Vegan Peanut Pad Thai
Pad Thai is one of my favourite dishes to eat when in South East Asia. Or closer to home. I love the fresh, zingy flavour and the crunchy textures which contrast against the soft noodles. It’s such a fragrant dish, and this vegan peanut pad Thai is really quick and simple to make. Being packed with veg, it’s pretty good for you, too.
While this is an easy vegan pad Thai recipe, you could easily add prawns or chicken to the veg and peanut sauce to create a meaty or fishy dish. Just make sure they are thoroughly cooked. I would add thinly sliced chicken to the wok first, stir frying briefly before adding the vegetables one by one. If using prawns, check pack guidelines to gauge cooking time as it depends on their size. As well as whether you’re using fresh or frozen.
Alternatively, grill some meat or seafood on skewers and serve over the top once the noodles are made. Ideal if you’re catering for carnivores as well as vegans. This is also a real January dish – new year, new healthy you and all that.
To ensure this is a vegan pad Thai sauce recipe, I don’t use fish sauce. Dark soy sauce makes a good substitute, and is thus used in this way for many Thai vegan recipes. The use of rice noodles also makes it gluten free.
Carrot, pepper, courgette and mushrooms may not traditionally be vegetables in pad Thai, but they add flavour, colour, texture, vitamins and fibre – key to making this pad Thai recipe veggie, healthy and delicious. No sweet potato here, as I find it goes mushy in the wok. You could use green or red pepper, but yellow or orange are sweeter. I prefer using just the veg to adding crispy Tofu, but you could do that too.
This vegetarian plant based Pad Thai serves 4
Vegan Peanut Pad Thai ingredients
- Sesame oil, for frying
- Carrot, 1 large, sliced into thin strips
- Pepper, 1, yellow or orange, sliced into thin strips
- Courgette, 1, sliced into thin strips
- Mushrooms, a handful, sliced thinly
- Beansprouts, 1 pack
- ‘Straight to Wok’ rice noodles, 2 packs
- Garlic, 2 cloves, thinly sliced or crushed
- Chilli flakes, a pinch
- Dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp
- Peanut butter, any, 2 tbsp
- Sugar, 2 tsp
- Peanuts, 50g, chopped finely or crushed
- Limes, 2, quartered
Equipment
How to make the best vegan Pad Thai recipe
- Heat the wok, then add a splash of sesame oil.
- Add the carrot and cook, stirring, for about one minute. Next add the pepper and stir-fry for another minute. Do the same with the courgette and mushrooms, stirring for around a minute between each addition.
- Add the beansprouts to the wok, then stir. Next add the garlic, soy sauce, chilli, peanut butter and sugar. Stir-fry for about 2 or 3 minutes.
- Add the rice noodles to the Pad Thai, then cook as per the instructions on the pack.
- Serve the hot noodles immediately once the noodles are cooked. Scatter with peanuts and squeeze on some lime juice just before eating.
Related recipes:
- Chicken satay noodles
- Vegan red Thai curry
- Jackfruit chilli
- Squash curry
- Veggie tagine
- Lentil chilli
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