This Vegan Pad Thai with crispy tofu, rainbow vegetable noodles, and creamy peanut sauce is quick and easy to make, healthy and so delicious! The recipe is gluten-free and can be made without tofu too!
Easy Vegan Pad Thai Recipe
If you’re a fan of Thai food, you may already know what Pad Thai is, or maybe you’ve even tried it. However, I think that some of you have never heard of this simple pasta dish before, even though it is so delicious! In Thailand, it’s traditionally made with eggs, fish or meat. However, I find, this meal is easy to veganize too. So, I thought sharing this easy vegan recipe would be a great idea!
Vegan Pad Thai with Vegetable Noodles and Crispy Tofu
I’ve added many colorful vegetables to my vegan pad thai recipe, such as zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, and red bell pepper. Instead of meat and fish, I chose crispy tofu which makes this dish protein-rich. Of course, you can also prepare the Pad Thai without tofu and use other kinds of vegetables. Actually, there are no rules, so feel free to mix and match the ingredients however you want!
Zucchini noodles and carrot noodles
Zucchini and carrots can be perfectly spiralized into vegetable noodles using a spiralizer. Especially, when you make pasta dishes, I find spiralized vegetable noodles are a great addition because then it seems as if you have more pasta. And if you don’t have a spiralizer, you can cut the vegetables into thin strips using a vegetable peeler or vegetable slicer as well. Alternatively, you can go the classic way by cutting the vegetables with a sharp knife into small cubes or sticks.
How to make Vegan Pad Thai
The preparation for Pad That is really super easy and quick. That’s probably another reason why this dish has already become popular in other countries outside of Thailand too. You just need to prepare the noodles and peanut sauce. Then you cut the vegetables, marinate the tofu and stir-fry the ingredients after each other. Finally, you add the noodles and peanut sauce into the vegetable stir-fry and sprinkle some more peanuts over it. That’s it!
Pad Thai is usually seasoned with fish sauce, which is not so easy to make with a vegan substitute. Anyways, you could create a kind of vegan fish sauce from soy sauce (or tamari sauce) and edible seaweed, such as Wakame. Since they are not often available in a store, and because I wanted to keep the recipe simple, I omit it. I think that this Vegan Pad Thai also tastes delicious with just simple peanut sauce! And when you add a bit of chili on top to make it spicy, it’s perfect!
I hope you will enjoy my Vegan Pad Thai with vegetable noodles and tofu! This Thai noodle dish is:
- Vegan, Vegetarian
- Egg-free, meat-free and fish-free
- Quick & easy to make
- With vegetable noodles
- & crispy tofu
- Tossed in a creamy peanut sauce
- Healthy
- Delicious
- Spicy
- Flavorful
- Perfect for lunch or dinner!
Looking for more delicious Thai, Asian or Chinese inspired vegan recipes? Then you may also like these dishes:
- Vegan dumplings with vegetable filling
- Scallion Pancakes (Chinese flatbread)
- Asian Peanut Noodles with crispy Tofu
- Crispy Sesame Tofu with Tahini Peanut Sauce
- Sweet Potato & Carrot Noodles
- BBQ Cauliflower Wings
- Or how about a Mexican Recipe?
- Or maybe a creamy Curry?
If you try my Vegan Pad Thai or another delicious recipe, feel free to leave a comment, how it goes. And if you take a photo of your noodle dish and share it on Instagram, please make sure to tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka so I will not miss your post! Have fun cooking!
Vegan Pad Thai
Author:Ingredients
Pad Thai
- 12.5 oz noodles of choice 350g, or gluten-free rice noodles
- 1 zucchini spiralized into noodles
- 2 carrots spiralized into noodles
- 1 red bell pepper finely sliced
- ½ bunch of scallion sliced, or 1 onion
- 3-4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small piece of ginger optional
- 10.5 oz mushrooms 300g, sliced
- 7 oz firm tofu 200g, cut into cubes
- ½ tsp turmeric optional
- 2-3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari sauce
- 2-3 tbsp peanut oil or other oil
- 1 tsp chili flakes or to taste
Peanut sauce
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter 60ml
- ¼ cup coconut milk 60ml, or other non-dairy milk
- ¼ cup soy sauce or Tamari, 60ml
- 1-2 tbsp agave syrup or other sweetener
- squeeze of fresh lime juice optional
- a bit of water only if needed
To serve (optional)
- ½ cup roasted peanuts crushed
- fresh coriander to garnish
- sesame to sprinkle
Instructions
*Note: Watch the recipe video in the blog post above!
