Gluten-Free Thai Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao)

These Gluten-Free Thai Drunken Noodles (also known as Pad Kee Mao) are delicious, easy to make and come together in less than 30 minutes! These noodles are vegetarian and perfect when you need a quick and easy dinner.

Take-out Thai is one of my favourite guilty pleasures, and in my opinion, their flavour combinations are some of the best! From Thai Peanut Cauliflower Wings to Thai Green Curry Tofu, there’s no shortage of delicious spices in Thai food.

However, Thai take-out meals can be pricey, greasy and sometimes not so healthy. The good news is that Thai noodles are actually quite easy to make at home, and trust me, once you make this recipe it will be on repeat in your kitchen!

These noodles are loaded with flavour, simple to make and come together in less than 30 minutes for a quick and easy meal everyone will love!

This recipe for Gluten-FreeThai Drunken noodles is my personal take on the traditional dish made with vegetarian-friendly ingredients.

Key Ingredients & Substitutions

• Wide rice noodles: Pad Kee Mao is traditionally made with fresh wide rice noodles. You can often find fresh rice noodles at your local Asian market, or you can buy them dried at most large grocery stores or online. If you ever have trouble finding the wider variety you can always use the thinner Pad Thai noodles.
• Thai basil: You can find this at most Asian grocery stores. This is not the same as regular basil and gives a really unique taste to the dish! If you can’t find Thai basil you can substitute with regular basil.
• Vegetarian oyster sauce: Or if you’re not making this dish strictly vegetarian you can use regular oyster sauce
• Gluten Free Dark soy sauce: Another classic ingredient in this dish! Besides giving the noodles a deep rich colour, dark soy sauce is less salty and sweeter than regular soy sauce. You can learn more about the differences here.
• Tamari or Gluten free Soy sauce: Tamari is naturally gluten-free, but you can also use gluten-free sy sauce.
• Coconut sugar: Also known as palm sugar and used in Thailand in many dishes and adds a little sweetness to the dish to balance out the salty and spicy flavours. You can substitute agave, maple syrup, honey or brown sugar if needed.

What is Drunken Noodle sauce made of?

Just like any Thai noodle dish, you’ll find some slight differences from one recipe to another when it comes to the stir-fry sauce. This drunken noodle recipe uses some traditional ingredients used in Thailand.

This sauce is made by combining oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and sugar. This combination of sauces gives the noodles a sweet, salty and savoury taste. If you don’t use chillies in your noodles, you can also add some sriracha or Sambal Oelek to the sauce for a little heat.

What is the difference between Italian Basil and Holy Basil and Thai Basil?

You’re probably familiar with regular basil that you can find at most grocery stores, but in Thai cuisine, you’ll often see holy basil and Thai basil used in recipes. Many people think holy basil and Thai basil are the same herbs, but they’re not. Here’s the difference between these herbs:

• Italian Basil: the traditional herb that is fragrant with a slightly sweet taste. Basil is often used in Italian cooking.
  
• Holy basil: has a spicier and peppery flavour compared to traditional basil. Holy basil is native to India and is also used as a medicinal herb.
  
• Thai basil: Is sweeter, slightly spicy and has a hint of star anise flavour. It’s native to South-East Asia and used often in Thai cooking.
  

If you substitute Thai basil in this recipe for regular basil, you will end up with a different tasting dish. You can find Thai basil at your local Asian grocery store.

How to make Thai drunken noodles (Pad Kee Mao)

Step 1: Boil the rice noodles in a pot of water until they are almost cooked through, but still have a slight bite to them. You want the rice noodles to be slightly uncooked since they will cook more while you stir-fry.

Step 2: Heat some vegetable oil in a pan or a wok on medium-high heat, then add the garlic, chilli, onion and red pepper and let cook until it begins to slightly caramelize.

Step 3: Add the noodles and let them cook for a couple of minutes to brown, then add the sauce and the Thai basil and mix everything together.

Step 4: Fold in extra green onions and serve right away. Optionally serve with crushed peanuts and a lime wedge. Rice noodles are always best enjoyed right away otherwise the noodles tend to get a bit sticky.

Recipe variations

• Add protein: add some air fryer tofu, tempeh, scrambled egg, chicken, beef or pork to this dish for an extra boost of protein.
• Add veggies: vegetables like broccoli, bok choy, Chinese eggplant, carrots, cabbage and snow peas would all work well.

Serve This With

This noodle dish is great on it’s own or can be served with several different dishes and sides. I love to serve it with my Thai Crunch Salad, Thai Mango Salad or Spicy Thai Butternut Squash Soup to start, a side of Thai Peanut Cauliflower Wings to snack on or it’s also great served family style with some Thai Coconut Curry Tofu.

How To Store

Store any leftovers in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 2 days. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave. If the noodles clump together from refrigerating, add a splash of water to the pan with the noodles when reheating. This will help the noodles come apart.

Frequently Asked Questions

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