Pad Thai is my go-to comfort food when eating out at this cozy Thai joint about 10 minutes from my house. The plate of rice noodles is always served piping hot and smothered in a tangy tamarind sauce that always leaves me with a happy and satisfied belly. The sauce is not that hard to recreate at home but finding the right ingredients can be a challenge unless you have an Asian store nearby. Tamarind pulp anyone? Sure you can buy ready-made sauces but I’m always leery about what’s in it so I prefer to make my own using simple ingredients that are the perfect substitute for the real thing.
Now that I’m closely monitoring and counting my macro intake (fat, carbohydrates, and protein), a full serving of rice noodles is a whopping 55 grams of carbs. Unless it’s a weight training day for me, that would be too much carb in one sitting or even for the whole day!
An alternative to this that I’m loving lately is shirataki noodles. I’ve known about this for a while since my low carb days many moons ago but never really tried it until now. Let me just say that these noodles are a GAME CHANGER. It’s the perfect substitute for rice noodles because it has zero carbs, fat, and protein. It’s very filling and the texture is very close to regular noodles.
Let me warn you tho, the first time I opened the package, I was met with an awful fishy smell which was due to the liquid that preserves the noodles. I followed some suggestions online and gave it a couple of thorough rinses and a quick blanch in hot water. Tadah! Totally odorless after a little bit of prep work!
I like to top shirataki noodles with baked chicken, some green onions, carrots, and cilantro. I douse it with this super easy Pad Thai sauce then dig in immediately to enjoy an indulgent yet low carb meal that is totally satisfying!
Pad Thai Sauce
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp peanut butter
- 5 tsp coconut aminos
- juice of 2 limes
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes optional
- 4 tbsp water
Instructions
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Add all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well until smooth. Adjust the red pepper flakes if you want it spicier.
Nice Jenny, Gonna try this over the weekend.
Awesome! Let me know how it goes.
Sounds simple and delicious – one question on the nutrition information: is that per serving or for all 5 servings? Thanks!
It’s for the entire recipe so just divide it by 5 to get the NI per serving 🙂