- Soak the noodles according to the packing instructions or cook until 'al dente'. Drain and set aside. Optionally, toss with a little oil to avoid sticking together.
- Cut the vegetables with a knife or spiralize them using a spiralizer (*as shown in the step-by-step pictures in the text).
- Drain the tofu well, then wrap in kitchen paper and squeeze out the remaining liquid. Then cut the tofu into cubes and marinate with turmeric.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet (or wok). Sauté the scallions, garlic, and ginger (optional), stirring constantly. Then transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Heat another tablespoon of oil in the same pan and fry the tofu from all sides until crispy. Then remove and set aside.
- Now fry the mushrooms for about 3-4 minutes. Add the crispy tofu, deglaze with soy sauce and stir until well combined and nicely browned.
- Add the prepared vegetables and sauté until slightly softened, but still crisp.
- In the meantime, mix all ingredients for the peanut sauce. (You can heat the peanut butter over a water bath until melted, making it easier to stir.)
- Add the cooked noodles, roasted scallions & garlic, chili flakes, and peanut sauce. Toss to combine and heat until warmed through, for about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Sprinkle coriander, chopped peanuts, and sesame over your Pad Thai, and serve with fresh limes, if desired.
- Enjoy!
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This recipe looks soooo good and versatile! Questions — can I use tempeh instead of tofu (if so, any modifications needed?), can I use ground toasted sesame instead of peanut butter, and can I do strips of baby bok choy instead of zucchini? How about adding daikon radish strips?
Hi Leola,
Yes, you can also use tempeh instead of tofu – no modifications needed. You can also use toasted sesame butter instead of peanut butter if you like the flavor. Feel free to use strips of baby bok choy instead of zucchini. Of course, you can add daikon radish! This recipe is super versatile so get creative! 😉
Greetings,
Bianca
Our family doesn’t eat tofu. Would like to add more veggies instead. Can I make this without? Any other changes for this?
Thank you!
Yes, sure! 🙂 You use more veggies or vegan chicken strips from the supermarket instead.
Would spinach, carrots, and sweet pepper work well together in this dish?
Of course! You can easily exchange the given veggies with veggies of your choice. 🙂
This recipe is quick and easy! I love it and how you can switch out for any veggies you have on hand. The sauce is delicious!
Thanks, Barbara! I’m happy that you enjoyed it. 😊
I made this an substituted in shrimp for the tofu and a bag of frozen veggies for the veggie noodles. I also used udon noodles and it came out so well!! I will definitely make this dish multiple times.
So glad you enjoyed it! Will try it with Udon noodles too! 🙂
Delicious recipe thank you! I’ve made various versions of peanut sauce but this is the best one yet.
Thank you so much. I’m glad you like my peanut sauce! 🙂
This recipe was sooooo good! For sure would have been easier with a spiralizer. So next time I do this recipe, I’ll need one of those. Highly recommend everyone make this! Also for us made more servings then it says. Love this recipe! Great as leftovers as well!
Hi Annie,
Thanks for your great feedback! 🙂
So glad you love it!
Enjoy your evening! ♡
Einfach mega lecker – man kann sogar einfach die Nudeln weglassen und es schmeckt immer noch großartig 😍😍😍
Danke für dein klasse Feedback! <3
Das freut mich sehr! 🙂
Ich wünsche dir noch einen schönen Abend!
So so lecker! Ich hab die Sauce noch mit Wasser verdünnt – so mag ich es lieber! Aber ein tolles Rezept, koche immer wieder gerne ♥️
Freut mich sehr, dass es geschmeckt hat! 🙂
Ich wünsche dir noch einen schönen Abend!
What a treat this recipe is! One of the best pad Thai’s I have ever made, and I’ve used many recipes! Thank you for this
Yay, that sounds great!
I am glad you loved this recipe! ♡
Many thanks, Bianca!
Super delicious, easy and quick to prepare! Try some more soy sauce if you like it more tasty. We will definitely make it again.
So glad you loved it!
Thank you so much! 🙂 ♡
Thanks for sharing! This is delicious! 🙂
That’s amazing! Thanks! 🙂
Wow, that recipe is truly amazing! We made the Pad Thai at home and brought it to the office to share with our colleges and everyone loved it! Absolutely lovely!
Thank you so much for your great feedback!
So glad you love this recipe! 🙂
Much love,
Bianca ♡
This was so satisfying, it’s such a healthy alternative to takeout, very creamy and satisfying, will make many times again.
