Our Zucchini noodle pad thai recipe is light, low carb and satisfying when you’re craving regular pad thai. These zoodles have much less carbs than regular flour noodles but they’re still high on flavor! You won’t feel like you’re missing out on anything.
Easy Zucchini Noodle Pad Thai Recipe
The sound of zucchini pasta didn’t exactly entice our appetites. We’ve heard of zoodles, or zucchini noodles but had never tasted them. Zucchini pasta recipes? Ok….how….interesting. Yes, we judged the humble zucchini. The thought of making zucchini noodles didn’t exactly have us running to the kitchen to whip up a batch. Maybe we thought zucchini pasta would be tasteless and we’d rather eat the real stuff and run 5 miles to burn it off. Well, we’re here to humbly apologize to the zucchini noodles because we were totally wrong. So, so sorry zucchini, we should have believed in you more.
Our minds were blown when we were inAshevillefor Food Blog Forum a few weeks ago and for dinner atCorner Kitchenwe had our very first plate of zucchini pasta. Our minds were blown.We’re here to apologize again for waiting so long to explore the amazing world of zucchini noodles.And finally, we here to tell you that we’re now totally and whole-heartedly addicted to zucchini noodles. What a complete 180 turn-around, right?That zoodle or zucchini pasta meal was so incredibly delicious, that we didn’t even miss the pasta. We inhaled our zucchini noodles and couldn’t believe how satisfying it was and how healthy it was. Two things that can’t go wrong in a dish: delicious AND healthy.
Video: Zoodle Pad Thai Recipe
Tips on How to Make Zucchini Noodles or Zoodles
- Choose a straight looking zucchini or summer squash for spiraling. If you’re using a vegetable spiralizer, you’ll get longer strands if the zucchini is straight. If they’re curved, the strands don’t spiralize as long and you’ll end up getting much shorter strands if the zucchini is curvy.
- Meal prep: You can spiralize the zucchini ahead of time.
- Make ahead: The sauce can be made ahead of time too.
- All recipe details are in the recipe box below.
We felt full and satisfied, the same way we feel when we eat noodles or pasta. Except without the normally resulting food-coma. But best of all, it was totally healthier, lower calorie and gluten-free. What an amazing option to serve when we have gluten-free friends over! Again, we’re zucchini noodle addicts and this zucchini noodle pad thai recipe is super satisfying when we’re craving healthy Thai food.
As soon as we returned from Asheville, we went into the kitchen to research, explore, experiment and taste test our recipe for zucchini noodle pad thai. Here’s what we were able to play with in the kitchen, along with one of the first recipes we made: “Zoodles” Zucchini Noodle Pad Thai!
Best Vegetable Spiralizers for Spiralizing & Entertaining:
Paderno Spiralizer–
The Classic! We’ve lost track of how many meals this one has made for us. Fantastic spiralizer.
KitchenAid Spiralizer Attachment–
Spiralize, peel, core, slice. All from the power of the KitchenAid stand mixer.
OXO Julienne Peeler–
For those who love it simple. This great julienne peeler has seen a lot of mileage in our kitchen.
Here’s what we made on our zucchini noodle play day:
We used this awesome Paderno vegetable spiral slicerto make the curly zucchini noodles or pasta. It’s great for making bigger batches of zucchini noodles
this spiral vegetable slicer, cuts up the zucchini super quick
Our OXO vegetable peeler was equally awesome at making the noodles, without the curly look. A Mandolin works great as well, but be safe. We used oursafety gloves. Although a mandolin doesn’t have the curls either, the zucchini cooksup great.
With 20 pounds of zucchini noodles in the kitchen, we cooked up the healthiest pad thai ever. We didn’t miss the regular noodles at all and the zucchini was fantastic
Can you tell? We’re obsessed.
Enjoy,
diane and todd
Love Chow Mein noodles, but without the calories? Try our popular and Healthy Zucchini Noodle Chow Mein Recipe Here.
Turkey marinara with zucchini noodles hits the spot.Here’s the recipe.
Zucchini Pad Thai Noodles "Zoodles"
Yield: 2 Servings
Total Time: 20 minutes mins
The best part about this Zucchini Pad Thai is that you can add what ever protein you want. We like to have our zucchini noodles a little on the crunchy side, so we like to cook the zucchini first, then let the water drain from the noodles before serving. The water that's reserved from the noodles won't water down any sauce or flavor in the zoodle recipe.
4.95 from 20 votes
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Ingredients
for the zucchini noodle pad thai:
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (30ml) , divided
- 1/2 pound peeled and de-veined shrimp (225g) or what ever protein you prefer
- 3 cloves garlic , minced or crushed
- 1/2 red bell pepper , seeded and sliced thin
- 3 green onions , sliced
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups bean sprouts (480ml) , about
- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts (80ml)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
- Few lime wedges for serving (optional)
for the sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar or distilled white vinegar (30ml)
- 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (30ml), or to taste
- 3 Tablespoons ketchup (45ml)
- 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar (5ml)
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1 small red chili , sliced
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce , or to taste
Instructions
Make the sauce: In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients (vinegar, fish sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, chili garlic sauce), then set aside.
Cut the zucchini into noodles or long pasta by using a vegetable spiralizer tool or tools mentioned in our post write up.
Heat a large pan on medium high heat. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil (reserve the other half for later). Then add zucchini noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the zucchini noodles are tender. Don't overcook the noodles. The zucchini noodles should be slightly crunchy with a tender bite.
Let the noodles rest for about 3 minutes to allow as much moisture as possible to release.Remove the noodles from the pan and drain the excess water.
Carefully wipe the same pan to remove the excess water, and then re-heat the pan on medium high heat. Add the remaining olive oil and garlic. Cook the garlic until soft and translucent, about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook until shrimp is tender andcooked through, about 3 minutes.
Add the bell peppers and green onions. Cook for about 1-2 minutes or until tender. Add the egg and stir in with the vegetable until the egg is cooked.
Add the zucchini noodles back into the same pan, then add the sauce. Cook for about 1 more minutes or until the zucchini noodles are heated through. Then stir in the bean sprouts.
Serve the warm zucchini pad thai noodles with roasted peanuts, cilantro, and lime wedges.
Video
Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: 545kcal, Carbohydrates: 30g, Protein: 41g, Fat: 31g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 379mg, Sodium: 2791mg, Potassium: 1234mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 19g, Vitamin A: 1888IU, Vitamin C: 98mg, Calcium: 276mg, Iron: 6mg
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Asian, Stove Top
Calories: 545
More Easy Recipes:
- Chocolate appetizers
- Frosted cauliflower
- Braised pork chops in hard lemonade
- peardorf salad
- Our Zucchini noodle pad thai recipe was originally published in 2014 and re-published in 2018 with updated video.
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