In an effort to not only be more health conscious, but to also save a few bucks, I’ve tried to keep ordering food or eating out to a minimum. Cravings can sometimes get the best of me so when my craving for pad thai came around I decided to try and satisfy it from my own kitchen. To my own surprise, my homemade chicken pad thai came out fabulously.
I decided to only use what I had in my kitchen, since I didn’t want to spend any money but more importantly did not want to leave the house. We actually had a box of these Thai Rice Noodles in our panty which was an added plus since I was just planning on using spaghetti. Although there are pretty standard consistencies regarding what the ingredients for pad thai are, it really is just your preference. I chose to cut some baby carrots into thin slices, dice a bit of red onion, green pepper, and chicken, then top it all off with a fried egg and peanuts. I used a five spice seasoning I had in by cabinet to add some flavor, and also managed to find some dried chives and sesame seeds for garnish.
What makes pad thai is not necessarily what’s in it though, it’s more or less about the sauce. Here is the recipe I used for my sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon sriracha
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
I would like to note that this was based off of a different recipe I found online. The original called for extra virgin olive oil, but I didn’t have enough so I used vegetable oil instead. I also felt like the amount of Sriracha was a bit too much. I’m okay with spicy but I felt it was just too much for this dish.
Once all my vegetables and chicken were done cooking, I put the noodles in the same pan and poured the sauce over top, mixed it together with my tongs, and of course garnished. I actually found myself surprised at how good it had come out (so of course I posted it on all my social medias) and ate leftovers again for lunch the next day.
So far I’m 2/2 on trying new recipes at home! Hopefully with Thanksgiving coming up I can keep the streak going. I’m always on the look out for new, creative, and relatively easy recipes, so if you know any please share!