Better-Than-Takeout Gluten-Free Pad Thai

My gluten-free Pad Thai offers complex, bold, and nuanced flavors so you can enjoy a combination of sweet, savory, and slightly spicy flavors at home without worrying about gluten. The entire dish is topped with crunchy peanuts and a tangy squeeze of lime to ensure a bold flavor profile reminiscent of take-out pad Thai. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.

Pad Thai is a popular Thai dish made from a combination of rice noodles, tofu or chicken, eggs, and bean sprouts, and may also contain peanuts, scallions, and a tangy fish sauce.

I find Pad Thai to be extremely flavorful, satisfying, and filling, and something I find myself making for my family time and time again.

Pad Thai offers complex, bold, and nuanced flavors that can be sweet, savory, and slightly spicy simultaneously, creating an overall mouthwatering flavor enhanced by the nuttiness of roasted peanuts and fresh lime juice.

Enjoy the bold flavors and savory taste of my gluten-free pad Thai without worry of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes oats, sneaking into your food. This beloved iconic dish can safely be enjoyed anytime at home with this easy one-pot recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Pad Thai

Here’s what you’ll need to make this savory Asian dish. As you’ll see, most pad Thai ingredients are already gluten-free, including the pad Thai noodles made of rice. Gluten usually lurks not in the ingredients of the main dish but in the sauce since soy sauce contains wheat.

Make sure all the ingredients are labeled gluten-free before making this recipe.

• 1 8 oz package of gluten-free rice sticks or wide rice noodles (I used Lotus Foods Pad Thai Noodles)
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used Chosen Foods avocado oil)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
• 4 green onions. You’ll need to separate the green and white parts, finely chop the whites, and slice the greens separately.
• 1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 zucchini, cut into bite-size sticks
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup chopped or crushed roasted salted peanuts (I recommend Nuts.com since its nuts are certified gluten-free)
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• 2 limes, cut into wedges

You’ll also need the following ingredients for the fish sauce:

• ¼ cup fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp coconut aminos, gluten-free soy sauce, or tamari
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sriracha
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter

How to Make Gluten-Free Pad Thai

It’s really easy to make gluten-free pad Thai in a few simple steps.

(1) Prepare the pad Thai rice noodles according to the package directions. Some packages require you to boil the noodles, others require soaking. Follow the directions on the packaging.

(2) Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set it aside. The sauce will be ready to go when you need it.

(3) In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil, garlic, and onion whites. Cook for one minute until fragrant and the onions are slightly translucent.

(4) Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the hot pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes until the chicken is golden and almost cooked through.

(5) Add the zucchini and red bell pepper slices and sautée for 2-3 minutes or until tender but still crisp.

(6) Make a well in the center of your skillet by pushing the ingredients to the sides of the pan. Add the eggs to the open space in the middle of the pan and scramble them. As the eggs cook, incorporate them into the rest of the ingredients.

(7) As soon as the eggs are cooked, add the prepared rice noodles and the sauce, and stir to coat all the ingredients.

(8) Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in half the cilantro, half the green onions, and half the peanuts. Garnish the top of the pad Thai with the remaining green onions, cilantro, and peanuts, and serve with lime wedges.

Substitutions and FAQs

Preparing the Rice Noodles: The instructions on the Lotus Foods Pad Thai rice noodles said to boil them first, but some brands say to soak them in hot water. For the best results, follow the directions found directly on the package of rice noodles you’re using.

Add-Ins: You can add bean sprouts (optional) to make your pad Thai more authentic. I recommend using one cup of bean sprouts and adding them just before the rice noodles, so they stay crispy.

Peanut Butter: You can omit the peanut butter, although I like the creaminess and flavor the peanut butter provides.

Tamarind Paste: Traditional pad Thai recipes call for tamarind paste, which I think is hard to find in stores, let alone gluten-free. You could use gluten-free tamarind paste instead of gluten-free soy sauce (or coconut aminos or tamari) and brown sugar, that is, if you can find it.

Spice Swaps: You could use half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes instead of sriracha in the sauce.

Additional Recipes

You might enjoy these tasty gluten-free dinner recipes too:

• Gluten-Free Sesame Chicken
• Easy Gluten-Free Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Extra Crispy Tofu Stir-Fry with Garlic-Ginger Sauce
• Asian Meatball Bowls