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What is the secret to a great Pad Thai? I am so glad you asked. The answer is simple, the secret is in the sauce!
Guess what? Pad Thai sauce is quite easy to make and stores well in your refrigerator.
Take the time to make a great sauce now, which will significantly reduce your Pad Thai cooking times.
Who knows, you may be a lot like me and enjoy the flavor of the sauce so much you add it to your stir-fry as well!
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Do you want to create the best Pad Thai sauce? Of course, you do and to do that, you want to start with fresh shallot, garlic, and large dried chili pepper (soak in the water ahead of time).
You will use a food processor or a blender to create a paste out of these fresh ingredients, which are the base of the sauce.
What is Pad Thai sauce made of?
Die-hard fans of Pad Thai sauce will tell you palm sugar, fish sauce, and tamarind concentrate, but it must be said that these 2 ingredients (palm sugar and tamarind paste) can be difficult to get your hands on.
Tamarind paste is one of the essential ingredients of Pad Thai sauce. This gives the sauce a tangy, sweet, salty flavor which is what Pad Thai is known for.
How to make Pad Thai sauce without tamarind
Some will be fortunate enough to have an Asian supply store readily at hand, but for everyone else, here are substitute ingredients for Tamarind Sauce Substitute: if you tamarind concentrate isn't available :
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Whisk together ingredients. Serve several tablespoons over pad Thai.
Tip for the tamarind concentrate
Below is the Tamarind I used for this recipe and bought it from 99 Ranch market.
At first attempt, my Pad Thai Sauce tasted so sour/intense and not even close to a Pad Thai dish when I followed the recipe to a T from one of the popular FB and Youtube videos.
So, I tried to puree this tamarind concentrate in a blender (the whole pack) and added 1 cup of water.
The result was much better than my first attempt, now I realized that lots of recipes that I tried to re-create at home, I basically end up modifying the measurement of the ingredients as the results are either too salty or bland.
Click here for the Pad Thai Recipe
Perhaps the best thing about creating your Pad Thai sauce is the many variations you can make on the recipe.
It is an easily adaptable item and people from all walks of life tweak it to make it their own. Think of it as the meatloaf of the Asian food world!
What does Pad Thai sauce taste like
When tasting the sauce, you'll taste the mixture to be perfectly sweet first, followed by a little kick of spice fusion, a bit salty, and then tangy in that particular order.
It is so easy and quick to make so you'll have a perfect dish every time and best of all, it's a treat for your tastebuds.
What meat goes well with Pad Thai?
It can be made with chicken, pork, or beef stock (rarely vegetarian), as well as either rice noodles or egg noodles. Most of the time, vendors also add wontons or meatballs to the broth. The dish is best topped with a selection of condiments including, sugar, dried chili peppers, lime juice, and fish sauce.
How long does Pad Thai sauce last?
- Transfer the homemade Pad Thai sauce to a glass container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Can you freeze Pad Thai sauce?
- Absolutely. When freezing the leftover Pad Thai sauce, I normally put them in an ice cube tray. Once they turned solid, I immediately transfer the cubes into a zip-top bag and freeze them for future use. They could last for up to three months.
Final Thoughts
If you enjoy this dish when you visit your favorite Thai restaurant, why not spend some time creating your very own recipe?
There is nothing hard about the process and the resulting sauce will easily keep in your refrigerator for a month. Enjoy Pad Thai anytime!
Grab these ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 6-8 tablespoon tamarind paste (See Notes)
- 8 discs palm sugar (16 oz)
- 4 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 small shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 pcs large dried red peppers rehydrated or 6 small dried chilies
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce (optional but makes a difference)
Step by step instructions
Prep the Tamarind Sauce
Step 1
Puree the tamarind concentrate using a blender. Add the whole pack + 1 cup of water to make a Tamarind paste.
Prep the Sauce
Step 2
Re-hydrate the dried chilies for 15 to 20 minutes (or overnight) by soaking them in warm water to make them soft.
Step 3
Place the shallots, garlic, and the rehydrated dried chilies in a blender to make a paste.
