Pad thai recipe for keto and low carb. Uses shirataki noodles with chicken.

Keto Pad Thai with Chicken and Shirataki Noodles




I must confess that I used to eat pad thai multiple times in a week. I love these stir-fry noodles and can even remember the first time I tasted them. As one of Thailand’s national dishes, they are the perfect balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Despite my past failures at even a regular version, I wanted to replicate my old favorite with a keto pad thai, a low-carb version using my favorite flat style shirataki noodles. A surprising success!

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Keto pad thai recipe for low carb. Uses shirataki noodles with chicken.

What is Pad Thai (ผัดไทย)?

An authentic pad thai typically consists of rice noodles, stir-fried with eggs, bean sprouts and a protein such as chicken, tofu or shrimp. The four components of a successful sauce are a balance between fish sauce (nam pla) for saltiness, palm sugar for sweetness, chilli powder for spiciness and tamarind pulp for sourness. Garlic and spring onion are often added before serving with coriander, roast peanuts and lime wedges. The result is a combination of flavors and textures; tangy and spicy, crunchy and soft.

Keto pad thai recipe for low carb. Uses shirataki noodles with chicken.

Keto Pad Thai Sauce

To achieve a similar balance of flavors for keto, I had to cut some corners! Fish sauce is arguably the most important ingredient and is made from fermented anchovies – so it has a potent aroma but also tastes delicious. My only local option was Megachef, however it’s rather high in added sugar so I really wouldn’t recommend it. A much better alternative is Red Boat which has no added sugar.

I replaced the palm sugar with an artificial sweetener, opting for Pal Sweet, an aspartame based sweetener. For the chilli component, I used a small amount of Siracha (as like most things) it contains sugar too. Tamarind pulp was impossible to find (though Kaldi do sometimes stock Tamicon) so I omitted it and added some peanut butter instead. It’s certainly not authentic, but worked for me! 

Keto pad thai recipe for low carb. Uses shirataki noodles with chicken.

Other Ingredients

I chose flat shirataki noodles and boiled them in water for a few minutes followed by a quick fry in a dry pan. For my protein, I pan-fried some chicken and made a thin egg omelette, slicing it into long strands. Moyashi (bean sprouts), negi (spring onion) and peanuts are incredibly common in Japan, while sudachi (sour citrus fruit from Tokushima) is a decent replacement for lime and coriander is an imported extravagance!

Carbs In Keto Pad Thai

At 10 net carbs per serving, it’s higher than I would like! It’s therefore not something I’ll have often, so I’ll have to keep tinkering with it. The carbs mostly come from the choice of fish sauce and peanut butter, so I’ll keep exploring the alternatives there.

Keto pad thai recipe for low carb. Uses shirataki noodles with chicken.

Keto Pad Thai with Chicken

Author Happy Keto

Ingredients

Sauce ingredients

  • 1/8 cup fish sauce unsweetened
  • 1 tsp artificial sweetener optional
  • 1 tsp siracha contains sugar
  • 2 tbs peanut butter crunchy or smooth, avoid added sugar
  • 1 clove garlic crushed
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

Other ingredients

  • 1 pack shirataki noodles flat white style
  • 1 chicken breast
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup bean sprouts moyashi
  • 1 spring onion negi
  • peanuts for garnish
  • lime or sudachi, to drizzle on top
  • coriander plus extra for garnish

Instructions

Prepare the Shirataki

  • Drain the shirataki noodles in a colander to remove the liquid they come packaged in. Rinse thoroughly under running water. If the noodles are rather long, cut into shorter pieces with scissors.
  • Boil some water and cook the shirataki for 1-2 mins to remove any lingering fragrance. Drain and rinse again.
  • Heat a clean dry frying pan and throw in the shirataki. The noodles contain large amounts of water, so this will help dry them out to remove some of their gelatinous texture. Cook for about a minute until they start to make a whistling sound. Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare the rest

  • Prepare your sauce by mixing all of the sauce ingredients together, if you have a blender, even better! Let it rest while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
  • Dice your chicken and pan fry until cooked through. Set aside.
  • Create a thin omelette with the eggs, roll and slice into thin strips.
  • Finally combine your noodles, sauce, chicken and eggs with the bean sprouts and spring onion. Stir fry until well combined and serve hot.
  • Garnish with peanuts, lime and fresh coriander.

Notes

Nutrition Information (Approx):
This serving has 10g net carbs (using sweetened fish sauce as pictured).
Calories: 318kcal, Net carbs: 10g, Carbs: 13g, Fibre: 3g, Fat: 18g, Protein: 25g, Sugar: 6g

Adapted from Easy Paleo Pad Thai

Keto pad thai recipe for low carb. Uses shirataki noodles with chicken.

4 comments
  1. I just discovered your page and all your posts are soooo helpful. I live in Tokyo too and I just started going Keto. I hope you post more recipes and awesome finds like Konnyaku pastas! 🙂

    1. Thanks so much Franz! I’m really happy to hear they are helpful. I’ve been cooking and experimenting a lot lately and have many recipes to add!

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