Pad thai made from scratch isn't exactly a quick meal—there are a LOT of ingredients to prep. But how do restaurants get your freshly-made pad thai done in 5 minutes? Good news: they're not doing anything you can't do at home. But the most important thing they do is to have the sauce made in bulk, in advance.
Once you've got the sauce made, and if you want to be even MORE prepared, there are a few other simple things you can do in advance so that, comes cooking time, you can literally get pad thai on the table in minutes. Watch the video to see me cook pad thai in less than 5 minutes in real time!
Once you have the sauce, you can use it in my authentic pad thai recipe.
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Ingredients
An authentic pad thai sauce is actually very simple. There are technically only 3 ingredients: the sweet, the salty and the sour. But because we want this to be a time-saver, I've also add the shallots and the garlic into the sauce so we don't have to chop and sauté them on the day.
- Shallots
- Garlic
- Tamarind paste (the sour, what is tamarind?)
- Fish sauce (the salty)
- Palm sugar (the sweet)
Important note about tamarind:
Whenever you cook Thai food, I recommend that you make tamarind paste from pulp for the best flavour. But if you are going to buy it instead, make sure it's a product of Thailand or Vietnam and not a product of India. Thai and Vietnamese tamarind paste is a loose brown liquid, whereas Indian "tamarind concentrate" is a thick black paste that is much more concentrated. It is a different product and should not be used when cooking Thai food.
What NOT to Put in the Sauce?
You might be tempted to add as many things as possible for max efficiency, but some things are better left out:
- Dried shrimp. If I let the dried shrimp sit and infuse their flavour into the sauce for a long time, I find that the final dish is permeated with too much shrimpiness. Yes, things can be too shrimpy, even for me!!
- The same goes for the sweet preserved radish if you're using it - it was too strong.
- Tofu would absorb too much flavour from the sauce, and will likely shorten the shelf life of the sauce as well.
- Peanuts lose their crunch in the liquid.
How to Make Pad Thai Sauce
Here's an overview of hot to make pad thai sauce in advance. It's relatively simple, but be sure to watch the video tutorial with it's extra tips to ensure success.
- Saute shallots and garlic until soft and fragrant.
- Remove from the pot.
- In the same pot melt the palm sugar.
- Keep cooking until the sugar darkens slightly in colour.
- Once the sugar reaches a caramel colour, add the tamarind paste to stop the cooking.
- Add the fish sauce and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Add the shallots and garlic back in and stir to mix.
- Keep it in a jar and it will last at least 3 months in the fridge.
Storing Leftovers
Once you've got the pad thai sauce made, you can use it right away, and the rest needs to be kept in a sealed container in the fridge. It should last at least 3 months in the fridge.
If you need to, you can also freeze the sauce, and I would recommend dividing it into portions before freezing for easy usage. You can freeze them in ice cube trays and then leave a note for yourself how many cubes you will need per serving.
How to Make Pad Thai in 5 Minutes
In essence, pad thai is a noodle stir fry, and like most noodle stir fries, it is very quick to cook. What takes time is the prep. Making the sauce in advance is just "level 1 preparedness," but you can save even more time by prepping more of the ingredients. If you do enough prep and get to "level 4" you can literally make pad thai on a weeknight in 5 minutes!
To prove that I'm not exaggerating, watch the video tutorial below to see me cook pad thai in REAL TIME in less than 5 minutes! For more on the different levels of prep, read my post on my authentic pad thai recipe.
*One note: if your pre-cooked protein is fridge-cold, add it a bit earlier than I did in this video to give it time to heat up. I would toss it with the noodles once the sauce has been absorbed, and before you add the eggs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Trust me, you don't want to. I have seen many brands of bottled pad thai sauce on store shelves, and I have never come across one that comes close to the authentic flavour of real pad thai. Most of these sauces are overly sweet, and use cheap ingredients that compromise the flavour.
