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    Home - Recipes - Main Course

    Vegetable Pad Thai

    Nov 19, 2019 · Modified: Aug 11, 2022 by Courtney · This post may contain affiliate links · 8 Comments

    1449 shares
    Jump to Recipe

    This vegetable pad Thai is a healthier take on a classic noodle dish lightening it up with a mixture of pad Thai noodles and zucchini noodles.  Top it off with an easy to make pad Thai sauce and you have a healthy and easy to make weeknight meal the whole family will love!

    vegetable pad thai in a bowl on a table

    What is pad Thai?

    Pad Thai is a favourite Thai takeout dish that literally translates to “Thai stir-fry”. When you order it in a restaurant, it’s usually pretty heavy on the noodles, and we wanted to take the dish and do what we do best: make it healthier, and throw a bunch of vegetables in it 😉

    What makes this version different?

    Our version, Vegetable Pad Thai, replaces some of the noodles with ‘zoodles’ (spiralized zucchini), replaces any refined sugar with raw (and minimizes the amount), and switches rice vinegar for Chinese Black Vinegar. If you have never had black vinegar before - it is AMAZING! In fact, we are kind of obsessed with creating recipes with it and finding more ways to eat it. It's like malt vinegar on FIRE, and honestly, my mouth is watering just thinking about it to write about it! Depending on where you live, this may be a difficult ingredient for you to source, so if you can’t find it/don’t have it/don’t want it using rice vinegar is perfectly acceptable, and in fact, traditional.

    Once you prep the vegetables, the dish comes together pretty quickly. The sauce is pretty easy to make, and WAY better than any pre-made sauce you will find in the grocery store.

    How to Make Vegetable Pad Thai:

    Prepare the sauce by mixing the fish sauce (or vegan alternative), tamarind paste, honey, vegetable broth, vinegar, soy sauce and chili paste together then set it aside for later.

    Boil a large pot of water and cook the noodles for 5-6 minutes. They should be tender, but a little bit firm. When they have finished cooking, strain and rinse under cool water to stop the noodles from cooking further and to remove any excess starch to prevent sticking.

    rinsing pad Thai noodles

    Heat a wok to medium high heat and add the oil.

    Add the eggplant, mushrooms and onions to the wok and stir-fry quickly for 3-4 minutes. The vegetables should be heated through and slightly softened but still crisp, and not overcooked. 

    stirfrying veggies

    Remove the vegetables from the wok and set aside for later, then put the wok back on the burner.

    Add the noodles to the wok along with the sauce and mix it thoroughly while cooking for 2 minutes.

    adding the pad Thai sauce to the noodles

    Now for the tricky part: adding the egg to thicken the sauce!

    Push the noodles to one side of the wok creating a little space for the beaten egg, then pour it into space you just made and stir it quickly to heat it through without cooking it.

    When the egg has warmed, push the noodles into the heated egg and quickly toss them so that the egg mixture combines with the sauced noodles.

    Add all the vegetables (including the cabbage, zucchini and carrot noodles) to the wok and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes more.

    Divide the pad thai amongst 4 bowls, then top with cilantro and chopped peanuts. Enjoy!

    a bowl of vegetable pad Thai

    DIETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    This recipe for vegetable pad Thai is suitable for the following diets:

    • Pescatarian
    • Dairy free
    • For vegetarian use a vegan fish sauce alternative

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    More recipes you'll love!

    If you like this recipe for vegetable pad Thai, you might want to check out some of our other awesome veggie loaded noodle recipes:

    • Vegetable Chow Mein
    • Peanut Soba Noodles with Broccoli and Spinach
    • Vegan Singapore Noodles
    • Rainbow Thai Noodle Salad

    If you have made this recipe we’d love to see it! Tag us on Insta @loveandgoodstuff.
    Loved this? Don’t forget to rate it below!

    A top down view of a bowl of vegetable pad Thai with chopsticks resting on it.
    Print Recipe
    4.72 from 7 votes

    Vegetable Pad Thai

    Thai stick noodles loaded with fresh vegetables and served with a sweet and spicy pad Thai sauce
    Prep Time15 mins
    Cook Time15 mins
    Total Time25 mins
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: Asian
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 408kcal
    Author: Courtney
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Equipment

    spiralizer
    wok

    Ingredients:

    For the Stir Fry

    • 2 Tablespoons cooking oil
    • 4 ounces Thai stick noodles
    • 4 ounces cremini mushrooms - sliced
    • 1 small eggplant - diced
    • 1⁄2 yellow onion - sliced
    • 1 egg - beaten
    • 1 zucchini - spiralized, or sliced thinly in noodles
    • 1⁄2 cup red cabbage - shredded
    • 1 carrot - spiralized, or thinly sliced
    • ½ cup peanuts - chopped
    • ¼ cup cilantro - chopped

