You might be tempted to just order Thai food from your local joint, but you can make a fresh and fragrant version of pad thai at home with the help of a little unexpected ingredient.
Dates are a staple in my pantry. I use them for lots of raw desserts and in morning green smoothies. But when blended with savory ingredients like miso and sesame, and adding acidity from lime juice and vinegar, it tastes very similar to tamarind paste! Tamarind is actually the traditional base of pad thai sauce… not ketchup, as some restaurants would have you believe!
Try this vegan pad thai and you’ll be convinced that healthy home style cooking is far better than soggy takeout.
vegan pad thai
Who doesn’t love pad thai? I took the classic flavours and textures you love and cooked it up as a saucy, vegan-friendly meal.
Ingredients
pad thai sauce
- 10 pitted medjool dates
- 1 C fresh filtered water
- 2 tbsp vegan oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 1 lime, juiced (about 2 to 3 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp miso paste
- 2 tsp Sriracha (more to taste for spicier)
- 1 red thai chili (optional)
pad thai
- 250 g flat rice noodles or brown rice fettuccine noodles
- 1 x 350 g brick medium firm or firm tofu
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, for frying
- 1 C thinly sliced onion
- 1 C thinly sliced carrots
- 1 C finely chopped celery
- 1 tbsp minced garlic (about 2 to 3 cloves)
- 3 C broccoli florets
- 3 C bean sprouts
- 1/4 C finely chopped green onion
- 1/4 C finely chopped cilantro
- 1/4 C finely chopped roasted salted cashews or roasted salted peanuts
Instructions
- Place dates in a bowl of warm water to soak for 10 minutes or until softened.
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Drain the water from the tofu and let it sit in paper towel for 10 to 15 minutes to get rid of excess moisture. Then cut into cubes.
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Drain and rinse dates from soaking water, squeezing any excess moisture from them. Then place them in a high-powered blender with the 1 cup of fresh water and the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend until very smooth and set aside.
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If you want to replace the dates with tamarind paste, if you can find it, then start with 1 to 2 tablespoons and add more to taste. You’ll probably need to reduce the amount of lime juice in the sauce as well since tamarind has more of a sour note.
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FOR THE SPICE LEVEL: if you want to use fresh red thai chili, you can blend 1 pepper with the sauce either to replace Sriracha or in addition to. It all depends on how spicy you like your noodles! 1 pepper is a mild spice so add another half or whole pepper to your taste, or adjust using Sriracha once the entire dish is cooked and ready to be served. Just toss more Sriracha into the noodles.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the noodles. Once the water is at a rolling boil, toss in the noodles and stir occasionally while they cook for approximately 10 minutes or until al dente! Drain and set aside.
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Meanwhile, heat a large pan to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and cubes of tofu. After 4 to 5 minutes, flip the cubes to another side to crisp. Flip the cubes every 2 minutes to get the rest of the sides golden brown.
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When the tofu cubes are golden brown all around, add ¼ cup of the sauce to the pan and coat the pieces, evenly cooking over the heat for another minute or 2 until it looks more caramelized and dark. Remove tofu from the pan and set aside. You’ll toss tofu into the vegetables and noodles near end of cooking time.
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In the same pan over medium heat, add another 1 tablespoon of oil and the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently until softened. Then add in minced garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
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Then add in broccoli and sprouts (reserve a small amount of raw sprouts aside as a garnish on top of the finished pad thai), and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add in half the amount of sauce remaining, toss to coat all the veggies and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
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Add in the cooked noodles and remaining sauce, turn the heat down to low, toss to coat everything in sauce, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. At this stage you can adjust the spice level if you desire by adding another 1 to 2 teaspoons of Sriracha. Serve immediately and top with green onion, cilantro, raw sprouts, and chopped cashews (or peanuts).
19 thoughts on “vegan pad thai”
Nom!!!
How long does this take?
Took me about 75 min start to finish
GORGEOUS recipe! I cannot even begin to describe how talented you guys are!
Well, Phuket Thailand, Lauren! This recipe was AMAZING. My boyfriend and I just had it for dinner and we loved it. Thank you for sharing another delicious recipe with us!
PLEASE make this a video!!!!!! Also use the deep friend tofu squares! YUMMM
sauce turned out watery but i added 1 tbsp of tapioca flour to it and cooked it on the stove over med high heat for about 7 mins whisking frequently and that fixed it
This came out spectacularly! I followed the recipe to a T and it was better than any restaurant pad thai I’ve ever had. Definitely time-consuming to make, but worth it 🙂
I wouldn’t make this recipe using the tamarind paste again. It ended up being very sour. I didn’t include any lime since I knew the tamarind would be sour, but it will still over powering. There also wasn’t instruction on how much sugar to add in place of the dates, I added about 4 tbsp of maple syrup to see if that would help and it didn’t. I’m sure this recipe is great with the dates and ends up being sweet like normal pad thai, but avoid the tamarind paste.
I don’t have oyster sauce… can I just go without it? What sort of flavor does it add? I’ve never had it. TYIA.
worse than takeout. it’s plain
My husband and I are making the vegan transition and this was our first dish! OMG!!!! So delicious!!!
This was my third attempt to make vegan pad thai and I loved it (unlike the other failed attempts) I used the dates and couldn’t find vegan oyster sauce but the recipe was perfect even without it, so much better than P.f. Chang’s take-out! Genious
It was better than I thought it would be. My source was very watery but after reading old comments I added 1 Tbs of tapioca flour and my source was saved. I may make it again but I will use regular pasta instead of the rice noodles .
Best pad thai my husband and I have ever had. I doubled it and had slightly less dates on hand as called for as a result, so I added the tiniest amount of tamarind ever and it just turned out perfect. Thanks for taking the time to share this one!
awesome! So glad to hear 😀
This looks so yummy and I want to make this ahead of time and take to a church potluck the next day and in crockpot. Do you think it will be okay or turn to mush? What are your suggestions please. Much appreciated!
I wouldn’t do that with rice noods. They will get mushy!
whoever wrote these instructions! It is really badly written and actually super unclear what to do. Please keep it simple and just tell me what to do and in which order. Food is good tho!