks politely without all the additional vitriol. The attack dogs are way too easy to spot.
Lol thanks Gail! Let me know if you give this dish a try, I hope you love it! xx
maple syrup? in pad thai?
soy sauce? in pad thai?
🙁
Why not? It’s her own version. You can choose to do otherwise.
Yes!!! Maple syrup has been my go to sweetener! Never used it that my people didn’t love it!! Been doing it for years. Specially good when I get it right off the farm from family friends.
Try it, you don’t like it, never use it again.
Lost me at fish sauce 😢
Then just leave it out. It’s really that simple.
Hi Joanne,
Just skip the fish sauce:) xx
Hi Tieghan!
Can’t wait to try this! Question about draining the noodles. You mention soak them as package states but that you drain them for around 6 minutes. Does that mean you only soak them for 6 minutes and then drain them?
TIA for the clarification! ❤️
Hey Debbie,
Sorry for any confusion, just follow the package instructions for the specific noodles that you purchase, they are all different and then drain:) I hope this helps! xT
Unfortunately I buy most of my noodles at an Asian Market. Most pkgs don’t have instructions or are even in English. I worked from previous noodle experiences but it just did not work with this particular wide rice noodle. The flavors are delicious so next time my noodles will be fully cooked & my eggs will be pre scrambled.
Sounds like user error, Karen. If you need English instructions to boil noodles without screwing it up, that’s on you.
In your nutrition labels can you please include carbohydrate fat and sodium contenet
No.
Hi Judi,
Thanks for your comment, I’ll definitely take this into consideration! I hope you love this dish! xT
Yum! I can’t wait to try this. I think there are some words missing in the “narrative” above the recipe. It says “At this point, you should remove the from to ensure the noodles do not get overcooked.” The written instructions are complete.
Hey Carla,
Thanks for letting me know! I’ll fix this:) Let me know if you give this dish a try, I hope it turns out well for you! xT
Thank you for this variation. I developed a shellfish allergy a couple of years ago (it stinks) and I’ve been making your shrimp pad Thai as a vegetarian dish – sometimes you just need the protein.
Hey Carol,
Happy to share! Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx