Shrimp Pad Thai is a favorite of mine! I love how it’s full of color and flavor. This Pad Thai is made healthier, by using zoodles (zucchini noodles) instead of rice noodles and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. Vegetable oil can cause inflammation, but thankfully that’s an easy fix when you cook at home. This is also full of veggies! It’s a quick meal that uses minimal dishes – a small saucepan to make the sauce and a large pan for everything else. It takes 15 minutes tops to prepare the ingredients and 15 minutes to cook everything. If you don’t have 30 minutes to spend cooking dinner, you can even chop up all the veggies on the weekend. Then it will only take you 15 minutes to prepare a delicious and healthy meal for your family! So read on for this delicious and healthy Shrimp Pad Thai recipe!
Healthy Shrimp Pad Thai Recipe
What You’ll Need
To make this yummy meal you’ll need:
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Sugar snap peas
- Wild-caught shrimp
- Red cabbage
- Zucchini
- Green onions
- Cilantro
- Ginger
- Coconut oil
- Coconut aminos
- Almond butter
- Rice wine vinegar
- Fish sauce
- Black pepper
- Sea salt
- Free-range eggs
- Sesame seeds
- Lime
Watch my video to quickly see how to make the recipe here!
What to Do
Prep the Veggies
We’ve made this meal several times at my house, and the easiest way we’ve found is to prepare all the ingredients first, before cooking anything. The times that we’ve chopped the veggies as we go, the ingredients in the pan started to burn before we were done chopping what needed to go in next. Once all the veggies are chopped and the shrimp is peeled, it does not take long at all to cook!
1.Chop half the yellow onion and set it aside. I set everything on a plate and then slide it into the pan when it’s time to cook it.
2. Mince two garlic cloves.
3. Cut the ends off 1/4 pound of sugar snap peas. We’ve also used snow peas for this meal, and they were also good. Sugar snap peas are a little bit sweeter. But you can use either one.
4. Peel the shrimp. We use 1 1/2 pounds wild-caught Argentinian Red Shrimp. It is plenty of shrimp for our family of four, with some leftover for lunch the next day. This shrimp is so meaty! They’re almost like mini lobsters.
5. Finely, slice 2 cups of red cabbage. I ended up using about 1/4 of the cabbage.
6. Spiralize 2-3 zucchini (depending on the size), or until you get 3 cups worth.
Here’s the Sprilazer I have. It has two different sizes you can make your zoodles (or whatever other veggie you want to spiralize), and it works great! It also includes a cleaning brush, a cookbook, and a peeler.
My boys learned how to use the peeler, as well as many other kitchen tools, in their Kids Cook Real Food course. This course has taught them so many useful kitchen skills and helped them to be more comfortable and independent in the kitchen. They love it! Check it out through the banner below or read more about it here!
7. Chop a few stalks of green onion until you get about 4 Tablespoons, or to your liking. This will be used for garnish at the end.
8. Chop some cilantro until you get about 4 Tablespoons. This will also be used for garnish.
9. Finally, grate 1 Tablespoon of fresh ginger and put into a small saucepan. The ginger will be used in the sauce for the Pad Thai.
Make the Sauce
Add 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, 2 Tablespoons coconut aminos (a healthier version of soy sauce), 1/4 Cup almond butter, 1/4 Cup vinegar, a few dashes of fish sauce, and 2 teaspoons black pepper into the small saucepan with the grated ginger.
We used crunchy almond butter this time (I normally do NOT like crunchy almond or peanut butter, but I bought this one on accident). The extra little crunch from the bits of almond actually tasted really good in this sauce. We used rice vinegar to enhance the Asian flavor. However, if you are strictly following Paleo or do not consume any grains, you can use white distilled vinegar instead.
Cook the sauce over Medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the almond butter and coconut oil are melted. Stir to combine everything well. If it is too thick, add a little water.
Set the sauce aside. You will add it to the rest of the ingredients in the Pad Thai later.
Cook the Healthy Shrimp Pad Thai
1. Melt 2 Tablespoons coconut oil in a large pan over Medium heat.
2. Once the pan and the oil are hot, add the chopped onion, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
3. Cook the onion for 3 minutes, or until it starts to turn translucent.
4. Add the minced garlic and sauté another minute.
5. Next, add the sugar snap peas to the pan.
6. Stir them around and let them cook for 2 minutes.
7. Then, push the veggies to the sides of the pan to make a well for the eggs to cook in.
8. Crack two eggs in the center of the pan.
9. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the egg whites are set.
10. Once the eggs are done, break them apart with your stirring spoon. Mix the eggs and the veggies together.
11. Next, add the shrimp to the pan.
12. Cook for 4 minutes, while stirring, to make sure both sides of the shrimp are cooked.
13. Then, add the spiralized zucchini and sliced cabbage. Mix everything together well.
14. Put the lid on the pan and let it cook for about 4 minutes. Be careful to not let it cook longer than that! You want the zucchini to be al-dente, not soggy.
15. Take the lid off, add the sauce that you prepared, and stir it all together.
Plate the Pad Thai
Lastly, garnish your pad Thai with the cilantro, green onions, sesame seeds, and lime wedges.
Shrimp Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 lb sugar snap peas
- 1 1/2 lbs shrimp
- 2 Cups red cabbage (shredded)
- 3 Cups zucchini (spiralized)
- 4 Tbsp green onion (chopped)
- 4 Tbsp cilantro (chopped)
- 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 4 Tbsp coconut oil or ghee (divided)
- 2 Tbsp coconut aminos
- 1/4 Cup almond butter
- 1/4 Cup rice vinegar (or white distilled to make it Paleo)
- few dashes fish sauce
- 3 tsp black pepper (divided)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 lime
- sesame seeds
Instructions
Prepare the Ingredients
- Chop the onion.
- Mince the garlic clove.
- Cut the ends off the sugar snap peas.
- Peel the shrimp.
- Thinly slice about 1/4 of a red cabbage (to get 2 cups).
- Spiralize 2-3 zucchini (to get 3 Cups).
- Chop the green onion.
- Chop the cilantro.
- Grate the ginger.
Make the Sauce
- Place 2 Tbsp of the ghee, grated ginger, coconut aminos, almond butter, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and 2 tsp black pepper into a small sauce pan.
- Cook over Medium heat about 5 minutes, or until the almond butter and ghee are melted.
- Stir to combine the ingredients well. Add water to thin it out if needed.
Cook the Pad Thai
- Melt 2 Tbsp of the ghee in a large pan over Medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion, minced garlic, 1/2 tsp sea salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper.
- Cook 3 minutes or until the onion starts to turn translucent, stirring frequently.
- Add the sugar snap peas to the pan.
- Cook another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Push the vegetables to the outside edges of the pan to make a well.
- Crack the eggs in the middle of the pan.
- Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the egg whites are cooked completely.
- Break the egg apart and stir the vegetables and eggs together.
- Add the shrimp to the pan.
- Cook for 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp over and cook another 2 minutes.
- Add the shredded cabbage and spiralized zucchini. Stir it all together.
- Cover the pan. Cook 4 more minutes, or until the zucchini is al-dente.
- Take the lid off. Add the sauce to the pan and mix everything together well.
- Garnish the Shrimp Pad Thai with the chopped cilantro, chopped green onion, sesame seeds, and lime wedges.
