Pad Kee Mao – Drunken Noodles

It’s no secret that we love Thai food. We’re kind of boring in that our number one favorite is Pad Thai (which I’ve successfully made over and over!), but I’ve also made several other successful Thai-inspired dishes like Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth, Thai Chicken Burgers and Slaw, Crock Pot Thai Pork with Peanut Sauce, and one of Nick’s other favorites: Coconut Curry Thai Chicken.

Whenever we try a new Thai place, we always get Pad Thai. We’ve found a Thai place in town that we really like and since we frequent it fairly often, we’ve branched out and tried a few other things. And guess what? We found a new favorite! They make great Pad Kee Mao– also known as Drunken Noodles– and now that’s all I order there.

I decided I wanted to try making it at home and had to Google exactly what Pad Kee Mao is. Turns out it can vary in exact ingredients, but is typically flat wide rice noodles with veggies and meat, garlic, chilies, and a sauce made with fish sauce, oyster sauce and basil– specifically holy basil (which is a variety I’d never heard of). Our place makes it with tomatoes, and though many of the recipes I saw didn’t call for them, I definitely wanted to include them. I had trouble finding Thai chilies and holy basil, but I made do with what I had.

Pad Kee Mao

(adapted from Thai Foodie)

serves 4-5

• 1 lb wide rice noodles
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz pkg sliced mushrooms
• 2.5 lbs chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed or minced
• 2 jalapenos (or 6 Thai chilies), smashed or minced
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 orange or yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 cups chopped basil (holy basil or Thai basil if you can find it)

Cook noodles according to package directions.

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until water is released, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and jalapenos, and cook 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant, stirring frequently. Add chicken and saute until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the bell peppers and tomatoes, and toss. In a small bowl, combine oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Add sauce to the veggies and cook until veggies are slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add noodles and toss.

Remove from heat, add basil and toss everything together. Serve immediately!

So how was it? Well, the dish wasn’t quite exactly what our restaurant makes (they must put magic in it), but it was quite delicious. Nick impulse bought 8 bags of rice noodles at an Asian market and we’d made Pad Thai a few too many times recently, so it was a nice change. I thought it could have been spicier (maybe if I’d had Thai chilies it would have been), but I remedied that with a nice drizzle of Sriracha.

My rice noodles kind of broke up into pieces, but I’m sure that was user error. The noodles we bought are super legit and have zero English on the packaging. I decided to wing it and I think I cooked them too long. But they were still yummy! I’ll definitely make this again this summer once the Thai basil in my garden starts growing like crazy, and I’ll try some hotter peppers!