A real restaurant quality recipe for Pad See Ew, the popular Thai stir fried noodles straight from the streets of Thailand. While Pad Thai is sweeter and nuttier, Pad See Ew is salty, balanced with a touch of sour and a wonderful chargrilled flavour which you can create at home!
Pad See Ew, which means “stir fried soy sauce noodles, is an extremely popular Thai street food meal and probably the most popular noodle dish at Thai restaurants in Western countries. You may have tried and been disappointed by other recipes in the past. It all comes down to the sauce. You have to get the sauce right!
I can’t remember where I originally got the recipe from. Probably from David Thompson, the famous Australian chef who has dedicated his life to mastering the art of Thai cooking. I’ve made it so many times over the years, I can almost make it with my eyes closed. (Not really….but you know what I mean!)
So I had to actually measure the ingredients properly to share the recipe!
The unique technique with Pad See Ew is the cooking of an egg in the wok. Bits of scrambled egg gets stuck to the other ingredients and the char it creates adds to the authentic flavour of this dish.
Pad See Ew is traditionally made with Sen Yai, which are wide, thin fresh rice noodles which you can get from Asian grocery stores. But it is perfectly acceptable, and just as delicious, to make them with any wide flat rice noodles. I make this with dried Pad Thai Noodles or other fat, flat rice noodles because supermarkets in my area don’t sell Sen Yai and I didn’t have the energy to make the trek to the closest Asian store.
You can really make this with any noodles you want, fresh or dry, such as Hokkien, Singapore or other egg noodles suitable for stir frying, but I don’t recommend making this with vermicelli noodles, because they are too thin for the strong flavours of this sauce.
Here are the noodles I used for this recipe that are sold at supermarkets and grocery stores like Coles, Woolworths, Aldi and Harris Farms (as well as Asian stores of course, but if you are ate Asian store, get the fresh noodles!). It is really similar to Sen Yai, except that it’s dried, not fresh, and not quite as wide.
The other key authentic ingredient in this is Chinese Broccoli, otherwise known as Gai Lan or Kai lan. It’s leafy and looks quite different to broccoli, but you’ll notice a similarity in the texture of the stems.
You can substitute the chicken with other proteins that are suitable for stir frying, and you can substitute the Chinese broccoli with other vegetables – preferably similar leafy Chinese greens such as pak choy or bok choy. But I’ve also been known to make this using whatever vegetables I have leftover at the end of the week, such as sliced carrots, onion and bean sprouts.
The 3 components to this dish are the noodles, the sauce, and the ingredients to stir fry. Have all of them ready to toss into the wok as once you start cooking, it only takes a few minutes so you don’t want to be scrambling around the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy it! – Nagi x
* Originally published June 2014. Updated with fresh new photos because my photography has somewhat improved since then! 🙂
Save this Pad See Ew to your THAI Pinterest Board!
- 6 oz / 180g dried wide rice stick noodles , or 15 oz / 450g fresh wide flat rice noodles (Sen Yai) (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (or sub with kecap manis) (see notes for substitutes)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp soy sauce (normal all purpose soy sauce)
- 2 tsp white vinegar (plain distilled white vinegar)
- 2 tsp sugar (white or brown)
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic cloves
- 1 cup / 150g / 5oz chicken thighs (boneless, skinless), cut into bite size pieces
- 1 large egg
- 4 cups (packed) Chinese broccoli, leaves separated from stems (cut stems vertically into thin sticks)
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Prepare the noodles according to packet instructions. Some just require soaking in boiling water for 5 minutes, others require cooking in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. For fresh noodles, soak in boiled water in a bowl for a few minutes - do not boil in a pot. Drain when ready.
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Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients.
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Mince the garlic straight into the wok with the oil. Place wok high heat. As the oil is heating, the garlic will gradually heat too and infuse the oil with flavour.
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When the oil is hot and the garlic is starting to turn golden, add the chicken and Chinese broccoli stems and stir fry for 1 minute.
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Move the chicken and Chinese broccoli to one side and crack in the egg, and scramble it. Don't worry if some of it sticks to the wok, it will char as you continue cooking - you want that chargrilled flavour!
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Add the noodles, Chinese broccoli leaves and the sauce. Fold gently to combine, for the sauce to coat the noodles evenly and to caramelise, and the leaves to just wilt. They only need to be just wilted because they will continue to cook while you are plating up.
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Serve immediately.
1. Pad See Ew is traditionally made with Sen Yai rice noodles which are wide, flat rice noodles. These are quite difficult to find, even at Asian grocery stores here in Sydney, Australia. The best substitute is to use wide rice stick noodles. I use Pad Thai, the widest you can find at supermarkets here.
