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Paleo Chicken Pad Thai combines butternut squash noodles, tons of vegetables for texture and flavor, and is drizzled with the most delicious creamy lime almond butter sauce! This kid-friendly variation is not spicy, but full of flavor. You’ll love this for an easy and healthy weeknight dinner!
A delicious and light way to enjoy Pad Thai!
Pad Thai Chicken will forever be one of our favorite meals to order off a menu at a restaurant. It doesn’t get much better than crunchy veggies, chicken, a peanut sauce, and noodles to slurp! But in typical Wholesomelicious form, I have to find ways to lighten up traditional Pad Thai.
As a nutritionist, I am always on the lookout for ways to add in more veggies and fiber. With this particular Pad Thai, we’re using butternut squash noodles! Butternut squash is loaded with fiber, and other nutrients like Vitamins A and C.
I am now obsessed with butternut squash noodles. They have this creamy nutty texture that is WAY better than pasta noodles. So how many times did I make them this week? Oh I’m glad you asked! Just 4 times. And this week, I have them on my list to make at least 5 more. From my Butternut Squash Noodles with Tomato Basil Sausage Cream Sauce, to my Greek Meatballs with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
How to Make Paleo Chicken Pad Thai:
To start, we will need to prep butternut squash and spiralize it. My spiralizer is one of my favorite tools!
- Cook the butternut squash noodles and chicken at the same time on a baking sheet. This saves time!
- While it’s baking in the oven, make the sauce by combining in the food processor or blender.
- In a skillet, heat up oil and saute the carrots and bell pepper.
- Scramble an egg in the same skillet.
- Toss noodles, veggies, chicken, and sauce together.
- Top with cilantro, green onion, and almonds to serve.
Nut Butter Sauce:
Since we never seem to have peanut butter in the house anymore, I made an almond butter sauce. I changed it up a bit from my normal sauce, adding in some lime and making it creamy with some flax milk (any dairy free milk will work). The honey, nut butter, coconut aminos, ginger, and apple cider vinegar work also work so well together! And the result from my official taste testers?
AWESOMESAUCE!! Their word not mine, haha. You may have more sauce than you need, which you won’t mind at all. Just store any extra in the fridge for later use.
Variations and Adaptations:
- Noodles: feel free to use any noodle of choice. This is also delicious with zucchini noodles or sweet potatoes. If you want to use any kind of pasta, you can also substitute with a thin noodle!
- Veggies: I used carrots and bell pepper in here. Feel free to customize! Mushrooms and broccoli are also great options.
- Protein: Shrimp or beef would also make a great option.
Paleo Chicken Pad Thai
Ingredients
For the Pad Thai:
- 1 lb chicken breast or tenders*
- 2 butternut squash bulbs
- 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped and de-seeded
- 2 carrots, chopped or julienned
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup chopped red cabbage
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds or cashews
- 1/4 chopped fresh cilantro, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the Sauce:
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/3 cup cashew milk, or your favorite dairy-free milk
- 3 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Juice of 1/2 lime
Instructions
- Begin by heating your oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside. To use the stovetop variation, see the notes section below.
- Salt and pepper your chicken breasts (make sure they are roughly around the same size for even cooking). Place on the baking sheet.
- Now prepare your butternut squash. Remove the bulbous end of the squash (you can’t spiralize this end because of the seeds). Now peel the skin off the narrow end that you are going to spiralize. It’s easier to cut this part in half. Spiralize the sized/shape noodles you like.(note that thicker noodles require at least 20-25 minutes, thinner noodles might be done faster). Once noodles are made, drizzle with a tbsp of oil, add to the sheet pan. Salt and pepper both the chicken and the noodles. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way.
- Meanwhile make the sauce: in a blender or food processor, pulse together almond butter, honey, sesame oil, coconut aminos, garlic, lime, vinegar, and ginger. While motor is running, pour in cashew milk. Continue to pulse until sauce is creamy and well combined.
- Heat up skillet to medium heat. Spray with non-stick or use avocado oil. Saute carrots and bell pepper for 2-3 minutes. Whisk together eggs, and add them to the pan. Continue to cook another 2-3 minutes or until eggs are scrambled. Set aside.
- Remove chicken and butternut squash noodles from the oven. Cut chicken into small pieces. Toss chicken and noodles into a large bowl. Now add in eggs and carrot/pepper mixture. Add in cabbage, cilantro, and cashews or almonds. Continue to toss and pour the sauce on top of the mixture (you may not want to use the entire sauce). Mix around until well combine.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve!
This looks delicious! It’s on my meal plan for this week. Is there another way to make butternut squash noodles? I know with spaghetti squash, I bake it then fork it out and it comes out as noodles. But I don’t have a spiralizer and the grocery store was all out of premade squash noodles.
Back to say I made this with rice noodles and it was delicious! I doubled the cabbage and carrots. My young kids even gobbled it up. Thank you!
Yay!! So glad it worked out and glad you love it.
I have about 35 “go to” 5 star recipes that I depend on as a diabetic that has lost 35 pounds and gotten off injections! This pad thai recipe has hit the #1 spot in my top 35 list that I’ve been grooming over the last two years.
I’m sensitive to carbs and calories so I made the following substitutions:
I trade low fat PBFit (powdered Peanut butter) for the almond butter and honey. (I find PBfit to be naturally sweet, and that is an easy way to reduce calories. Coconut aminos is also inherently sweeter than say, soy sauce.
I added a bit more butternut squash using the thicker noodle spiralizer, then i ALSO added a Turnip spiralized….they make fantastic and firm noodles as well. I added about twice the cabbage, and I cooked it a little instead of tossing it in raw.
I have now served this to company with no excuses as “diet food”. It makes sizeable portions at about 375 calories. Very satisfying! I’m so glad I’ve discovered your posts!
Made this for dinner for my wife and I. Amazing results with cooking squash noodles with the chicken. Sauce is great, my wife is a true Minnesotan and was afraid of the name, but really enjoyed it. Well done.
Thank you, Bob! Glad you enjoyed it.
Yummy this was good thank you for sharing will make again
Do you have nutritional information?