Pad Thai is traditionally made with flat rice noodles, often labeled as “rice sticks” on the package.

Quick Scoop

  • The classic noodle for Pad Thai is medium-width flat rice noodles, about 3–5 mm wide.
  • Packages often say “rice stick noodles” or “Pad Thai rice noodles.”
  • They are made from rice flour and water (no egg), which gives them a chewy but tender texture once soaked and stir-fried.
  • Other noodle types (egg noodles, ramen, soba, glass noodles) can be used in fusion dishes, but then it’s not considered traditional Pad Thai anymore.

Little extra context

Most modern recipes, from restaurant-style to home cooking blogs, all specify flat rice noodles as the base for Pad Thai, sometimes just called “thin” or “medium” rice noodles depending on the brand. They are usually soaked (not hard-boiled) before stir-frying so they stay intact and soak up the sauce instead of turning mushy.

TL;DR: Traditional Pad Thai uses flat, medium-width rice stick noodles made from rice flour and water, often labeled “rice stick” or “Pad Thai rice noodles.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.