Pad Thai

Name: Pad Thai
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 28 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 125g Rice Noodles; Juice of 3 Lime; 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper; 2 teaspoons Muscovado Sugar; 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce; 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil; 200g Tiger Prawns; 4 finely sliced Spring Onions; 140g Bean Sprouts; 25g Peanuts; Handful Coriander; 2 Lime; To serve sweet chilli sauce

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Seafood recipe with Thai flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 46 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 28 min total

125g Rice Noodles
Juice of 3 Lime
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
2 teaspoons Muscovado Sugar
2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
200g Tiger Prawns
4 finely sliced Spring Onions
140g Bean Sprouts
25g Peanuts
Handful Coriander
2 Lime
To serve Sweet Chilli Sauce

Step-by-step instructions

Put the noodles in a large heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over them and leave for 4 minutes, then drain and refresh under cold running water.
Put the lime juice, cayenne, sugar and fish sauce in a bowl and mix well. Have all the other ingredients ready by the cooker.
Heat the oil and fry the prawns until warmed through. Add the spring onions and noodles and toss around. Tip in the lime juice mixture, then stir in the beansprouts and half the peanuts and coriander. Cook for 1 minute until everything is heated through.
Pile into a large dish, scatter with the rest of the peanuts and coriander, and serve with lime wedges and sweet chilli sauce.

Why this works on a weeknight

Pad Thai genuinely fits a 30-minute weeknight window, which is why it earned a spot in our Noodle Bowls collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Pad Thai actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍜 Noodle Bowls Seafood Thai ⚡ 30-Min Dinner