Zoodle Pad Thai Salad

My Zoodle Pad Thai Salad recipe is a refreshing low carb version of the beloved Thai street food, made with spiralized zucchini.

Zoodles (spiralized zucchini noodles) make a fun, and healthy, variation on Pad Thai!

I’m a huge pad Thai fan, I always order it in Thai restaurants and I’ve made it myself lots of times.  I decided to try out my new Spiralizer and create a variation of the dish by replacing the traditional rice noodles with ‘zoodles’.  I just loved the result, and to be honest I couldn’t really tell much difference between the zucchini and the noodles, this version tasted  exactly like my favorite pad Thai.

I resisted getting a spiralizer for quite some time

But I think all this super hot weather made the thought of veggie noodles sound really enticing.  It took me just about a minute to get a big pile of bouncy ‘zoodles’ and to fall in love with my new kitchen toy.  The zoodles were surprisingly long and resilient —  I think I expected that they’d be watery and so delicate they’d fall apart, but it’s just the opposite, they look and behave just like regular noodles!

We ate this as a cold salad, and also as a hot dish and loved it both ways, the zoodles hold up well in either case.

A refreshing combination of lime, ginger, garlic and cilantro, along with fish sauce and soy sauce forms the pad Thai flavor base.  Mine gets a dose of protein from the tofu, and a great crunch from bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and roasted peanuts.

See my Spicy Pad Thai for a classic recipe that uses rice noodles, and my Pad Thai recipe for one that includes chicken.  They’re all great in their own way.

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4.75 from 4 votes

Spicy Zoodle Pad Thai Salad

Zoodle Pad Thai Salad is a refreshing low carb version of the beloved Thai street food, made with spiralized zucchini.

Course main course salad

Cuisine Thai/American

Total Time 30 minutes

Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 3 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 large jalapeno pepper minced, seeds and all
• 2 large eggs beaten
• 4 ounces tofu cut in small cubes
• 6-8 scallions thinly sliced
• 1 can water chestnuts sliced thinly
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 2 medium zucchini spiralized
• large handful fresh cilantro leaves chopped

sauce

• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice about 2 large limes
• 3 Tbsp fish sauce substitute soy sauce for vegetarian and vegan
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar

garnish

• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts rough chopped
• more fresh cilantro leaves
• lime wedges

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a wok and saute the garlic, ginger and jalapeno for several minutes, stirring constantly. Push them to one side and add the eggs. Scramble them, breaking them up as they cook.
• Whisk together the sauce ingredients and add to the pan. Heat until it comes to a boil, and then add the tofu, scallions, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, and zoodles. Stir fry for a minute or so, tossing everything really well to distribute the sauce evenly and just barely soften the zoodles. Toss in the cilantro and take off the heat.
• Serve hot right away, or remove from the pan and refrigerate to serve chilled as a salad. Garnish with lime wedges, chopped peanuts, and fresh cilantro.

notes:

• I just barely heated the zucchini noodles through in the wok before taking it off the heat.  They can wilt quickly, and I want to retain a little bit of their texture.
• Fish sauce is a fermented sauce that really gives pad Thai its authentic umami flavor, you’ll find it in the Asian or International section of your store.   For a vegan version, use soy sauce.

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