For example, instead of palm sugar they use granulated white sugar. Instead of fish sauce they add salt and maybe even soy sauce which is not the right flavour. And instead of using all tamarind they will mix in white vinegar or rice vinegar which is much cheaper. They also often add a lot of additives and colour that are totally not necessary.
Pad thai sauce uses only a few ingredients, and the store that sells the bottled sauce probably also sells all the ingredients you need to make a much better one yourself!
You should keep the pad thai sauce well-sealed in the fridge, and it should last you at least 3 months, and probably much longer. (I have just never had it any longer than that). There is a lot of sugar, acid, and salt in the sauce, all of which are ingredients that help preserve food.
You can, but there is probably no need to as it lasts quite a long time in the fridge.
You can substitute the fish sauce with either a good brand of vegetarian fish sauce or an equal amount of soy sauce (preferably Thai, but otherwise you should get good quality light soy sauce).
This recipe makes enough sauce for 8 servings of MY pad thai recipe. It's important to highlight "MY" here, because if you use another pad thai recipe it might have a different portion size, which will then need a different amount of sauce.
So, as I've indicated in the recipe, you'll need to measure the final volume of the sauce and divide it by 8 - which is how you'll know the volume of sauce needed per serving. I don't just give you the volume of sauce you need here because everyone will end up with a slightly different amount of garlic and shallots, (not to mention different amounts of evaporation), so the volume needed will differ from batch to batch.
In order to reduce bulk for storage, I've omitted the water from the sauce. So when you make your pad thai, you'll need to add 1 ½ tablespoon of water per serving (again, a serving of my pad thai recipe) in order for the noodles to have enough moisture to cook in. If space is not an issue, you can add the water to the sauce before storing.
Before you start, be sure to watch the video tutorial to ensure success! I always include little tips and tricks not mentioned in the blog post. The video is in the recipe card below, but you can also watch it on YouTube!
Related Recipes
Homemade Pad Thai Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1.75 oz chopped garlic, about 1 head
- 4 oz chopped shallot, about 1 cup
- 4.9 oz palm sugar, roughly chopped
- ½ cup fish sauce
- ¾ - 1 cup tamarind paste, see note
- chili flakes, to taste (optional)
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Notes
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success. If you enjoy them, consider subscribing to the YouTube Channel to not miss an episode. Thank you!
Subscribe to my YouTube ChannelInstructions
- In a medium sized pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and shallots, and saute until soft and translucent - about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the pot.2 tablespoon oil, 1.75 oz chopped garlic, 4 oz chopped shallot
- Return the pot to the stove over medium heat, then add the palm sugar and let it cook until it melts; pressing on any hard chunks to help them dissolve more quickly. After it melts, let it cook a little further until it caramelizes into a slightly darker brown for a richer flavour, being careful not to let it get too dark.4.9 oz palm sugar
- Turn off the heat then add the tamarind paste; it will bubble aggressively and the sugar will harden initially. Turn the heat back on to low to help the sugar dissolve and add the fish sauce. Turn off the heat after the sugar is mostly dissolved; don't worry about a few chunks left over, they will dissolve eventually.¾ - 1 cup tamarind paste, ½ cup fish sauce
- Stir the garlic and shallots back in and let cool. You can also add the chili flakes at this stage if you wish to make it spicy.chili flakes
- Measure the volume of the sauce by pouring it into a liquid measuring cup. Divide the volume by 8 to get the amount of sauce you need per serving (if using my pad thai recipe). Write this number down and tape it to the container of the sauce, also note on the label that you need to add 1 ½ tablespoon of water per serving when you cook.
Anil Gujral says
Great recipe. I follow all your recipes.
Drew Klassen says
Great recipe, thank you! I know you can't answer specific questions, but maybe some of your followers can - we can't get palm sugar in our area. What could we use instead? WOuld coarse cane sugar work?
Lin says
I saw from other pad Thai recipes that you can use brown sugar 🙂
Adam from HTK says
Hi Adam here and yes brown sugar is a common substitute for palm sugar 🙂 ... more details here https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/thai-ingredients 🙂 Cheers!
