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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Amazing pad Thai recipe! Love the sauce and also how quick and simple it is to make
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
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.
Cathy, we don’t eat tofu either – tonight we used Pumfu (made from pumpkin seeds instead of soybean) and it was fantastic. This recipe is delicious and versatile – I didn’t have the exact right veggies – I substituted with what I had. Partner and I loved it (again, second time I made with whatever “close enough” ingredients I had)!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks your feedback and the idea 😊
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!