    Sauce

    • 3 Tablespoons fish sauce - or vegan fish sauce substitute
    • 1.5 Tablespoons tamarind paste
    • 2 Tablespoons honey
    • ¼ cup vegetable stock
    • 2 Tablespoons Chinese black vinegar - or rice wine vinegar
    • 1 Tablespoons soy sauce
    • 2 Tablespoons sambal oelek - or chili paste

    Instructions

    • Boil a large pot of water and boil the noodles for 5-6 minutes. They should be tender, but a little bit firm. When they have finished cooking, strain and rinse under cool water to stop the noodles from cooking further and to remove any excess starch to prevent sticking.
    • Prepare the sauce by mixing the fish sauce (or vegan alternative), tamarind paste, honey, vegetable broth, vinegar, soy sauce and chili paste together then set it aside for later.
    • Heat a wok to medium high heat and add the oil. Add the eggplant, mushrooms and onions to the wok and then stir-fry quickly for 3-4 minutes. The vegetables should be heated through and lightly softened but still crisp.
      Remove the vegetables from the wok and set aside for later, then put the wok back on the burner. 
    • Add the noodles to the wok along with the sauce and mix it thoroughly while cooking for 2 minutes.
    • Push the noodles to one side of the wok, creating a little space for the beaten egg. Pour the egg into the space you just made and stir it quickly to heat it through, but without cooking it, for about 30 seconds. Push the noodles into the egg and quickly toss them so that the egg mixture combines with the sauced noodles.
    •  Add the stirfried vegetables to the wok along with the cabbage, zucchini and carrots and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes more.
    • Divide the pad Thai amongst 4 bowls, then top with cilantro and chopped peanuts. Enjoy!

    Notes

    1. As written, this recipe is NOT vegetarian due to the fish sauce.  If you would like to adapt to vegan or vegetarian, please check out a vegan fish sauce alternative.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 408kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 12gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 1468mgPotassium: 899mgFiber: 8gSugar: 21gVitamin A: 2974IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 82mgIron: 2mg

    * nutritional information is calculated by online tools and may not be 100% accurate.

    Tried this recipe?Mention @loveandgoodstuff or tag #loveandgoodstuff!

    *** Originally published April 2018.  Republished to add photos and update instructions.

    « Mushroom Omelette
    Vegetarian Burritos »

    About Courtney

    I'm Courtney and I love great food!

    Creating delicious meals, photographing them, and sharing them with friends and family are some of my favourite joys ❤️
    More about Love & Good Stuff

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    Comments

    1. georgie says

      May 03, 2018 at 3:41 pm

      I love Thai food, but pad thai would have to be my favourite!!! i love that this is vegetarian too, I am always looking for vegetarian weeknight meals! and so colourful!

      Reply
    2. Alida | Simply Delicious says

      May 03, 2018 at 4:03 pm

      I love me a good pad thai!

      Reply
    3. Jenni LeBaron says

      May 03, 2018 at 4:21 pm

      I love pad thai so this is definitely a winner for me. I love that it's full of vegetables too!

      Reply
    4. Rae says

      May 03, 2018 at 5:50 pm

      I must be living in a bubble because I have never heard of tamarind before! Pad thai is one of my favorite things to order when we're dining out, I'll have to try your version to see if it'll save me a trip to the only Thai restaurant in the area.

      Reply
      • Courtney says

        May 03, 2018 at 6:59 pm

        oh wow!!! I live in an area that is FULL of Thai restaurants, as well as many other cuisines from around the world so I am definitely spoiled by variety and also the ability to purchase ingredients like tamarind paste right from my local grocery store. I'd much rather make this version at home than to eat it out at a restaurant, I hope you enjoy it as much as well 🙂

        Reply
    5. Vicky says

      May 03, 2018 at 5:50 pm

      I have never heard of black vinegar, but I need to get some. This looks so good, and I love how you lightened it up without sacrificing taste.

      Reply
      • Courtney says

        May 03, 2018 at 7:02 pm

        It is DELICIOUS! And adds a bit of that umami flavour to dishes.

        Thank you!! This is our goal here - flavourful and healthy food 🙂

        Reply
    6. Sharon says

      May 03, 2018 at 6:37 pm

      I love this dish full of vegetables and the sauce make for a perfect meal at home and skipping take out. Delicious!

      Reply

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