Easy Chicken Pad Thai- 30 Minute Meal
Throw together this chicken pad Thai one pot meal in under 30 minutes. Packed full of flavor, your whole family will love this dish.
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I had no idea what pad Thai was until I got married. My husband enjoys traveling, and therefore he also loves ethnic food. Once we got married, I started cooking outside of my normal foods and came across tons of fun recipes.
If you struggle to know what to make for supper, keeping a master list of your family’s favorites is a game changer. Simply write down your favorite meals and anytime you are meal planning or trying to think about supper, grab out your list and get to cooking. Simplify your life and the “what’s for dinner battle” once and for all!
What is Pad Thai?
The name Pad Thai literally means Thai stir fry. There are many variations, but most have noodles with Thai flavors, sweet and savory sauce, and topped with crushed peanuts.
Why I love Pad Thai
One thing I love about pad Thai is the versatility that comes with it. You can use beef, pork, or chicken for your protein and they all taste AMAZING.
You can make it low carb by using spaghetti squash, zoodles, or tofu noodles. If you’re looking for good gluten-free noodles, we love rice noodles, tofu noodles, and vegetable noodles.
It is a 30 minute meal which is what this busy momma is all about! Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking, but I simply don’t have time to be in the kitchen for two hours every night making a masterpiece. This Pad Thai is a DELICIOUS and EASY treat that our whole family loves!
Depending on the type of noodles you use, it can be a one pot meal. Nobody wants a stack of dishes to wash after supper. Keep it simple so you can go and enjoy the rest of your life!
Ingredients in Pad Thai
One of the things I simply love about this recipe is you probably have all of the ingredients in your kitchen already! As an advocate for grocery shopping twice a month and minimizing extra trips to the store, I love that I always have these items in my pantry. This saves me time and money and what who doesn’t want more time or money on their hands?
Pad Thai dish
- 1 lb chicken (could also use pork or beef)
- Noodles of choice (rice noodles, tofu noodles, zoodles, spaghetti squash, or linguini)
- 1 cup chopped or shredded carrots
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- peanuts and cilantro for garnish
Peanut Sauce
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (no sugar added is healthiest, but any works)
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 Tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Pad Thai Variations
As I mentioned earlier, you can customize this recipe to your family’s preferences or simply what you have in your fridge or freezer at the time. You can use chicken, pork, or beef as the meat source for Pad Thai and it will still taste AMAZING! Having precooked meat, such as leftover grilled chicken, would cut this meal prep time to under 15 minutes!
Since going gluten free, I have discovered many different noodles and love how it has gotten me out of my comfort zone! Some of my favorites are spaghetti squash, rice noodles, tofu noodles, zoodles, and Japanese noodles.
If you are not concerned with gluten, normal spaghetti noodles, linguini noodles, or ramen noddles are wonderful in this stir fry dish!
How to make Chicken Pad Thai
- Cook noodles of choice and set aside.
- Whisk together the sauce ingredients until well combined.
- Chop chicken into small 1-inch chunks. Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp oil of choice. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until all pieces are cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- Add 2 tsp oil into the same skillet and saute onion, bell pepper, and carrots for about 5 minutes.
- Add chicken, cooked noodles, and peanut sauce into the skillet with the vegetables.
- Mix well. Top with cilantro and chopped peanuts.
Chicken Pad Thai Recipe
Easy Chicken Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken could also use pork tenderloin
- Noodles of choice rice noodles, shiratiki noodles, zoodles, spaghetti squash, or linguini
- 1 cup chopped or shredded carrots
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- peanuts and cilantro for garnish
- 1/2 cup peanut butter no sugar added is healthiest, but any works
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 Tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cook noodles of choice and set aside.
- Whisk together the sauce ingredients until well combined.
- Chop chicken into small 1-inch chunks. Heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbsp oil of choice. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until all pieces are cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- Add 2 tsp oil into the same skillet and saute onion, bell pepper, and carrots for about 5 minutes.
- Add chicken, cooked noodles, and peanut sauce into the skillet with the vegetables.
- Mix well.Top with cilantro and chopped peanuts.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back for more!
