Thai · Lunch or dinner

Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles)

Wide noodles, Thai bird chiles, holy basil and soy.

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Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles), plated, photographed from above.
Prep
15 min
Cook
15 min
Makes
4 servings
Skill
Comfortable
Heat
Hot, adjustable
Halal Contains gluten Contains soy Contains fish
Maui says

Smash the chiles instead of slicing them - you want the seeds released into the oil. The whole point of pad kee mao is that it's hot enough to make you sweat; that's where the name comes from.

Ingredients

Everything below makes 4 servings.

  • 1 lbwide rice noodles (fresh or dried)fresh: separated; dried: soaked 30 min, drained
  • 1 lbboneless skinless chicken thighssliced thin against the grain
  • 6thai bird chilessmashed with the side of a knife or roughly chopped
  • 6garlic clovesminced
  • 1½ cupsholy basil (or Thai basil)leaves only
  • 1red bell peppersliced into strips
  • 1 cupbaby corndrained, halved lengthwise
  • 2 tbspsoy sauce
  • 1 tbspdark soy sauce
  • 1½ tbspoyster sauce
  • 1 tspfish sauce
  • 1 tspsugar
  • 3 tbspneutral oil

In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.

Nutrition

Per serving, as written.

  • 560calories
  • 30gprotein
  • 68gcarbs
  • 18gfat

Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.

Instructions

Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.

Before you start
  1. Soak dried noodles 30 min in warm water if using dried; drain.
  2. Smash chiles; mince garlic. Use the side of your knife - bruising chiles lets the heat out.
  3. Slice chicken thin. Slice bell pepper; halve baby corn.
  4. Whisk soy, dark soy, oyster, fish sauce, and sugar in a small bowl.
  5. Pick basil leaves.
1

Chile-garlic oil

Heat oil in the wok over high heat. Add smashed chiles and garlic; stir-fry 20 sec - the kitchen will smell sharp and you may cough. That's the dish.

1 min · hands on
2

Sear chicken

Add chicken; stir-fry 3 min until just cooked through.

3 min · hands on
3

Vegetables

Add bell pepper and baby corn; toss 90 sec until just tender-crisp.

2 min · hands on
4

Char the noodles

Add remaining oil and drained noodles. Pour sauce over. Toss 2-3 min - let noodles sit and char in spots between tosses.

3 min · hands on
5

Basil in

Off heat, tear in holy basil leaves and toss until just wilted. Plate immediately - basil turns black quickly.

1 min · hands on

Make it yours

Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.

Instead of chicken thighs Beef sirloin

Slice thin against the grain; stir-fry 90 sec.

Instead of chicken thighs Extra-firm tofu

Press 10 min, cube, sear until golden.

Instead of chicken thighs Shrimp

Stir-fry 90 sec only - pull, add back at end. Saves about 2 minutes.

Gluten free Tamari for soy sauce, gluten-free dark soy sauce for dark soy sauce, gluten-free oyster sauce for oyster sauce

What keeps

Noodles go gummy and basil goes black on day 2. Cook fresh.

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