Instant Pot Pad Thai

Instant Pot Pad Thai made with chicken, shrimps, eggs, Pad Thai jar sauce & crushed peanuts tastes delicious. You can include this less than 30 mins Instant Pot Chicken Pad Thai in your weeknight dinner & enjoy a Thai restaurant quality meal at home.

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Note: This post has been updated with reheating directions, serving ideas, leftovers & storage and FAQs!

Instant Pot Chicken Pad Thai

Pad Thai with shrimp & chicken had never been this easy & delicious before. Grab a bottle of your favorite pad thai jar sauce from the store & use it. Great flavors without any hassel.

You don't have to hunt down tamarind paste & pickled dry radish for making your own homemade pad thai sauce! This easy Pad Thai recipe is all you need! It is packed with unbeatable flavors and get's ready in no time. You'll love it!

Ingredients & Substitutions

Find the Ingredients with actual measurements at the bottom of the post. The list below is just a reference.

• Pad Thai Noodles: They are made of rice & are naturally gluten free. You can find them in the Asian aisle of your local supermarket. I used the brand " A Taste of Thai Rice Linguine Noodles" (readily available in supermarkets around the USA). DO NOT use Instant Rice Noodles ever!
• Proteins: A combo of de-shelled, de-veined Shrimp & boneless skinless diced Chicken tastes amazing in this homemade Pad Thai recipe. Use scrambled eggs as well.
• Pad Thai Jar Sauce: Grab a bottle of your favorite brand's Pad Thai Sauce. It has great flavors and so easy to use. You don't need to hunt down tamarind paste & dry pickled radish (so typical of pad thai recipe) for making a sauce from scratch. The jar sauce is packed with umami & contains everything a pad thai needs.
• Aromatics: Onion & garlic. You can use either red onion or yellow onion.
• Light Soy Sauce: Now this is our personal touch & we love a few dashes of this sauce. However, you can skip using it altogether. You can also sub it with regular soy sauce or coconut aminos or tamari.
• Fish Sauce: Highly recommended. This single sauce elevates of the flavor this chicken Pad Thai recipe.
• Brown Sugar: The Jar sauce is already slightly sweet so we did not add much sugar in the recipe. Add one tablespoon of sugar & the pad thai becomes a bomb. However, you can certainly up the amount if you prefer really sweet food.
• Garnish: Scallions, roasted crushed peanuts & sprinkles of cayenne pepper for a slight kick. Of course lime wedges.
• Any neutral oil: You can use either light or extra light olive oil, canola oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil or vegetable oil.
• Liquid: Use water or chicken broth.

Tips & Tricks

1. Noodles consistency: Al dente is what we prefer. The liquid to noodles ratio and the cooking time is very important here. Do not change any of this. You'll have amazing results every single time.
2. Arranging the Noodles: Add them in a bird nest pattern in the instant pot or zig zag manner (watch the Video below at the bottom of the post). Never stack them all at once.
3. De-tangle the cooked Noodles: Pad Thai noodles are rice noodles that are naturally gluten free. The cooked noodles tend to clump up because of the starch released. You'll need a little more patience & time to de-tangle them as compared to regular wheat noodles. A pair of fork makes the job a breeze (watch the video how I did it).
4. Pad Thai sauce: A pad thai jar sauce is what you need to use. This makes the recipe in a jiffy. You can use any brand you want to. We chose "Double Golden Fish Brand - Pad Thai Paste."
5. Best time to add sauces: Add them after pressure cooking the noodles. If you love wok charred noodles than never ever pressure cook the noodles with the sauces. You'll end up with super bland noodles if you pressure cook them along with the sauces because the sauces will get over cooked and loose flavor. Instead toss the pressure cooked noodles in the sauces to mimic wok flavors 100%.
6. The Proteins: Rub the chicken & shrimp with paprika, crushed black pepper & salt. Sauté until cooked through. Amazing flavors. Do not Pressure cook them with the noodles. They'll become rubbery & taste meh.
7. Best time to add proteins: Add back the sauteed proteins & the scrambled egg after tossing the cooked noodles with the sauces. Just mix well. Garnish & devour right away.
8. Roasted/toasted Peanuts: You do no need a ton of these. They work best as a garnish. I prefer dry roasting my raw peanuts on a skillet & than crush them with a mortar & pestle.
9. Cayenne Pepper: Use it as a garnish for a slight kick, just a few sprinkles should be enough. You can skip if you want to.

How to make Pad Thai

Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements + Video at the bottom of the post.

Step #1 Scramble eggs & saute Proteins

Scramble the whisked eggs in the Instant Pot on SAUTE function set on HIGH first & than to NORMAL (once you pour the eggs quickly turn down the heat to NORMAL). Set the scrambled eggs aside.

Now, saute the flash marinated proteins on NORMAL Saute function until the chicken and the shrimps become opaque and fully cooked through. Took me around 5 mins. Set them aside.

Step #2 Pressure Cook Noodles

Use the same settings and saute the garlic & the onion for about 1-2 mins. Pour liquid and de-glaze the pot very well scrapping the sides & the bottom of the pot with the help of a spatula. This helps prevent the BURN error.

Layer the rice pad thai noodles in a bird nest or zig zag pattern. DO NOT add the noodles all at once (watch the video way below).

Gently press down the noodles with the help of spatula to lightly coat them with the liquid (this is imp). Close the lid, seal the valve & pressure cook on HIGH for just 2 mins followed by a QUICK RELEASE (al dente Noodles).

You'll end up with cooked noodles with some amount of the liquid. De-tangle the noodles patiently with the help of a pair of fork. Rice noodles tend to clump up a bit more. But you can easily de-tangle them with a tad bit more patience 😀

Step #3 Toss Noodles with Sauces

The extra liquid in the pot will be sucked up by the noodles. Add the sauces and toss the noodles with the sauces on SAUTE function kept at LOW.

Do this until the noodles are well coated on all sides with the sauces.

Step #4 Add Proteins

Add back the cooked proteins & the scrambled eggs and gently mix them with the pad thai noodles. If you love spicy pad thai noodles you can now add chopped thai red chilies or just a few dashes of red pepper flakes. I didn't add any.

Step #5 Garnish & serve

Finally, garnish the Instant Pot Pad Thai noodles with scallions & crushed pepper and serve the yumminess with some lime wedges and sprinkles of cayenne pepper (for a slight kick). Enjoy!

How to serve

Pad Thai chicken is a complete meal all by itself. You can serve it as such or add an extra protein side dish from the below options:

• Potstickers.
• Wontons.
• Dumplings.
• Wonton soup.
• Hot and sour soup.
• Asian salad.
• Chinese egg rolls.

Leftovers & storage

Fridge: The shrimp Pad Thai lasts for 5 days in the fridge when stored in moisture free air tight containers. Re-heat the noodles with a few sprinkle of water. This adds a good moisture to the dish.

Freezer: You can freeze the dish for upto 1 month. I would skip the scallions and freeze the cooked Pad Thai in individual freezer safe individual bags or containers.

How to reheat

You can reheat this Pad Thai noodles recipe in the microwave oven until warm or hot. 

FAQs

More Asian take-out recipes you might like

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• Authentic chicken lo mein recipe.
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