Inside: Restaurant style Pad Thai made in the Instant Pot at home. The perfect easy instant pot pad thai filling meal for your entire family.

Instant Pot Pad Thai Recipe

We’re in the thick of “staying at home” due to the invisible enemy and Pad Thai is all I crave. Pad Thai and homemade Tomato Basil Bisque soup.

Am I pregnant? Nope.

I think I might be losing my mind – but that’s not the case because it’s not crazy to love something so unimaginably good.

Now, if you’re finding this Pad Thai recipe, I’m going to guess that you do already own an Instant Pot or you have access to an Instant Pot. I have tried making Pad Thai on the stovetop and it’s just not the same. The sauce is too thick and the noodles have a grainy texture to them.

This is my favorite Instant Pot to buy.

To be honest, I’ve never stepped foot in a Thai restaurant’s kitchen, but I am guessing that they must have pressure cookers lined up because my Thai rice noodles taste just like theirs. It’s the craziest thing ever.

So, that’s why I always recommend making your Pad Thai in the Instant Pot and not the stovetop if you can get your hands on an Instant Pot.

Gathering your ingredients beforehand is smart when you’re making Pad Thai; everything comes together really quickly and you want everything to be within arms reach.

What is pad thai sauce made of?

For Pad Thai sauce you’ll want to gather:

2 T olive oil or vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T ground ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce
1/2 cup jarred pad thai sauce
1 T Chili Garlic Sauce, optional
1 T peanut butter
32 oz hot water
14 oz rice noodles
sliced carrots, optional
1/2 each red and yellow pepper, sliced, optional
4 green onions, sliced
1/3 cup chopped peanuts
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro

How do you make Instant Pot Pad Thai noodles?

Making Pad Thai noodles in the Instant Pot is easier than you think. In fact, I’d even venture to say that the preparation of the Instant Pot Pad Thai is harder than the actual cooking of the Pad Thai. Yes, it’s true!

To make the Instant Pot Pad Thai Noodles you’ll follow these directions:

Wash and cut the veggies that you want to have in your Pad Thai noodles

Gather ingredients so they are within an arms reach

Turn your Instant Pot on to Sauté function

Add oil to the Instant Pot, followed by minced garlic, and ginger

Saute for a couple minutes, and then turn sauté function off

Add all other Pad Thai sauce ingredients including soy sauce, jarred Pad Thai sauce, chili garlic sauce, and peanut butter.

Give that a good stir and add any veggies you wish to add.

Rinse rice noodles in a strainer

Add rice noodles to the Instant Pot and pour hot water over noodles

Add Instant Pot lid, turn valve to sealing. Turn Instant Pot to high pressure for two minutes.

When the Instant Pot is finished, turn the valve to venting (be careful for steam)

Open Instant Pot, give the mixture a stir and wait for the remaining liquid to be absorbed into the noodles.

Serve Pad Thai with cilantro, chopped peanuts, and green onions.

Enjoy!

What can you use instead of tamarind paste?

It’s hard to get the taste that the tamarind sauce gives without the tamarind paste. But tamarind paste is notoriously hard to find.

Instead of trying to track down tamarind paste, I use a prepared Pad Thai sauce from the Asian grocery store near me.

I highly recommend hitting up your nearest Asian food store and asking the owner what sauce they use to start their Pad Thai and I’m confident that they’ll give you the best Pad Thai starter sauce that they have!

What are Thai noodles called?

Thai noodles are simply rice noodles. You can find them in the Asian food aisle at your grocery store.

What exactly is Pad Thai?

Pad Thai is an Asian food full of delicious flavor. With every bite, you’ll have a new flavor depending upon what you got in your bite.

Why is my Pad Thai sticky?

Rice noodles are sticky by nature. There’s not too much getting around it, rather than just trying to not overcook them.

If you find that your rice noodles are too sticky, take your cook time down by a minute.

What makes Pad Thai so tasteful?

Between the cilantro, peanuts, green onions and veggie mix that you’ve decided on – as well as meats if you add any, you’ll have loads and loads of takeout!

More Easy Instant Pot Recipes:

Instant Pot Pot Roast
Instant Pot Crack Chicken
Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas

Print Pin