This vegetable pad Thai is ready in just 20 minutes and tastes incredible – perfect for week nights when you need a quick dinner.
I always make this on a Monday (particularly if I’m doing a meat free Monday). Sometimes, after the first day back at work, I need something to wake me up and kick me into shape. It can’t take long to cook – because all of those chores I was ‘going to do at the weekend’ need doing, and it needs to pack a punch with flavours.
This dish is all about the noodles and bean sprouts, and is really filling.
This recipe uses lots of beansprouts, and it means you can use less noodles. You could even make the dish with just bean sprouts and no noodles at all.
Vegetarian Pad Thai – The Ingredients
- Sesame oil – I always cook pad Thai in sesame oil. It’s the best tasting oil for this kind of dish.
- Shallots, garlic, red chilli, spring onions – these fresh ingredients provide the most incredible flavour base for the pad Thai. Make it with more chilli if you would prefer it spicier.
- Ribbon noodles – rice ribbon noodles are pad Thai favourites. You can use the straight to wok variety as I have here (I find them so easy to use), or just precook dried noodles and use those.
- Bean sprouts – use fresh rather than tinned.
- Rice vinegar, lime juice, light soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce – these make your sauce. If you can’t find vegetarian oyster sauce, it’s possible to make your own.
If you like this, you might also like:
- Korean Rice Bowl (Bibimbap)
- Vegetable Egg Fried Rice
- Vegetarian Satay Noodles
- Easy Vegetarian Nasi Goreng
- Asparagus and Tofu Vegan Pad Thai
- Super Easy Pad Thai
Top Tips
- Work quickly – As with any stir fry, you work quickly here over a hot wok (or frying pan). Keep stirring to make sure nothing burns.
- Topping and additions – If you’re not vegan, you can stir an egg through this pad Thai to make it more traditional. However, it’s not necessary.
- Get ahead – Part of the great thing about not adding egg to this recipe is that it reheats really well. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days and microwave each portion on high for 3 minutes and 30 seconds before serving.
Get the cook books:
Vegetarian Pad Thai
October 28, 2024Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 100 g shallots
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 1 red chilli
- 4 spring onions
- 300 g ribbon noodles (either straight to wok ones or cooked and drained
- 300 g bean sprouts
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tbsps light soy sauce
- 2 tbsps vegetarian oyster sauce
- Handful coriander
- Roasted peanuts to serve
Instructions
- Finely chop the shallots, garlic and chilli. Halve the spring onions lengthways and then chop into 2 cm pieces.
- Pour the oil into a wok or large frying pan and put on a high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, chilli and spring onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the noodles, soy sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar and oyster sauce. Cook for anther 2 minutes.
- Add the beansprouts and stir fry for 5 minutes. Chop the coriander and add this. Take off the heat.
- To serve, sprinkle roasted peanuts over each bowlful. Tuck in!
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