Pad See Ew

Wide, chewy, and tender rice noodles tossed in a savory, sweet sauce along with chicken, eggs, and Chinese broccoli. Pad See Ew is one of the most popular Thai dishes served at Thai restaurants and now you can make it at home whenever the craving strikes!

Pad see ew is my favorite Thai dish ever. This is why I even made it for the blog back in 2011 (when I first started blogging!) I wanted to share with everyone my favorite Thai dish. Pad see ew is what I order every time we go to a Thai restaurant. I just love the slightly sweet flavored sauce that coats the noodles.My favorite is with beef but I’ve had it with chicken and more recently, my order consists of having pad see ew with tofu!

The base of the dish is made up of wide, flat rice noodles that are stir-fried in a sweet and savory sauce made from light and dark soy sauces, sugar, and oyster sauce. It is slightly thick, sweet, and coats every noodle and everything else in the dish so beautifully. Other ingredients like garlic, Chinese broccoli, and egg may be added to the mix. The resulting dish is a delicious combination of sweet, salty, and savory flavors that will always leave you wanting more.

What is pad see ew?

It is a Thai stir fried noodle dish. It means “soy sauce stir fried noodles” and it’s one of the most popular Thai dishes at restaurants! It’s a great dish to start your Thai cuisine exploration.

What does pad see ew taste like?

It’s salty and slightly sweet with a chargrilled flavor. This is what made me fall in love with pad see ew. The chargrilled flavor is achieved because the noodles caramelize in the wok over high heat. It’s also called “wok burn” – we Asians love that flavor. It’s definitely something to get used to as to others, it might taste like the dish is burned. It’s somewhat hard to achieve this at home because you really need a large open gas flame but to do it at home, the best we can do is high heat.

Why You’ll Love This

• Flavor combination and texture. There’s a little of everything in this pad see ew. It’s a delicious combination of sweet, salty, and savory flavors plus it has great texture with the chewiness of the wide rice noodles and the crunch and tenderness of the Chinese broccoli.
• Restaurant quality at home. I know it is so much easier to pick up that laptop or phone and order it while you’re watching your favorite reruns of Taylor Swift’s live concerts but trust me when I say making this pad see ew at home is incredibly easy and you can control what you put in it!
• Simple ingredients. Most of these ingredients are easy to obtain and honestly you may already have them in your pantry! It doesn’t take a run to a specialty grocery store for the ingredients and I’m all about that.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here is a list of ingredients you will need to make pad see ew. Make sure to scroll down to view the full recipe for exact measurements.

For the sauce:

• Oyster sauce
• Soy sauce
• Sweet soy sauce
• Rice vinegar
• Arrowroot powder or cornstarch

For the rest of the dish:

• Rice noodles – you’ll want the wide, short, flat noodles that is traditionally used in pad see ew. However, they’re oddly ridiculously hard to find so if you can’t find them you can use the long rice noodles but make sure you use wide.
• Garlic
• Chicken
• Gai lan – this is Chinese broccoli and it’s very different than regular American broccoli. It’s a leafy green vegetable with thickish stems and it most resembles kale or collard greens.
• Eggs

How To Make Pad See Ew

Making pad see ew at home seems intimidating but I promise you’ve got it. Here is a general overview of the steps involved to make it and it couldn’t be easier! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the full recipe.

Make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

Cook the noodles. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rice noodles according to the directions on the package.

Cook the rest of the dish. While the noodles are cooking, in a wok, heat up 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over high heat and then add the garlic and chicken, working quickly to toss the chicken and garlic together until fragrant and chicken is cooked through. Add the gai lan and cook until wilted and tender. Make a well in the center of the pot and add the eggs and vigorously stir until it’s scrambled and cooked.

Bring together the entire dish. Add the sauce to the wok then add the rice noodles and toss everything together until all ingredients are evenly distributed throughout and the sauce coats everything well. Let the ingredients sit in the high heat of the wok for 1-2 minutes to caramelize and get that wok burn flavor then toss, repeat until desired doneness.

Recipe Tips, Substitutions, and Variations

• Proteins. Sliced beef, thinly sliced chicken, shrimp, or even tofu! They all work in this recipe and make flavorful additions.
• Noodle type. I’ve got a guide to noodles so take a quick read on all the various kinds of noodles in Asian cooking.. Traditionally, pad se ew is made with short, flat, wide rice noodles but they are shockingly hard to find. It took me quite a while to find them and I went to an Asian grocery store to get them. They don’t always have them either which boggles my mind. I like to keep it authentic and just like the restaurant so I was determined to find them! However, if you can’t, you can just use the regular rice noodles that I used in this recipe and they are much easier to find at many grocery stores.
• Broccoli variations. The Chinese broccoli is called Gai Lan but if you can’t find it and find something similar like Choi Sum, you can use that or just use regular American broccoli or broccolini.
• Egg allergy or not eating eggs? You can certainly omit it. When I was doing an elimination diet to figure out what was going on with my gut, I asked the restaurant to omit the egg whenever I made pad see ew.
• Vegetarian version. You can very easily make this vegetarian by substituting the oyster sauce for vegetarian oyster sauce (it’ll be mushroom-based) and omitting the chicken and/or using tofu. You may omit the egg as well or keep it in, depending on your dietary beliefs.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

Pad see ew is best eaten day of but if you do have leftovers, put into an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for up to three days. To reheat, add a bit of water to the container then put it in the microwave to reheat. The water will generate steam and also help break up the sauce and rice noodles that have likely hardened due to the cold temperature of the fridge.

What to Serve with Pad See Ew

Generally, pad see ew can be eaten on its own but if you’re like me whenever I order Thai takeout, I always add Crispy Golden Spring Rolls to my order and Rainbow Summer Rolls. Tom Yum Soup would be a lovely side dish to start and a green curry is always a great addition to the table.