If you love Thai food, then you’re probably already familiar with drunken noodles, or pad kee mao. There are a few theories about the origin of the name. The most common explanation is a simple one: these noodles are perfect after a night of drinking with friends.
Which Noodles to Use in Drunken Noodles
If you have this dish in Thailand, you’ll likely be eating fresh rice noodles. You can find those in the refrigerated section of your local Asian grocery––near all the other fresh noodles. However, fresh rice noodles can sometimes be hard to locate, even in Chinese groceries. They also don’t last very long in the refrigerated, and must be used soon after buying.
When we blogged this particular recipe, we used a Chinese brand of dried wide rice noodles. The good news is, they came out really well!
The noodles were soft and chewy, coming pretty close to the fresh rice noodles we use in our Beef Chow Fun. The best part? You can keep the dried noodles in your pantry any time the mood for drunken noodles strikes! Look for them in the Asian market in the dried noodle aisle.
Combine those rice noodles with spicy chili peppers, basil, fish sauce, and chicken, and this drunken noodle recipe is awesome…regardless of whether you’re in a drunken stupor or just enjoying dinner on a weeknight or lazy Sunday.
A Note On Thai Basil
One disclaimer I must make is about the type of basil used in this dish. I know people can be purists about using holy basil versus Thai basil, but Thai basil is often easier to get in Asian markets here in the U.S., and it works great in this recipe.
Thai basil and holy basil have their own special flavor missing from regular old Italian basil, so my rule is that you must use one of these two types. Thai basil has a cinnamon-y, anise flavor, while holy basil has an event more fragrant licorice-like taste. They are very different from your run of the mill sweet Italian basil.
Sarah has a different view. She emphasizes in her Pad Gra Prow recipe that Italian basil is better than no basil at all.
I can sort of agree with that, especially if it’s difficult to find Thai basil locally. BUT even if you do use Italian basil because all you can find, you must seek out Thai basil at some point to try in this dish. Try the Thai or holy basil once, and I will bet that you will never settle again for any substitute.
Go make this drunken noodles recipe (aka pad kee mao) now and you’ll wonder what else you’ve been missing in life! It’s seriously that good, folks.
Drunken Noodles: Recipe Instructions
Work the two tablespoons of water into the chicken with your hands until the chicken absorbs the liquid. Add the soy sauce (Thai thin soy sauce preferred), oil and cornstarch, and mix until the chicken is evenly coated. Set aside for 20 minutes. For more information and preparing chicken for stir fries, see my post on Chicken velveting 101.
Follow the directions on the dried rice noodle package to prepare them. What I usually do is fill a stainless steel bowl with hot tap water to soak the noodles for about 15-20 minutes. Then I just drain them and set aside.
Stir together the dissolved brown sugar/water mixture, soy sauces (Thai soy sauce preferred), fish sauce, oyster sauce, and white pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat your wok until it’s close to smoking, and spread 2 tablespoons of oil around the perimeter of the wok.
Add the chicken and let it sear for 1 minute on each side until it’s about 90% cooked. Remove from the wok and set aside. If the heat was high enough and you seared the meat correctly, your wok should be still clean with nothing sticking to it. If not, you can wash the wok to prevent the rice noodles from sticking.
Continue with the wok on high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil, along with the garlic and grated ginger.
After a few seconds, add the shallots. Stir-fry for 20 seconds and add the scallion, Thai red chili peppers, Thai basil (or holy basil), baby corn and Shaoxing wine.
Stir-fry for another 20 seconds and add in the rice noodles. Use a scooping motion to mix everything for another minute until the noodles warm up.
Next, add the prepared sauce mixture. Stir-fry at the highest heat for about 1 minute until the noodles are uniform in color. Take care to use your metal spatula to scrape the bottom of the wok to prevent sticking. Add the seared chicken and stir-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes.
Serve your Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) immediately with your favorite chili oil!
Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)
Ingredients
For the chicken & marinade:
- 2 tablespoons water
- 12 ounces sliced chicken thighs or chicken breast (340g)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
For the rest of the dish:
- 8 ounces wide dried rice noodles (225g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar (dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water)
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce (Thai soy sauce preferred)
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- pinch ground white pepper
- 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil (divided)
- 3 cloves garlic (sliced)
- ¼ teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 2 shallots (sliced, about 1/3 cups)
- 1 scallion (julienned into 3-inch pieces)
- 4 Thai red chili peppers (deseeded and julienned)
- 1 cup holy basil or Thai basil (loosely packed)
- 5 to 6 pieces baby corn (split in half, optional)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
Instructions
- Work the 2 tablespoons of water into the sliced chicken with your hands until the chicken absorbs the liquid. Add 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon oil, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch, and mix until the chicken is evenly coated. Set aside for 20 minutes.
