30 Minute Vegan Pad Thai with rice noodles, tofu, veggies, peanuts and the most incredible, simple sauce. Talk about an easy dinner using everyday ingredients! Better than take-out.
I’ve had Vegan Pad Thai on my list of recipes to create for probably a year now. It took me a couple of tries to get it just right, so we have had a lot of noodles to eat at my house the last few weeks! It was a bit of a challenge to get the sauce just right, since traditional Pad Thai recipes call for fish sauce. Vegan fish sauce apparently does exist, but I’ve never seen it.
I wanted this recipe to be as simple as possible, so I worked hard to get the ingredient list down and include only easy to find staples. I have broken down the instructions into easy to follow steps, and this Vegan Pad Thai really will be ready in under 30 minutes! I think you will love the result.
How to make 30 Minute Vegan Pad Thai
The first step is to gather and prep all the ingredients. Chop the carrots, green onions, cilantro and peanuts. Press your tofu, if needed (I like to buy the super firm variety for this recipe so no need to press it), and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
Next, prepare the noodles by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat and let them soak for 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside. (I used these noodles.)
Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large pan, and fry the tofu on all sides until golden brown.
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Next, add the noodles, sauce, carrots, green onions and some of the cilantro to the pan with the tofu. Stir well as it warms up.
Serve immediately, with lime wedges for squeezing, crushed peanuts, more cilantro, and mung bean sprouts. Enjoy!
I hope you love this Vegan Pad Thai as much as I do! It’s:
- Bursting with fresh flavor
- Sweet, savory and tangy
- Easy to make
- Made with simple ingredients
- Full of protein
Is Vegan Pad Thai Gluten Free?
This Pad Thai can easily be made gluten free by simply substituting gluten free tamari for the soy sauce.
Want more Asian inspired vegan recipes?
30 Minute Vegan Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 7 ounces stir fry rice noodles
- 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 16 ounce block extra-firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Sauce
- 4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce
Vegetables
- 1 cup julienne sliced carrots, about 3 carrots
- 3 green onions, chopped
For serving
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup crushed or chopped peanuts
- 1 cup mung bean sprouts, optional
Instructions
- Prepare all of your ingredients before you begin. Slice the carrots, chop the green onions, cilantro and the peanuts. Press your tofu if needed (I like to get the vacuum packed extra-firm tofu so no need to press it), and then chop into 1/2 inch cubes.
- Cook the noodles: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and let them soak for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
- Make the sauce: Stir all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Fry the tofu: In a large pan (you can even use the same pot you boiled the noodles in), heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the tofu, and fry it until all sides are golden brown.
- To the pan with the tofu, add the noodles, sauce, carrots, green onions and half of the cilantro. Stir as it warms up.
- Serve immediately, sprinkling peanuts and more cilantro on the top of each serving, with lime wedges and mung bean sprouts on the side. Squeeze lime juice to taste before eating. Yum!
Recipe Notes
- For Gluten Free, use gluten free tamari instead of soy sauce.
- If you want vegetable only pad thai, replace the tofu with various veggies, such as red pepper strips and broccoli florets. Stir fry these in place of the tofu until tender, before adding the noodles and sauce.
- For the carrots, I buy the bag of pre-cut carrots, julienne style so it reduces my chopping time.
Kendall
Super easy and delicious! I doubled the recipe and added 2-3 tbs of peanut butter to the sauce for a bit more flavor and nuttiness. I had to go without bean sprouts, cilantro, and fresh limes because I’m quarantined right now, but I can’t wait to try this with all the proper fresh fixings when the pandemic is over!
This was a huge hit and the leftovers are making for amazing lunches. Will definitely make again. Thanks for all your hard work making delicious healthy recipes!
Nora
You’re welcome! Glad it was good!
Danny
This recipe is now a weekly go-to! Absolutely delicious and even better than take out. I add a tablespoon of peanut butter to the sauce to thicken it just slightly. Will try air frying the tofu as I’m not always patient/prepared enough to dry it out first 🙂 thanks Nora!
Nora
You’re welcome! I love that it’s good enough to be a regular meal!
Jan
This dish is so good! My husband loved it, too. And that is an amazing thing, because his favorite foods are meat and potatoes. He is usually polite when I make a vegan meal (I’m transitioning to veganism). But he was sincerely enthusiastic about your Pad Thai. He said it is a keeper! I believe this is the first step to getting him to veganism as well. He doesn’t know that he is transitioning to veganism. But he is.
Nora
I’m so glad you both liked it!
Lynn
Hello,
Thank you for the Pad Thai recipe. I add 1 tablespoon of peanut butter when making the sauce and find it very tasty and it also increases the absorption of sauce into the noodles.
Thank you,
Lynn
Nora
That sounds great Lynn, thank you!