Step 4
Heat the oil over medium heat. Stir fry the shallot/garlic/chili paste for a minute to infuse the aroma. Now, you can add 4 cups of water and let it boil.
Step 5
Once the water is boiling, you can add the palm sugar disc. It may look like a lot of sugar but Pad Thai dish is always sweet, sour, and salty.
Step 6
You can lower the heat now and add the fish sauce, the salt, and the Tamarind paste. I added around 8 tablespoon of tamarind paste but you can adjust yours to 6 tbsp, it depends on your taste. Just add the tamarind paste gradually and adjust the taste to your liking.
Step 7
Give them a good mix allowing the palm sugar to dissolve thoroughly. Try sifting the Tamarind paste and use a spoon to dissolve or blend well in the mixture.
Step 8
This final step is optional, I added the Sriracha sauce to give the sauce a nice color and taste much better.
Step 9
Once all the ingredients are melted and blended well, transfer the mixture into a bottle container. Let them cool down and store them in the fridge for future use.
Notes
For Tamarind Concentrate: The level of the tartness of the tamarind concentrate that I bought was too strong, so I tried to puree it in a blender.
- Use the whole package (as per the picture above) and add 1 cup of water to make a Tamarind paste.
Interesting Thai recipes:
- Khao Pad Sopparot Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
- Thai Beef Salad
- Thai Green Papaya Salad
- Thai Chili Basil Chicken Stir Fry
Full Recipe
Pad Thai Sauce
4.15 from 7 votes
Pin Recipe
Enjoy Pad Thai anytime using this Pad Thai Sauce. This perfectly sweet, tangy, a bit salty sauce with a little kick of spice is so easy and quick to make so you'll have a perfect dish every time.
Servings: 4 .5
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes minutes
Total Time 20 minutes minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 cups water
- 6-8 tablespoon tamarind paste (See Notes)
- 8 discs palm sugar (16 oz)
- 4 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 small shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 pcs large dried red peppers (rehydrated or 6 small dried chilies)
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce optional
Watch the Video:
Instructions:
Prep the Tamarind Sauce
Puree the tamarind concentrate using a blender. Add the whole pack + 1 cup of water to make a Tamarind paste.
Prep the Sauce:
Rehydrate the dried chilies overnight by soaking them in water to make them soft.
Place the shallots, garlic, and the rehydrated dried chilies in a blender to make a paste.
Heat the oil over medium heat. Stir fry the shallot/garlic/chili paste for a minute to infuse the aroma. Now, you can add 4 cups of water and let it boil.
Once the water is boiling, you can add the palm sugar disc. It may look like a lot of sugar but Pad Thai dish is always sweet, sour, and salty.
You can lower the heat now and add the fish sauce, the salt, and the Tamarind paste. I added around 8 tablespoon of tamarind paste, but you can adjust yours to 6 tbsp; it depends on your taste. Just add the paste gradually and adjust the taste to your liking.
Give the mixture a good stir allowing the palm sugar to dissolve thoroughly.
Try sifting the tamarind paste and use a spoon to dissolve or blend well in the mixture.
This final step is optional; I added the Sriracha sauce to give the sauce a nice color and taste much better.
Once all the ingredients are melted and blended well, transfer the mixture into a glass container. Let them cool down and store them in the fridge for future use.
Click here for the Pad Thai Recipe
Notes:
For Tamarind Concentrate:
1.) The level of the tartness of the tamarind concentrate that I bought was too strong, so I tried to puree it in a blender.Use the whole package ( as per the picture above) and add 1 cup of water to make a Tamarind paste.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 468.39kcal | Carbohydrates: 112.64g | Protein: 1.77g | Fat: 3.22g | Saturated Fat: 0.27g | Sodium: 1271.6mg | Fiber: 1.27g | Sugar: 107.2g
Please note that all nutrition information are just estimates. Values will vary among brands, so we encourage you to calculate these on your own for most accurate results.
Did you make this?I would love seeing what you've made! Tag me on Instagram @theforkbitedotcom or leave me a comment or rating below.
Course: entree
Cuisine: Asian, Thai
Keywords: pad thai sauce, Pad thai sauce recipe, tamarind paste substitute