- Follow the directions on the rice noodle package to prepare your noodles. What we usually do is prepare a stainless steel bowl with hot tap water to soak the noodles for about 15 minutes. Then we just drain them and set aside for cooking.
- Stir together the dissolved brown sugar mixture, soy sauces, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and white pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
- Heat your wok until it’s close to smoking, and spread 2 tablespoons of oil around the perimeter of the wok. Add the chicken and let it sear for 1 minute on each side until it’s about 90% cooked. Remove from the wok and set aside. If the heat was high enough and you seared the meat correctly, your wok should be still clean with nothing sticking to it. If not, you can wash the wok to prevent the rice noodles from sticking.
- Continue with the wok on high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil, along with the garlic and grated ginger.
- After a few seconds, add the shallots. Stir fry for 20 seconds and add the scallions, chili peppers, basil, baby corn and shaoxing wine. Stir-fry for another 20 seconds and add in the rice noodles. Use a scooping motion to mix everything for another minute until the noodles warm up.
- Next, add the prepared sauce mixture and stir-fry at the highest heat for about 1 minute until the noodles are uniform in color. Take care to use your metal spatula to scrape the bottom of the wok to prevent sticking.
- Add the seared chicken and stir-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Serve!
nutrition facts
Note: We originally published this post on March 4, 2016. We have since updated the post with clearer instructions and helpful links. Enjoy!
Wanted to try making this dish since I order it out all the time. It was great! I followed other comments and doubled the amount of sauce which was perfect. I also added a red bell pepper and tomatoes. I subbed the shallot for a whole onion, and finally some subbed the chicken for airfrier tofu to make it vegetarian/pescatarian friendly. My supermarket did not have Thai chilis (supply chain woes), but I did use 3-4 tsps of ground chili and garlic in oil and that did the trick. The cost of the ingredients was basically the same as ordering out, but it was super fun to make!
Hi Erin, nothing wrong with having a little more sauce ;-)
Hello! It was great, delicious, and such an easy recipe to follow. Just have one question, where/when did you use the dark soy sauce? Thank you!
Hi Maria, good to hear you liked it. The dark soy sauce is used in the sauce and adds some richness and color to the Pad Kee Mao.
I’ve made this recipe three times now and the whole family loves it. It was costing $50 for three of us to have take-out Drunken Noodles and as much as we loved ordering out, it was hard to justify. This recipe is just as good and we can afford to eat it regularly. We don’t like baby corn, so I substituted orange bell pepper for added texture. Red onion instead of shallots simply because they are easier to slice. I used brown sugar the first two times, but had palm sugar available tonight because my husband was experimenting with Vietnamese BBQ pork ribs. Might have made a slight difference, but not enough that someone needs to go out of there way to get it. The recipe is perfect as is and I totally recommend it.
Thank you so much for your high praise, Ashley, and so glad you are cooking it at home :-)
I have no words. This was phenomenal. I ate and ate and ate and told my husband to just cut me off. How delicious!!!!
Hahaha…did he cut you off?
How much will leaving out the Shaoxing Wine affect this recipe?? Could not find it at my local HMart unfortunately :(
You can sub with dry cooking sherry if you can’t find Shaoxing wine.
This was great! I subbed the baby corn ( because I don’t really care for it) for a bit of broccoli, red bell pepper and tomato, which is how my favorite Thai place makes it. I also used fresh rice noodles from HMart. It was really good! This recipe also finally encouraged me to buy some dark soy sauce which I always need for recipes but never have, and I’m glad I have that in my sauce arsenal now, haha.
Hi Emily, glad you enjoyed these drunken noodles – they are so good! Happy to hear that you acquired dark soy sauce, it really does enhance Asian cooking a lot :)
We made this tonight and used wide “rice flake” rice noodles (BANH CUON KHO) we found at the local Asian supermarket. Turned out just as good as what we’d get from a restaurant. Great recipe.
Hi Frank, That is a great choice for rice noodles. Sounds like you did a great job cooking!