A sweet and savory Thai rice noodle dish flavored with dark and light soy sauce. The name Pad See Ew name literally means “fried with soy sauce”.
Originally Posted: Oct. 15, 2024
Total Time: 30 minutes
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Along with massaman and panang curry, pad see ew is among my favorite Thai dishes. It’s always one of the first things I’ll try at a new Thai restaurant, because even if they don’t have massaman or panang, they always have these noodles.
When I started trying out a bunch of noodle recipes, this was a natural choice. And compared to some of the others, it’s one of the easier and quicker ones (depending one what type of rice noodle you choose).
A Note About Noodle Choice
Traditionally, pad see ew is made with wide rice noodles descended from Chinese shahe fen noodles.
Dried rice stick noodles are easy to find, and they transport well, so you can probably order them online. However, I’ve tried cooking this with dried rice noodles (rice sticks) multiple times, but I’ve never gotten the texture right.
Also, when I order this at a restaurant, the noodles seem really wide, and almost torn into individual portions rather than cut into strips. After some research, I found out that you can find fresh rice noodles in sheet form at many Asian markets.
The main downside to fresh noodles is that when you buy them, they’re pretty stuck together. Luckily, there are some tricks to more easily pry them apart without breaking them. This mainly applies to fresh noodles in sheet form (above on the left), rather than pre-cut, but I’ll put those tips in the instructions lower down.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. fresh Sheet Rice Noodles or Wide Rice Noodles
- Can be substituted with around 10 rehydrated spring roll rice paper cut into strips (as of Oct. 15, 2024, I need to test this out myself)
- For keto version, you’ll need about two 8.8oz konjac cakes. See directions at the end of the article.
- 1 lb. Chicken, Pork, Beef, or your choice of protein
- I suggest boneless skinless chicken thighs, pork tenderloin, or beef chuck steak or stew meat. Chuck steak will require the most prep, due to trimming off excess fat and silverskin.
- Splash of Soy Sauce or Tamari, to season meat while cooking
- 1 tsp Baking Soda, for velveting the meat (optional)
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 – 2 Eggs, beaten
- 4 – 8 stems Chinese broccoli, stems and leafy portions separated and cut into 1-2in strips
- Alternatively, one crown of regular broccoli, chopped and steamed ahead of time
- Cooking Oil
Sauce
- 2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
- This might be the most important ingredient in pad see ew.
- 1-½ Tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce or Tamari
- 2 tsp Rice Vinegar
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 3 tsp Shaoxing Cooking Wine
Equipment
- Wok, preferably well-seasoned carbon steel
- A cheap carbon steel one from an Asian market like 99 Ranch works great for any stir-fry. I bought one for my girlfriend recently for something like $14.99 or $16.99 and seasoned it for her on her gas range.
- I wound up upgrading to a Babish wok because you can unscrew the wooden handle and season the whole thing in your oven if you want. This is especially useful if you have an electric or induction range instead of a gas range.
- Here’s a Serious Eats article about seasoning a wok for more information about your options.
- Microwave (useful for getting fresh rice noodles unstuck, see below)
Written Instructions
Total Time: 30 minutes
Prepping Fresh Noodles (Option 1)
Fresh Noodle Choices
If using fresh rice noodles, you have two choices: pre-cut wide noodles, and sheet noodles. The pre-cut noodles can just be thrown in the wok with the sauce later (easy mode), but my preference is for the sheet noodles, and they need a little extra love (hard mode).
Taking a quick look online, there are several suggestions: letting them soak in warm water for a bit, heating them in a steamer, or microwaving in one-minute intervals and peeling.
So far I prefer the microwaving option, and it works pretty well. Wearing gloves or having some cold water running from your faucet are both good ideas, because you might burn your hands a bit separating the noodles.
Separating Fresh Sheet Noodles with a Microwave
Step 1: Microwave noodles in 1-minute increments on a microwave safe plate.
Step 2: In between microwave increments, try prying some of the layers apart my sliding your fingers between. Having a bowl of cool water nearby or wearing nitrile gloves will help you not burn your fingers.
Step 3: Continue this process until you get the noodle sheets more and more separated. It’s fine if some break apart a little, since this will happen when you’re mixing the final dish, too. Place back in the microwave as you unfurl.
Step 4: As you manage to get more layers unstuck, place the softer unstuck layers in cool water to keep them from stick together again. Keep them there until you’re ready to drain them and add them to the wok.
Continue microwaving layers that are stuck together, along with portions of noodles that remain harder.
Prepping Rice Paper Noodles (Option 2)
Note: As of Oct. 15, 2024, I need to test this out myself. The method comes from this post from Cheap Lazy Vegan.
Soak about 10 rice paper rounds (5 at a time) in warm water. Grease a cutting board with some oil, then take a stack of 5 rice paper rounds and slice them into wide noodles. Place cut noodles in cool water to keep them from sticking together again.
Prepping Vegetables
If using Chinese broccoli: Separate stems from leafy parts, and chop both into 1 to 1-½ inch portions. Cut stems in half length-wise if you want, to make them cook through quicker.
If using regular broccoli: Cut all the florets from the broccoli crown. Steam these ahead of time for 8 to 10 minutes.