Carrie
I followed this recipe exactly. Pad Thai is my husbands favorite but I’ve never made it before, I didn’t think I could get the flavor right. I’m a better baker than cook. My husband said this Pad Thai was way better than at any restaurant. Sugar cookie cutouts lead me to your site and though I have made several of your cookies and they have been hands down the best I’ve tasted (and I visit a lot of vegan baking sites for recipes ), Your main dish recipes though have made me excited about cooking. Everything you have on here is amazing! THANKYOU! I hope a cookbook is in the works.
Nora
Thank you so much for a wonderful comment! It means so much. Glad your husband loved the pad thai. 🙂
Courtney
My whole family LOVED this! I have three young children so I used less Siracha and upped the peanuts for toppings. Everyone has already asked me to make this again. So easy and delicious! Thank you!!
Nora
You’re welcome! I love it when the kids are fans of a recipe too!
Kaitlin
Love how simple this recipe was. My family is on a vegan, gluten free diet so finding quick and tasty recipes is a challenge. This recipe is a keeper, although I may add a little less siracha and maybe something to sweeten it a tad bit more.
Nora
I love simple and delicious recipes. Glad this one worked well for you!
Kirsten
Great, easy pad thai! I’ve been looking for a good recipe that doesn’t require tamarind (so hard to get where I live!) and this is it.
Nora
I’m so glad you liked it! It’s one of my favorites.
SHANA KLEIN
What can we use in place of oil? And, will it taste as good?
Nora
The oil is for frying the tofu with, and if you try to fry tofu without oil, it probably will stick everywhere unless you have a very good non-stick pan. To make without oil, follow the directions like the tofu in my Orange Tofu recipe where you bake it. It will work much better. It will still taste very good!
Shana Klein
Thank you! I will be making this recipe this week. I’ll follow-up.
Christie
This was amazing!
Followed previous comment about adding cornstarch and baking. This made so much food! I’d say about 5 or 6 servings depending on how hungry you are. Everything came out just gorgeous and tasted better than it looked. I’m new to trying a vegan diet, and this recipe is definitely going to be a keeper.
SJ
Great tasting recipe.
I marinade the tofu in the sauce for a couple of hours before tossing it in cornflour & crisping it in the oven. I gives great flavour to the tofu, it’s even good on its own!
Then add a little cornflour to the sauce to thicken enough to coat the noodles.
Voila! Fabulous pad Thai
I’m so glad I found your blog 👍
Nora
I’m so glad you enjoyed the pad thai! Your additions sound wonderful, thanks for sharing. I’m glad you found it, too!
Wendy
Family loved it, great flavors! (Took me longer to prep but I used fresh carrots and doubled cilantro, scallions). Thanks for sharing!
Nora
So happy everyone enjoyed it, thank you!
Jenn @Heyhealthyhabits.com
This was incredible. I loved it so much I made the recipe twice in one day! We like a little kick so we added half a serrano pepper and half a poblano. Yum.
Nora
I’m so glad! I can never get enough Pad Thai, and your spice additions sounds great.
chitra
This is a great vegan/vegetarian recipe, Nora. Made it for lunch and kids and their friends loved it. Poor husband was hoping to eat some, but he was left with empty pans 🙂
Nora
haha well you will have to make it again so he can enjoy it too! 🙂 I’m so glad everyone loved it, thank you.
Michelle
I actually just came to steal the sauce! I halved the recipe, added a two tablespoons of chunky unsalted natural peanut butter, added a little powdered ginger, and mixed it with a bag of frozen stir fry veggies over brown rice for a quick, simple meal to take to work. Delicious!
Diana Spieth
I just made this and it was delicious! I crisped the tofu in my air fryer which saved time. Are the peanuts unsalted and raw? I only had salted and roasted peanuts, but it was still good. Thanks!
Nora
I’m glad you enjoyed the Pad Thai, Diana! I use roasted peanuts, lightly salted usually. Thank you!
Sarah
Made this last night and it was delicious!! Great balance of flavors.
Nora
So glad you enjoyed the pad thai!
Sarah
This was so delicious and easy to make!! Definitely making this a regular dinner!
Nora
Thanks, Sarah! I’m so glad you enjoyed the Pad Thai.
Yolanda R Pavey
I made this for dinner tonight and it was most excellent!! Even my kids went back for seconds!!
Thank you
Nora
That’s so great! Thank you for sharing. I’m happy to hear even the kids liked it!!
Donna Freiermuth
I’m waif you can air fry the tofu to cut down on the oil. Thoughts?
Nora
Sure, you could just air fry the tofu separate, then add it all to a pot or pan. You could also bake the tofu with no oil if you wanted.
Allyson
Tasty and simple. It’s great to have a Pad Thai recipe that’s vegan and DELICIOUS and easy to prepare. Thank you!