Serves 4
Total time: 30 minutes || Active time: 30 minutes
Photo by Vanessa Rees
Here it is: the quintessential sweet and sour Thai noodle. Also, the key to my heart. If I didn’t think it would give me some sort of vitamin deficiency, I’d probably eat Pad Thai for every meal. This recipe introduces my super top secret ingredient. (Um, as usual it’s miso.) It adds a bit of fermented depth that mimics traditional fish sauce. I have a recipe for Pad Thai in Vegan With A Vengeance, but this one is from Isa Does It, which means…it’s much, much, simpler! We’ll get back to the recipe in a sec, but first I have to share my excitement about the new book.
We are exactly a month away from the release of Isa Does It and in many ways, this feels like I’m releasing my first cookbook ever. After all, it is my first full-color, hardcover book! Perfect for gift-giving, coffee tabling, and yeah, even cooking from.
So I’m hoping that you love it as much as I do. And I don’t forget for a second that I couldn’t have written it without you. I am grateful for all of the feedback and support as well as the ideas and inspiration I get from you guys. There’s something so motivating about putting up a recipe and having someone far away prepare it only hours later. It warms my cold, gothic heart.
In addition to saying “thank you”, I’m giving away this cool Isa Does It tote for preodering the book (USA only.) All you have to do is forward your preorder receipt and your mailing address to littlebrown@hbgusa.com and boom, the perfect vehicle for hauling your veggies in your hot little hands.
Full details here. So if you haven’t already, please do preorder, and if you already have, no worries, you can still get the tote. Yay!
And now….back to the Pad Thai.
Usually Pad Thai is made to serve, one order at a time. But if I have no one to impress, I’m not going through the trouble. It isn’t exactly authentic, but it gets the job done with common ingredients and has a great balance of sweet, sour, spice and salty. And if Sriracha and miso are not common ingredients to you, they definitely will be after digging in to this!
I absolutely loved this! I added some ginger because that seemed like a good idea, and cut down the oil by just spraying a pan to brown the tofu and sauteing everything else in water. To Shelly wondering about the sugar, I substituted dates and just added a bit more water to the sauce to get it the right consistency and thought it turned out great! Thanks so much for posting your recipes… very excited to get the book!
I can’t wait to make this and I can’t wait to buy your new book! The Brooklyn Pad Thai recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance has been my favorite Pad Thai recipe for years. And I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who doesn’t bother to make each serving individually.
no tamarind paste?
I tried this this weekend and it was awesome! All of your recipes tend to take me longer than the times you suggest, but I would still make this any day! Thank you for making me fall in love with cooking again 🙂
I made this for dinner last night and it was great. My hubby particularly loved the touch of heat from the sriracha. I will definitely be making this again!
Really love love the flavors and your picture OOh myy. Love it.
AMAZING! Just made this and wow! Best vegan Pad Thai recipe I’ve ever made and I cook A LOT. Thank you, Isa!!
Nice, thanks!
Made this last night! Perfection. No leftovers because my husband had three helpings! I used a 14 oz pkg of noodles and there was plenty of sauce for tossing all the noodles. Thanks for another quick, easy, delicious recipe! Can’t wait to get my new cookbook I pre-ordered.
My boyfriend and I made this last night and it was wonderful! The best pad thai either of us has ever had. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
This is a wonderful recipe. I’ve made it a couple times over the past week– once by myself and once with friends. I’ve never been so excited to get home and eat leftovers. I did make a big, and possibly heretical change to sauce though: I added several tbsp of peanut butter. I can’t describe how delicious it is.
It’s like pad thai meets peanut noodles. It ain’t traditional, but dayum it’s good.
I love Pad Thai! My favorite Thai noodle is Pad See Ewe – if you have a recipe for it I’d love to see it.
This is amazing! The only problem is that it’s time consuming.
We made this last night and were very pleased with the result! It is super filling, so we get leftovers for tomorrow 🙂 The sauce is delicious, though I added another 1/4 c water to get it to really coat the noodles. I also used mushrooms instead of tofu (due to a personal aversion) and it turned out awesome!
Loved it! General success with everyone, including the omnis. Thanks!
This is AMAZING!!!! My boyfriend and I had it last night, and we agree that its going into our regular rotation! SOOOO GOOOD! THANK YOU!
Made it and loved it. The ingredients came together really well and there was plenty of sauce to coat the noodles and veggies (which has never worked out for me with any other pad thai recipe I’ve ever tried). I appreciate that this is low in fat/oil, too!
This is a terrific recipe! Plus, I learned how to brown tofu…your instructions are excellent…and to me, this is the wonder of the internet, that we can learn via the awesomeness of others. I am highlighting your blog…on a post I’m making to my blog today. AND, I look forward to your book!
Keep up the excellent work!!
I have always loved the brooklyn pad thai from vwav. Thanks so much for creating a pad thai that i can make on a tuesday night in under and hour! it was perfect, can’t wait for the book.
