Chicken Keto Pad Thai Recipe (Easy 15 Minute Meal!) (2024)

FAQs

Is pad Thai healthy for weight loss? ›

Best: Pad Thai

This dish is a menu staple of Thai restaurants. It's made from rice noodles sauteed with spices, peanuts, egg, and bean sprouts. Get it with shrimp, chicken, or tofu for lean protein, and extra veggies for fiber and vitamins. Just watch your portion: Pad thai clocks in at 300 to 400 calories a cup.

Pad Thai With Chicken (1 cup) contains 38.7g total carbs, 36.7g net carbs, 15.7g fat, 17g protein, and 360 calories.

It can definitely be a part of a balanced, well-rounded diet. While pad thai includes many nutritious ingredients, its sodium content is considerably high. You can reduce its sodium by requesting the eatery go easy on the sauce and salt-contributing condiments.

Protein: I've written the recipe below for chicken pad Thai, but feel free to instead use shrimp, beef, pork, tofu, or whatever protein you may prefer. Veggies: From what I've read, the vegetables traditionally included in pad Thai can vary between regions in Thailand.

Choose from a variety of lower-fat options such as garlic shrimp, hot-and-sour soup, chicken satay, stir-fried noodles, scallops, bamboo shoots, sautéed ginger chicken, Thai salad, tom yum, Pad Thai, and green or red curry with lower fat content.

Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles both have a moderate calorie count, making them a good choice at a restaurant. On top of that, they're packed with veggies and protein. Pad Thai has roughly 357 calories in one cup. Drunk Noodles contain about 323 calories per cup.

When searching for keto-friendly meals in restaurants, you don't have to skip Thai restaurants. Thai food is rich in many keto-dieters' favorite foods, with rich flavors, aroma, and fresh ingredients. There is an abundance of meats, fish, tofu, coconut milk, curry, and many low-carb veggies.

However, in general, Pad Thai can be a healthy and balanced meal option. The dish typically contains a lot of protein from sources like tofu or shrimp, essential vitamins and minerals from vegetables, and healthy fats from peanuts. Rice noodles provide carbohydrates for energy.

As the name suggests, Pad Thai is a traditional Thai noodle stir fry, made with a sweet and salty sauce and filled with chicken, shrimp, tofu, and/or eggs. They use flat rice noodles and come together in a pinch. As rice noodles or noodles in general are not keto friendly, we'll be making this using shirataki noodles.

Thai food is often healthier than Chinese food. Thai food puts a focus on balance and variety. They are often light and the aromas are just as important as the taste of the food. Thai food uses less heavy sauces and oils than Chinese food uses that are healthier for you, if any oil at all.

Why does Pad Thai taste so good? ›

Pad Thai Adaptations

But the backbone of the dish remains the same – rice noodle, eggs, tofu and dried shrimps. As for the all-important sauce, it consists of a balanced nuance of three tastes: saltiness from either fish sauce or soy sauce, sweetness from palm sugar, and sourness from tamarind juice.

Thai Foods to Avoid

Pad Thai and other noodle dishes are high on carbs and a lot of sugar is usually added too, not to mention oil. Fried rice is a no-no as is sticky rice which is possibly worse than white steamed rice for those with T2DM. A big sugar boost comes from drinks such as Thai tea and iced coffees.

When it's sold in restaurants outside Thailand, the noodles are sometimes bright orange – that's because sauces or spices, like paprika, have been used instead of tamarind. Authentic Pad Thai is a light reddish-brown colour.

The best noodles for pad Thai:

Rice noodles are traditional for pad Thai, but not all are created equal. You're looking for thin, flat rice noodles that aren't too thick, preferably made in Thailand—dried is more readily available, but fresh works too. Whichever you find, don't boil them!

Pad Thai is made with rice noodles, which are stir fried with eggs and chopped firm tofu, flavored with tamarind juice, fish sauce, dried shrimp, garlic, shallots, and sometimes red chili pepper and palm sugar, and served with lime wedges and often crushed roasted peanuts.

By speeding up our metabolism for 2 to 3 hours between dinner and sleeping, Thai food can help with weight control. We eat less – research has shown that when people are served spicy food, they tend to eat about 200 calories less per meal than when served bland food as the body feels satisfied more quickly.

1 box of pad thai, takeout box (Journey To Thailand) contains 440 Calories. The macronutrient breakdown is 89% carbs, 5% fat, and 5% protein. This is a good source of fiber (14% of your Daily Value).

While both these recipes are carb happy, Pad See Ew has fewer calories than Pad Thai. As it's also the less sweet of the two, Pad See Ew is considered slightly healthier.