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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-fried noodles. Or the most requested, chicken fried rice. Asher and Creighton can’t get enough.
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 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.
Next, add the butter, toss in a shallot 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 bowl 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.
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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.
Delicious!! I used thinly sliced chicken instead and it was great! We loved it!!
There is one problem with this recipe! We didn’t have ANY leftover!! Ha ha. We all LOVED it. Thanks Teighan!
Lol thanks so much Charlene!! So glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
Amazing and quick meal. Very tasty, the butter added to the hot sauce helps tone down the heat for those who are afraid it might be to hot for their pallet. I added pepper flakes because our family likes the heat and sesame seeds before serving. We have an oven that has an air fryer, so we air fried the chicken bits for 15 minutes on 450 degrees, giving them more crunch. For those who like a bit more crunch to their chicken bits, I would recommend cooking for ten minutes after adding the sauce, so you can keep a little more of the crunch in the chicken WATCH the bits close so you don’t over cook! Air fried the broccoli as well on a different sheet pan and found that it only needed about ten minutes on 450 degrees. Overall a very delightful dish. My teenage son loves to cook and is asking what recipe we are making tonight 😉
Hey Tonia,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear that it was a hit! xx
This was SO GOOD! We only had lo mein noodles in the cupboard, but man they were good! I so recommend this recipe!
Hi Jessie,
Happy Monday!!⛅️ Thanks a bunch for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it turned out well for you:)
Loved this. Better than a restaurant! I’ll make this again for sure.
Hi Kimberly,
Amazing!! Love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks so much for making it! xx
Let’s be completely honest. This tastes nothing like pad thai. It would really need the tamarind and palm sugar to get there. But this still really freaking yummy and doesn’t skimp on flavor. Don’t leave out the limes at the end! It really brightens the whole dish.
Hi Gina,
Happy Monday!!🌴 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xT
Love this recipe! My husband is allergic to peanuts, so always looking for good Thai and Thai-inspired dishes at home. I just left the peanuts off, and it was a hit for both of us! Super flavorful and filling without leaving you with that gross feeling you get from takeout sometimes. It was also pretty simple! Definitely going to add this into the rotation.
Hi Catherine,
Happy Wednesday! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad to hear it was a winner!
My daughter and I have both of your cook books and have made many of the dishes from each one. There hasn’t been a single one that we didn’t love, but we made this pad thai tonight and it was absolutely spectacular! It’s definitely going into our rotation. We followed your recipe exactly except for the sprouts. Because neither of us is crazy about sprouts, we substituted an equal amount of matchstick carrots. Oh, and we topped each serving with a small dollop of Mr Bing Chili Crisp! Thanks for so many wonderful recipes! This one might be our favorite so far!
Hi Brenda,
Thanks so much for your kind message and making so many recipes;) I love to hear that this dish was enjoyed and thanks so much for making it! xx
Could you replace the fish sauce with something else?
Hi there,
If you can use the fish sauce, I would highly recommend keeping it. If not, you could try soy sauce or oyster sauce. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try! xx
This was amazing. Not just a good replacement for takeout, but actually as good as takeout.
Thanks so much Andi! So glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for making it! xx
This recipe is perfection! Satisfies the takeout craving but feels lighter and healthier knowing what I put in it. I added shredded cabbage/carrots (Cole slaw mix) in place of the sprouts and omitted the eggs because I didn’t have any and it was still delicious!! I love that you can mix up different veggies in this and it still tastes great. Even my 6 year old loved it! We just added the chili flakes after serving so hers wasn’t spicy 🙂 Leftovers were just as yummy!
Hi Meredith,
Happy Sunday! 😃 Thanks a bunch for trying this recipe out, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xx