Isa I normally follow your recipes exactly buuuuuuuut I only have vermecilli rice noodles (I believe they are thinner?) & dark brown miso…will it still taste okay? Also have no sirachia (sorry we cant get it easily in uk…so I am not even sure how to spell it!) So would any hot sauce do? *HELP ME! I WANNA MAKE THIS 2MOZ…PLEASE REPLY!!!* xx
Yep, just be careful not to overcook the noodles. Those thin ones like to turn to mush!
Made a few technical errors along the way…..forgot to rinse the noodles soon enough, overcharred the broccoli….what can I say….but it still ended up fantastic!!!!
going to try it
Hi what is spiracha and melow white miso?
Is it at all possible to make this without the miso, or even to put something in place of the miso?
OMG this Pad Thai is AMAZING. My husband loves pad thai, but I never really liked it until I made this recipe today. I couldn’t stop eating it, and he loved it too! Thank you! I can’t wait to get your new cookbook.
Best (easiest plus tastiest) pad thai I have ever made. Oh, and I added just a Tb of tamarind for the hell of it. Thanks!
Just made this with a few substitutions (I don’t have Sriracha so I just used Cholula, for example) and it was SO. EFFING. GOOD. I’ve never made pad thai before, and I’ve been missing the pad thai from a favorite restaurant in Santa Cruz (I lived there during college), and this definitely brought me back to it. Thanks so much!
Following this recipe produced the best pad thai I’ve ever made. I used a good pinch of kala namak salt for its sulphury (egg) taste, and it was also the best pairing of the salt I’ve yet to try. I’ll never make another pad thai recipe again. This is a staple now. Thanks again!
Good idea!
I just love this recipe so much. I made the VWAV one frequently and am so happy to add this one to my repertoire. I have to say though, I just use 1 TBS of sriracha and it is plenty hot! I can’t imagine using two!
I made this twice in one week, it’s incredible! Thank you!
Okay, I had to do some substitutions here, but I stuck to the recipe for the most part. Used mushrooms instead of tofu, only had dried cilantro (I know, I know) and didn’t have miso, so I used Better Than Bouillon. Oh. And I was out of lime, so I used lemon. And I added a sprinkling of cornstarch to thicken it up.
However, this was SO DELICIOUS! I will make it with tofu when my 3 y/o isn’t asking for dinner and I have time to press it. This will totally be my go-to when I’m craving a yummy Asian meal.
Oh Isa… I completely f**king butchered this dish. I just cannot get Asian dishes right, unless I order one from down the road. Herumph. One day, right?
No, wait…. I take it back! This is INCREDIBLE. The noodles self-destructed but apart from that… phwoar. I’m going to eat the shit out of this.
Are we pressing the tofu here?
Made this last night and it is amazing! The heat is perfect and the peanuts and lime juice on top seal the deal. I have been cooking from Isa Does It since it came out and I am loving every recipe. Thank you so much for all you do. Amazing stuff! Thank you again 🙂
Looks amazing! I don’t have sriracha though. Can anything go in it’s place?
Just made this tonight. I’ve tried a lot of vegan pad Thai recipes and this is by far the best. It’s going to be a new Black Friday tradition in our house. The flavors are so clear & bright; perfect after the annual TG gorging.
This is freaking fantastic. We love it! The ease in preparation is just a bonus. It’s been on my list of recipes to try for a while, and I’m so glad I finally did. It’s definitely in the rotation. I’m so thankful for all of your recipes.
This is the greatest thing ever. I made it three days ago, and I’m going to make it again tomorrow.
I would just add that, at least with the ones I bought, it’s important to stir the noodles a few times while they’re soaking. I spent several minutes peeling apart noodles that had stuck to each other in stacks. Which was totally worth it, because like I said, greatest thing ever.
Just wanted to say how fantastic this recipe is, I had to substitute the tomato pasta with tomato juice (I used extra and left out the water in the sauce) and the miso for a miso + wakame single-serve sachet and it STILL turned out amazing. My internet searches for vegan versions of whatever I’m craving always seem to lead me to PPK; I get the feeling I may have to buy this book.
This is one of the best meals I have ever made! Thank you!
This was fantastic–I think it was the miso. I’ve made Pad Thai before, but never with miso. Also, I realized I didn’t have Pad Thai noodles halfway through making it, so I used rice stick noodles, and it still turned out great! I also loved that you suggested to use the broccoli and stem, I’m going to do that from now on, such a great way to save on waste!
Easy, delicious, and goes well with extra sriracha, I recommend it.
Hey just wondering whether or not there is an alternative to miso?
You are so smart.
Yum, I’ve been looking for a vegan pad thai recipe and this looks delish. I just discovered using zuchini noodles in place of regular noodles and I love the subsitution. You basically just peel zucchini with a veggie peeler until you get to the middle seed part to make the noodles, then saute for a few minutes and voila! A little bit healthier of an option for any one interested.
This recipe lived up to its name – I made it on a Monday night AFTER the gym and I still had enough energy to enjoy it and do the dishes. I never get pad thai in restaurants because even the vegetarian kind tastes suspiciously of fish sauce. I loved this sauce.
This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. We are making it right now for the second time this week.