Velveting Meat (Optional)
Toss meat with 1 tsp baking soda. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so. Rinse baking soda/slurry off and pat dry before cooking. You can also marinate them with soy sauce and other things at this point if you like, but I like to add it while cooking the beef later.
Mix Sauce
That’s it. Mix sauce from dark soy sauce, regular soy sauce(or tamari), oyster sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and Shaoxing cooking wine.
Mix the sauce now so you have it ready for the noodles later.
Cook Meat and Broccoli
Coat preheated wok with some cooking oil and add meat. While cooking, add a splash of soy sauce to coat meat and add saltiness.
Once the meat is about halfway cooked, add the minced garlic and the Chinese broccoli stems (if using). Once the meat is almost cooked all the way through, add the Chinese broccoli leafy greens (if using) or the pre-steamed regular broccoli.
Once cooked, set meat and vegetables aside.
Scramble Eggs
Pour beaten egg(s) into middle of wok and scramble. Some cooks just push all the meat and veggies aside and do this in the middle of everything, but I have bad luck with this and everything just gets a scrambled egg coating, so I prefer to do them separately.
The pictures below show the way I don’t like doing it anymore.
As you can see, there isn’t that much room in the middle to scramble the eggs alone. This is why I prefer to set aside the meat and veggies before scrambling the eggs now.
However you choose to scramble the eggs, once they’re cooked, set aside with the meat and veggies.
Cook Noodles and Finish Dish
Add another light coating of oil if you feel the need, and add your choice of rice noodles. Add sauce and stir until all the noodles are coated. Add the meat, veggies and eggs back into the wok and stir until everything is evenly distributed.
And it’s ready to serve!
Pad See Ew
Equipment
- 1 Wok seasoned carbon steel
- 1 Microwave useful for separating fresh noodle sheets
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Fresh Rice Noodles (Sheet-Style or Pre-Cut) or 10 sheets rice paper, rehydrated and sliced
- 1 lb. Meat chicken thigh, pork tenderloin, chuck steak, or stew meat
- 1 splash Soy Sauce or Tamari to season meat while cooking
- 1 tsp Baking Soda for velveting
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 – 2 Eggs beaten
- 4 – 8 stems Chinese Broccoli or 1 crown regular broccoli, chopped and steamed ahead of time
- Cooking Oil
Sauce
- 2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Regular Soy Sauce or Tamari
- 1-½ Tbsp Oyster Sauce or Vegan (Mushroom) Oyster Sauce
- 2 tsp Rice Vinegar
- 2 tsp Sugar
- 3 tsp Shaoxing Cooking Wine
Instructions
- If using sheet-style rice noodles, microwave them in one-minute intervals to get them unstuck (be careful, they’re hot). If using spring roll wrappers,soak stacks of 5 rice paper rounds at a time in warm water, then slice in stacks on an oiled cutting board and set noodles in cool water to keep them from sticking together.
- If using Chinese broccoli: Separate stems from leafy parts, and chop both into 1to 1-½ inch portions. Cut stems in half length-wise if you want, to make them cook through quicker.If using regular broccoli: Cut all the florets from the broccoli crown. Steam these ahead of time for 8 to 10minutes
- (Optional) Velvet meat by tossing with 1 tsp baking soda and refrigerating for half an hour. Rinse baking soda off and pat dry.
- Mix sauce from dark soy sauce, regular soy sauce(or tamari), oyster sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and Shaoxing cooking wine.
- Add oil to a preheated carbon steel wok. Add meat and cook.
- Once meat is about halfway cooked, add the minced garlic and the Chinese broccoli stems (if using).
- Once meat is almost completely cooked, add Chinese broccoli leafy greens (if using) or pre-steamed regular broccoli florets. Once fully cooked/steamed, set cooked meat and veggies aside.
- Add a light layer of oil if needed and pour in 1– 2 beaten eggs. Cook until scrambled,then set aside with the meat and veggies.
- Add another light layer of oil if needed, then add prepared fresh rice noodles. Pour in sauce and mix until all the noodles are coated.
- Return meat, veggies, and eggs back to the wok and continue mixing until everything is evenly distributed.
- Serve and enjoy. Makes about 4 portions.
Keto Version
You can sub out the rice noodles for konjac/shirataki noodles if you like. Here I’ll show you the way I like to prepare thick konjac noodles that will soak up a lot of pad see ew sauce.
I’ve seen this style of konjac noodle a few places online, so I decided to try them out one time while making some dandan noodles for my mom who went keto about a year ago.
To make this style of noodle, you’ll want to find konjac cakes in your local Asian market.
Open and Rinse
First think you’ll want to do once you remove it from its packaging is rinse it. When you first open it, you’ll notice that it smells just like Nickelodeon’s Gak slime toy from the ’90s; oddly fishy. Rinse it under your sink.
Slice
Next, slice it as think as you can, maybe about ¼” or 6mm. A slow, sawing motion helps cut the gel evenly.
I like to give all the slices a second rinse to get any of that Gak smell off them, but that’s up to you.
Cut Slit and Loop to Twist
After you’ve sliced the entire cake, use a paring knife to cut a slit down the middle of each slice, leaving the top and bottom attached:
Next, take the lower end of the slice and loop it up and through the slit.
Do this until all your noodles are twisted. Since these cakes are 8.8oz (250g), I’d say you need two cakes’ worth of these noodles per pound of meat.
