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 —Â 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.
Spicy Zoodle Pad Thai Salad
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.
don’t forget to pin it!
Love this take on classic Pad Thai! Great summer eating 🙂
Beautiful dish Sue, love your pad Thai dishes, both ways!!! I have a spiralizer but have only used it a few times. Started a pin board to pin more recipes. Pinned this one. Have a wonderful 4th!
Oh boy this looks great! I love Pad Thai and my poor spiralizer has gotten lonely lately so I need to get it out for this recipe! Can’t wait for our zucchini to be ready to pick!
What a pretty looking healthy salad. I love how easy it is to make and it would be a great work lunch too.
How many ounces of tofu?
4 ounces, just updated, thanks Joanne.
I ADORE my spiralizer and have blogged about quite a few versions of veggies using it – you should try butternut squash for a delicious version too
I’ve got a zoodle with sundried tomato pesto coming up next week, hope you can take a look at it…
You made a gorgeous Pad Thai, which is also a favorite dish of mine… I rarely order because it can be so heavy, so zoodles definitely sound perfect for it
Thanks Sally, I’ll definitely check out your zoodle dish, it sounds great. I know what you mean about regular pad Thai, depending on the restaurant the noodles can form a clump, but not with these zoodles, they stay nice and bouncy and fresh!
there you go, Sue… if you’d like to take a look here is the link (hope it’s not too rude to include it, slap my hand if you feel it’s inappropriate)
https://bewitchingkitchen.com/2016/07/08/zucchini-noodles-with-sundried-tomato-pesto/
That’s a big YUM Sally!
I love using my spiralizer, it is so much fun. Love trying new recipes using zoodles, so good and so good for you!
I do love me some thai flavors. This is a gorgeous looking meal – looks like a winner to me.
I resisted buying a spiralizer for some time too but I’ve just succumbed to temptation to so this is perfect timing! Love how you have replaced the noodles with zoodles – so much healthier! The flavours in your Pad Thai Salad are just beautiful and I can’t wait to try it.
I feel like I’m the last person to get one, but I’m really happy I have it now, I think it’s especially good to have during the hot summer months.
We love Zoodles in our home. They are a great alternative to pasta and this looks delicious!