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed this dish! 🙂
War super lecker. Ich liebe deine Rezepte aus dem Buch, sie sind lecker und leicht zuzubereiten. 5 Sterne!
Es freut mich sehr, dass es dir geschmeckt hat! 🙂
Vielen Dank für das tolle Feedback!
I loved this recipe! This was a wonderful dish to make ahead of time, and eat throughout the week. I also used the peanut sauce part of this recipe for many other dishes (though I see Bianca has a separate recipe. Five whole stars for this dish! <3
So glad you love this recipe, too! 😊
The peanut sauce is one of go-to dipping sauces so I decided to share a separate blog post for that! 😃
Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback!
Lots of love,
Bianca ❤️
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I made it and it was so delicious!
Can I store the leftovers in the freezer?
So glad you’re happy with this recipe!
Feel free to freeze it, however, I think it tastes best when served fresh!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
Much love,
Bianca 😊
Made this Pad Thai a few days ago for the whole family. Everyone loved it! The peanut sauce has such an amazing flavor and is quite light compared to some other ones I tried. Don’t have a spiralizer yet (putting it on my list!) but used a peeler instead which worked all right.
If you feel like an Asian dinner, you have to try this recipe!
Thank you Bianca 🙂
So glad your whole family loved this recipe! Thank you so much for your feedback! ❤️❤️
Bianca! All I can say it’s that this was just delicious! Super easy to make and left me so satisfied
I am new to the vegan diet and so far I am in love! These noodles are staying in my favourite pile for sure!
Thank you for this great recipe!
Keep it up! 🌸💪🏻
So glad these noodles are your favorite! 😊 Thank you so much for your amazing feedback!
Lots of love,
Bianca ❤️
I made this tonight having recently gone vegan with my boyfriend. We are lovers of pad thai and were already vegetarian so already omitted fish sauce but now also we are omitting egg, we were curious how it would go. I have to say, I am so pleasantly surprised! This was absolutely beautiful, better than the vegetarian versions we had! I’ve never had a fish sauce or meat version as I had been veggie for a while so can’t say I can compare on that front but this is so good that I honestly can’t imagine this not being as good if not better. Followed the recipe exactly (except whilst I did spiralised the courgette, I decided to large-grate the carrot for some extra variety) and I will definitely be adding this to frequent meals list. Thank you for this recipe! 🙂
So glad you love my vegan version! 😊
Thank you so much for your amazing feedback!
Lots of love,
Bianca ❤️
I really enjoyed this recipe. I have tried many other pad thai recipes, and the sauce never seems to be well balanced (being either too sweet or too tart). However, I thought this one was really nice. For veges, I used what I had on hand, which was canned mushrooms, carrots chopped into thin slices (maybe would use a peeler next time since I don’t have a spiralizer), green onion, cilantro & garlic. I loved that the tumeric gave the tofu the classic pad thai coloring. This will be my new go-to recipe!
So glad you love this recipe! Thank you 🙂
Hello, it looks absolutely delicious. When you say “marinate with Turmeric”, do you mean only turmeric or with some oil also? I guess it’s just with Turmeric but i want to make sure.
Thank you
Yes, just turmeric! 🙂
I made this again, last night, and my family LOVES it. Thanks for your work to get the veg-noodle-sauce proportions right. I modify the veg-tofu-noodle elements based on what I have in the refrigerator. I omit oil because we are WFPB. I added 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger to the tofu saute and used maple syrup instead of agave in the peanut sauce. This is definitely a recipe box staple. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much! 🙂
So this pad thai is hunting me since I tried that vegan tofu from feastbox. Imma try this recipe! Can’t wait!
I hope you’ll love this recipe! 🙂
Super lecker! Bisher waren alle Gerichte aus dem Buch top! Danke!
Das freut mich sehr! Dankeschön! 🙂
This was so amazing. I found this blog while searching for healthy whole food recipes. So many recipes online use really bizarre ingredients and take too long. The only thing I changed was I used dates in water to replace the agave sugar because I didn’t have it. I also love the explanations and other ideas (I did use edible seaweed in mine and it was an excellent idea). It was written well. It really did only take a half hour to make and even my pickiest little human liked it!! It tasted like Pad Thai I get in an excellent restaurant near my home (but way cheaper on my wallet) Best blog ever!!