Marilyn says
So good! We’re having Pad Thai for dinner tonight & now have a pint of sauce for the fridge.Thank you😊
Melanie says
yummy, yummy, yummy!
Kevin says
I used tamarind powder from india like the recipe says not too but I bought it before I realized not to use that specific kind BUT I only used about 2 table spoons and that was just a bit more bitter than I liked it so I would go as low as 1 tablespoon for this recipe. Hope this helps.
Miko says
Can I use this sauce to make other sauces or it should only be used for Pad Thai?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
You can use it as a stir fry sauce for shrimp or pour it over fried fish, kinda like my tamarind shrimp recipe 🙂
Deb Thomas says
Your 2 videos on Pad Thai and the Sauce are my Go-To's! Excellent Sauce recipe! Do you ever make Chicken Panang. I'd love to see a video on it if you do. Thank you for sharing.
Lily says
I'd love to try this- unfortunately, none of the grocery stores near me carry tamarind- not its original form, a paste, sauce, or concentrate! The only thing there is is tamarind soda lol. Is there anything that could be a viable replacement for the tamarind?
Chris says
You can order it through Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07577FY9Q?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k0_1_5&=&crid=D2NCHCDYZK4O&=&sprefix=tamar
Adam from HTK says
Hi Adam here and anything near you on here that you haven't tried yet? https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/locate-a-thai-grocer/ Otherwise there are some suggestions re substitutions here https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/thai-ingredients/ Cheers!
Deb Thomas says
I replaced the tamarind by mixing a bit more Palm Sugar with Lime Juice and it was really tasty. If you look online there are many replacements for tamarind. Happy Cooking Lily!
Chuck says
Anything that adds tang, like rice vinegar will work.
Ben says
You can order it off of amazon
Kelly Teel says
Thank you so much for your video’s and this recipe!!! I have never even thought I would be able to be successful cooking Pad Thai authentically! I made this sauce tonight, then just made one serving for myself to try before serving to my family. I used very firm tofu and shrimp as my proteins. It was a huge success! Your video’s on the Palm Sugar was so helpful as well! Well done! You made a Caucasian grandmother real happy and proud! Just going to the Asian market was a bit of a challenge, but I found a store where the lady spoke English and could help me and she did so willingly! Thank you again!!!! I can’t wait until Saturday to make this for my husband! A shout out of thanks to My Hoa Oriental Food Market in Mobile, Alabama for the gracious help I received!
Monika Caffrey says
hello- how much palm sugar should I use if it is from concentrate and not in pieces? thanks
Pailin Chongchitnant says
I'm not sure what you mean by "concentrate" but do you mean it is in a soft paste? If so, you can still weigh out the same amount.
Denise says
I've tried other recipes (including NYT) and just didn't like them at all. Going to try this this weekend. I didn't know there was a difference in tamarind paste, so that is a fanastic tip. Ordering Thailand kind now (no time to make it on vacation in the VRBO). Can't wait!
Denise SC says
I've tried this twice now. No better recipe out there. I used it at a vrbo with a family vacation of 8 adults, and it was a hit. (Use her easy pad thai recipe, as well, to get the timing right for it, it was so helpful!) 8 people who don't agree on much, everyone raved about the shrimp pad thai I made. Side note: I didn't have palm sugar because we were out of town, so I used brown sugar and everything turn out just great.
Shanavas Vijayan says
Strange but I cannot seem to view your videos from my phone…I can hear the audio though.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
How strange. If this continues to be a problem can you please write to htk@hotthaikitchen.com and let us know what browser you are using? So we can try to troubleshoot. Thank you!
Lamia says
Love how easy it is to follow your written instructions because the ingredients and measurements show at each step of the recipe. For people like me who don't prepare everything before starting to cook, this is extremely helpful. It avoids having to go back and forth between the instructions and the ingredients. Love your recipies. Can't wait to make this one!
Dianne says
I've made your original Pad Thai before and loved it. I'd like to prepare this make-ahead sauce but I want to verify that One serving = 2 ounces of dry noodles.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
That's correct!