If you can find wide flat rice noodles, you will need over double the dried rice stick quantity which sounds like a lot I know, but the fresh noodles are really dense and heavy. Making this with fresh noodles really is fantastic, so keep an eye out for them! AUSTRALIA: Harris Farms now stocks wide flat rice noodles.
2. Dark soy sauce is thicker and slightly sweeter than normal soy sauce, and has a more complex flavour. It is available in Asian grocery stores and in the asian section of most large supermarkets. A great substitute is kecap manis which is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce. Otherwise, to make your own substitute, use 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce with 1 tbsp honey instead of 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce.
Normal soy sauce - I use Kikkoman. Look for a soy sauce bottle that does not say dark, light, sweet or salt reduced on it!
3. If you can't find Chinese broccoli, you can substitute with other leafy Chinese vegetables such as pak choy or bok choy. You can also add other vegetables if you wish.
4. You can substitute the chicken with other proteins suitable for stir frying, even tofu or prawns.
4. You can use other noodles if you want, fresh or dried, rice or egg noodles. However, I do not recommend using vermicelli as it is too thin for the strong flavours of the sauce.
5. If you accidentally add the noodles into the pan before checking they are properly rehydrated, simply add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and bring it boil, tossing the noodles to finish "cooking" them. It won't take long because rice noodles do not require much cooking - maybe 1 minute or so, and the dish will still come out fine (though if you already added the broccoli leaves then they will be very wilted rather than just slightly wilted).
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 3 servings.
If you enjoyed this recipe, I think you’ll also love my Pad Thai recipe!
I’m so glad I stumbled on your site – total serendipity, as I was looking foe something else, and this showed up on my Google search. I just made this, and man, is it good. I doubled the recipe so I’ll have leftovers. 🙂 And it’s so much cheaper than going to a restaurant. Thanks!
Hey Nagi,
My wife and I went to see Suzanne Vega perform in Thirroul last week and had a delicious Pad See Ew in the little Thai restaurant next to the theatre. Could I even come close to replicating it at home? Well, yes I could if use the recipetineats.com recipe! It was brilliant. Thank you again!
You’re making my head big!!! 😂 Glad you both enjoyed it Steve!
Thank you so much for the detailed recipe! Do you have any suggestions for a vegetarian version (including vegetarian sauce)?
I made this dish for dinner tonight. I used bok choy because I couldn’t find Chinese broccoli at my local store. Everyone loved it! Quick and delicious!! Will definitely make it again. And again.
I LOVE HEARING THAT!!!!!! N xx
I’m so glad I stumbled across your site. This is a really amazing recipe. So simple and incredibly flavorful. My grocery store didn’t have Chinese broccoli so I used regular broccoli and baby bok choy. We used dried linguini rice noodles. Thanks for adding the tip about using honey and regular soy sauce instead of dark soy sauce. Worked perfectly! My 11 year old wolfed it down as well as me and my husband! I’ll be perusing your site for another recipe for this week!
That’s so great to hear Stephanie! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x
This is the best Pad See Ew recipe I’ve made. A winner by all standards! Thank you for your amazing recipe site. I’ve been on a lot of recipe websites but your recipes are a cut above consistently. You should be a chef and own a restaurant.
That’s very flattering Kim! Thank you! N x
So good and tastes like the pad see ew from thai restaurants. Yum!
This recipe is delicious I am having it for dinner now fresh eggs from my parents and my homegrown garlic and broccoli made it extra yummy thankyou for creating such a beautiful meal Cheers Amanda
That’s so great to hear Amanda! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x
I tried this out tonight. The flavor was good but I found the dish was very dry and noodles stuck together. I made a second batch of sauce and that helped but it still absorbed into the noodles pretty quickly. Any tips on what to do to make it not dry up so much?
Hi Andrew, I’m sorry to hear that. Did you use the right amount of noodles? Also were the noodles sufficiently soaked? If not, then what would have happened is that they would suck up all the sauce juices leaving nothing left to coat the noodles 🙂 N x
Any advice for someone who doesn’t want to add oyster sauce? Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Alastair! Just to let you know – I edited out your email address that you put in the public comment field 🙂 I recommend using Hoisin if you don’t wish to use oyster sauce. there will be a slight Chinese Five Spice flavour but it’s a great sub for Oyster Sauce in this particular recipe!
I just made this. And I’ll be making it again soon 🙂 Really tasty.
I didn’t have the broccoli so I used mange tout/snow peas and bean sprouts instead. I’ll try and find it for next time. It was still incredible, thanks for the recipe!
This recipe is a solid 10 out of 10!!! Flavor profile is perfect! Substituted stevia for sugar as well.
Love hearing that Jeremy! So pleased you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
I came across your website in 2017 and have been making it ever since! The last time I made was on February, 2018. This recipe is always delicious!
I LOVE hearing that Ye Won Song! Thanks so much for letting me know! N xx