Hi Misty,
so glad you found my blog and that you like my recipes! 🙂
Your idea is really excellent! I’ll try that, too! 😉
Thank you so much for your amazing feedback <3
Much love,
Bianca
This was a delicious dish ! ❤️Cooked it yesterday for dinner 🍽 I will definitely make it again 🤤💕
So glad you enjoyed this vegan pad thai! Thank you for your amazing feedback! 🙂
So einfach und so lecker! Das Pad Thai hat wunderbar geschmeckt, ging super schnell in der Zubereitung und war mal wieder ein Highlight Dinner. Vielen Dank für das wunderbare Rezept!
Es freut mich sehr zu hören, dass das Rezept so gut geschmeckt hat! Vielen lieben Dank für den tollen Kommentar! Liebe Grüße, Bianca 🙂
The photo grabbed my attention on Pinterest! This was so amazing! My kids have gone to the vegetarian side of life and I wanted to try this out and see if they liked it. We all loved it, so flavorful with so many levels of spice. I wasn’t a big fan of the peanut sauce so I only added a couple tablespoons which was perfect. I also added a thai chili pepper, seeds and all….I like lots of spice. I will definitely make this again!
So glad you enjoyed this vegan pad thai recipe! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your version and for your amazing feedback! Lots of love, Bianca <3
This tasted amazing! The flavours were lovely and the tofu sucked up all the flavour. The only thing I struggled with was the sauce being a bit too thick and pasty. Contacted Bianca who suggested I thin a little with water which I’ll definitely try next time. Really delicious.
So glad you love this vegan pad thai so much! Thank you for your amazing feedback! Hope it’ll turn out better next time when you thin it out! 😀 Lots of love, Bianca <3
Nachdem wir in Thailand jeden zweiten Tag veganes Pad Thai gegessen haben und wir definitiv hier zu Hause nicht mehr drauf verzichten wollten, hab ich mich auf die Suche gemacht und deins gefunden. Es ist wirklich super lecker und ganz leicht nachzumachen! Wird es hier jetzt definitiv öfter geben! Vielen lieben Dank! 🙂
Liebe Gianna, das freut mich wirklich sehr zu hören! Vielen Dank für dein klasse Feedback! Liebe Grüße, Bianca <3
I am a new vegan and made this for myself and my non-vegan fiance last night. We really enjoyed it and my fiance said it was one of the best things he’d eaten in a long time! I loved the spiralised veg in it to create rainbow noodles. This has definately become one of our regular meals. Looking forward to trying more recipes from your blog! Thanks Sammy 😋😊❤
Hi Sammy, so glad to hear that! Rainbow noodles are not only fun to make but also fun to eat, right? Plus they’re healthy 😛 Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
This dish is so quick, easy to make, and DELICIOUS!!! I honestly can’t wait to make it again!
So glad you enjoyed this vegan pad thai! Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
Very good Pad Thai and fairly simple to make. Even my father-in-law who always says he doesn’t like vegan food liked it!!
Hi Elisha, so glad even your father loved this vegan Pad Thai! Thank you so much for the amazing feedback! 🙂
This was perfect, even my non-vegan boyfriend enjoyed it very much. I will certainly make it again soon.
Thanks!
Hi Agi, so glad you like this vegan pad thai so much! Thank you for your amazing feedback! Lots of love, Bianca <3
Made this last night for dinner and it was amazing.
So happy to find a great vegan and GF pad thai recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your amazing feedback! 🙂
This was a delicious recipe! I love recipes that call for ingredients that are easily accessible and already in my fridge. I made this completely noodle-free for a lower carb rendition.
So glad that you like it Claire! Love the idea to make this vegan pad thai just with vegetable noodles 🙂
Made it for tonight’s dinner and it was really delicious but really less beautiful than the pad tai of the picture 😹
Amazing recipe !
You’re so sweet 😀 I’m pretty sure your Pad Thai was beautiful too! Thank you so much! So glad that you liked this Thai noodles Recipe 🙂
Really cool and super delicious 😍 So nice, thank you!
So glad you liked it 🙂 Thank you 🙂
Love vegan Pad Thai! Looks so delicious Bianca. 🙂
Thank you, Ela 🙂
This recipe took longer to prep and cook then stated! 15 mins to prep, 15 mins to cook? 1 hour later still cooking! Hope it taste good!!
Not a quick recipe! Took me over an hour to prep and cook, not 15 mins to prep and 15 to cook. But at least it tasted good.
Sorry the timing didn’t work for you. Maybe I’m just more skilled at cutting vegetables and tofu quickly. In fact, I need exactly the time that I have given. I’m glad that the taste of the dish could at least convince you.