Shoua Lor says
So easy and so good all the time! Thanks.
Sherr says
I have cooked pad Thai using your recipe, and it turned out amazing! Like, the authenticity was there and it took me back to Thailand! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Joe says
Hello,
I had to register just to tell you that after several failed attempts at following your recipe, I finally managed to nail the pad Thai and it was absolutely delicious so thank you for your recipe.
What change this time was:
- Changing the amount of sauce, I used the amount for the glass noodle pad Thai recipe (because I don’t like shrimps and preserved sweet radish at the Asian store had a weird dark orange color so I didn’t bother buying it lol).
- Changing my noodle brand, went from a Vietnamese brand to a Thai that had pad Thai written on it and the texture turned out to be better. And also letting them cook longer in the wok even after they absorb the sauce, they are more tasty that way for me.
I still have a small issue with the egg and end up with "big piece" when I try to replicate what you do (covering the egg with the noodle, letting it cook and the flipping everything) but it’s fine I’ll just do it differently next time lol.
Next recipe I’ll try will be Pad see ew !
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi Joe, so glad to hear you had success finally! I'm not clear on what the problem with the egg is, but doesn't matter because it's such a minor point, some people scramble the eggs first, then remove them, then add them back in later. Whatever works for you!
Steve says
This is an awesome base from which to dial in your desired taste. You’ve mentioned that the brand of tamarind affects the amount you use, I believe the same would be true for the fish sauce - I used Red Boat, in the exact amount specified, and found that part of it a bit strong for my taste - might dial it back or add more sugar to balance it and the tamarind. I also found that this sauce goes a long way, too, which is really nice!
Joe says
Sorry Sherr I replied to you by mistake, I wanted to write a new comment lol
Umy says
My tamarind paste came in a block, and was very difficult to break down. Did I miss a step where I'm supposed to prep the paste before trying to mix it in?
I've had to use my blender to get it to a good consistency, and it's still super thick, not saucy at all.
What did I do wrong?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
I think what you got is tamarind "pulp" that still needs to be processed (but it was probably badly labeled as paste, many tamarind products are poorly labelled!). Please see instructions here for how to turn that into paste: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/making-tamarind-paste/
Jasmine says
Best Pad Thai hack ever. I love your recipe, it’s so easy to follow and tastes just like pad thai should be! (Bye bye red ketchupy pad thai from crappy thai restaurants).
I do have a question though. I kept a portion of the sauce in the fridge and the 2nd time I made it, it tastes just as good. Except, I kept “crunching” on hard round lumps. Small little lumps that I suspect is sugar but have no idea why they wouldn’t have melted in the heat. It wasn’t there the first time I made it, but definitely found quite a few the second batch. They are literally like little grains of sand that fell into the pad Thai. But the colour looks like palm sugar. Any advice?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
The lumps you found are from store bought tamarind paste (not all brands have them, but some do). These lumps settle at the bottom, so my advice is if you're getting to the bottom of the jar of your tamarind, strain it, and you'll remove these little lumps. This is why your first batch didn't have them, because they fall to the bottom! I don't know what they are TBH. Also if you make your own tamarind paste, this will not happen.
Marleen says
Tamarind contains a lot of tartaric acid, which forms little crystals.. It's the same with wine! It crystallizes at the bottom. Here in Germany you can buy it as a substitute for baking powder, works like a charm and doesn't have that weird mouthfeel that baking powder leaves behind. Thank you soooo much for the recipe, just finshed a big plate full of Pad Thai and loved it. Perfect. You put so much thought into the recipe description, so thank you for sharing all of it with us!
Anne-Marie says
I just made this and I will not buy ready made again. Absolutely delicious. Now the sauce is made, I can have a delicious meal in 10 to 15 minutes. Ideal when you work 13 hour days. Fantastic! Thank you x
veganforjustice says
I liked this so much! Replaced fish sauce with vegan fish sauce 👍🏼
Richard says
Couldn't find anywhere a mention of how long this will last - could you please enlighten me?
Thanks