Vegan Pad Thai Recipe (pad mee korat)

Published: Feb 20, 2025 · Modified: Mar 13, 2025 by Pailin Chongchitnant · This post may contain affiliate links

Though I am calling this vegan pad thai, this isn't just a veganized version that I made up. It's a real Thai dish that I grew up eating called pad mee korat, and when I was thinking about a vegan version of pad thai, it dawned on me that pad mee korat was basically it, with just a few tweaks!

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What is pad mee korat?

I have always thought of pad mee korat as the sister of pad thai given their similar flavours and ingredients. It's a rice noodle stir fry that is the local specialty of my mom's hometown, Korat, in the northeast of Thailand. This is why it's a dish my grandmother makes regularly!

While pad thai necessarily contains fish sauce and eggs, pad mee korat doesn't need either of those. But both dishes use the same rice noodles, bean sprouts, garlic chives, and has that same sweet-salty-sour profile.

Though my grandma usually makes pad mee korat with thinly sliced pork, it's not essential to the dish and you can substitute with the tofu used in pad thai, or simply omit it. I couldn't have asked for a better starting point for a vegan pad thai recipe!

Traditional vs Vegan Pad Thai

How is this vegan pad thai different from the traditional pad thai recipe? There are a few things we substituted:

Fish sauce. Fish sauce is the main flavour of pad thai, and the reason you will rarely find vegan pad thai offered in Thai restaurants. Because to make a vegan version they would have to make another batch of pad thai sauce, which most places would not do. For this vegan version we use tao jiew instead, which is a fermented soybean paste similar to miso. You can also use miso instead.
Dried shrimp. These are chewy little umami bits, and here I used shiitake mushrooms instead which work wonderfully. FYI, many Thai restaurants overseas don't add them anyway, so if that's what you're used to, you won't miss it.
Eggs. We simply omit them, but if vegetarian pad thai is what you're going for, then feel free to add them.

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Ingredients and Notes

Here are all the ingredients you'll need. For the amounts and instructions, see the recipe card below!

Sauce Ingredients

Soy sauce. Thai soy sauce is best but it's not necessary. Confused by different types of soy sauces? See this soy sauce explainer post here!
Tao jiew. This is Thai fermented soybean paste that is essentially the Thai version of miso. It's sold in glass bottles (Healthy Boy Brand) at Asian grocery stores that sell a lot of Thai ingredients, though it is harder to find. You can substitute equal amount of miso or doenjang.
Tamarind paste. If buying pre-made tamarind paste, always buy ones from Thailand to make sure you have the right product. These are often labeled as tamarind concentrate (see pic below). You can also make your own tamarind paste from pulp and it's what I do. Never buy tamarind products from India as they are not the same!
**Tamarind sourness varies from brand to brand, so if it's your first time, start out with a little less and you can add more later if needed.**
Chili flakes, optional, only if you want to make it spicy. Store bought is fine, or you can easily make your own using my roasted chili flakes recipe. You can also leave it out of the sauce and let people add their own at the table.

a tub of tamarind concentrate held in hand

Pad Thai Ingredients

Dry rice noodles, medium size (2-3 mm wide). You need to soak them in room temp water for 1 hour, so don't forget to do this ahead of time! You can soak them the day before, drain, then keep them in the fridge until ready to use. If you did not plan ahead, you can do an emergency soak in hot off the boil water and for 3 minutes, then drain and rinse immediately under cold water.
*If you have previously had trouble working with rice noodles, be sure to check out this ultimate guide to mastering rice noodles.
Neutral oil, this can be any neutral flavoured cooking oil you normally use. I use avocado oil or canola oil
Pressed tofu. Pressed tofu is the firmest tofu you can buy. It has a nice chew and will not fall apart in the wok. It's also the tofu that's traditionally used in pad thai. Sometimes they are labeled as "bean curd". If not available, use extra firm tofu or fried tofu.
Fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced. If stems are thick and hard, remove them. If they're small and tender you can leave them on.
Shallots, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Palm sugar. Light brown sugar can be used instead.
Garlic chives, cut into 2-inch pieces. If not available you can substitute green onions (though they don't taste the same), but chop green onions smaller and use less as they are more intense in flavour than garlic chives.
Bean sprouts. Be sure to get mung bean sprouts, not soybean sprouts.
Roasted peanuts, optional, roughly crushed or chopped. Peanuts are not typically added to pad mee korat, so feel free to skip them, but I add them here to get it closer to a traditional pad thai.
Lime wedges, optional. I find a squeeze of fresh lime can add a nice burst of freshness.

How to Make Vegan Pad Thai

Here's a bird's eye view of all the steps so you know what's involved, for full instructions see the recipe card below!

Soak your noodles for 1 hour in room temp water. Meanwhile, make the sauce by adding tao jiew to a small bowl and mash with a fork to break up the soybeans, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients and stir to mix.
In a wok or a large nonstick skillet, sear the mushrooms and tofu in a little bit of oil until golden brown and the mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from the pan.
To the same pan, add the oil, garlic, shallots, palm sugar and cook, stirring frequently until the sugar caramelizes into a deep brown colour.
Deglaze with the sauce mixture and stir to mix.

Add the soaked rice noodles along with the mushrooms and tofu.
Toss until all the sauce has been absorbed. Taste the noodles, and if it is still undercooked, add a splash of water and keep it cooking longer.
Turn off the heat, add bean sprouts and garlic chives and toss to mix.
Once mixed, you can taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Plate and sprinkle with roasted peanuts and serve with a wedge of lime.

Tips for Advance Prep

If you have all your ingredients ready, the cooking will take literally 5 minutes. So prepare ingredients as per these suggestions to enjoy weeknight pad thai!

Make the sauce in advance (you can make a big batch!) and keep in the fridge. Saute the garlic, shallots, and sugar as per the recipe, then once you've added the liquid seasonings to the caramelized sugar, take it off heat and transfer it to a glass jar. That's your sauce! Keep it in a sealed container in the fridge. This sauce will keep for a long time.
*If keeping multiple batches of sauce in one container, remember to measure and note how much sauce you need per batch!
Soak the noodles up to a week in advance, drain well then rest them briefly on a towel to ensure no excess water will pool in the container. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.
Chop all your vegetables and keep them in an airtight container and they will last for a week!

Storing Leftovers and Reheating

I get asked all the time how leftover pad thai should be stored and heated, and to be frank, rice noodles do not keep well, so ideally, you don't want to have leftovers. If you want to have it again later in the week, it's better to prep all the ingredients (see tips above) and cook a fresh batch because the cooking takes only a few minutes!

But sometimes you just can't help it and you end up with extras. In that case, keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for ideally no more than 1 day. The longer you keep it, the more mushy the noodles become.

When you reheat, you can simply microwave it, however, it's crucial that the noodles are reheated until steaming hot, and not just warm. Rice noodles harden in the fridge, and they need to be fully heated in order to regain their softness.