Pad Thai Spaghetti Squash – Healthy, Dairy Free, 300 Calories

Healthy living is a struggle, conquering cravings is one of the hardest things ever. The body wants what the body wants right?! And usually it’s not a huge kale salad. ha! 

I’ve mastered the art of healthy Mexican, can get my Italian fix with oodles of Zoodles but the other night I was craving, craving, oriental food.. more specifically any type of Chinese/Japanese/Thai noodles that I could get my hands on. $40 later and waaay more sodium than I would need for the whole week, I felt disgusting and vowed to find a way to healthy the shiz out of some oriental, homemade dishes! 

Like I do for most recipes, I head to Pinterest. Usually I read a bunch of different recipes to get the idea of flavors, ingredients, measurements and then mix and match whatever I like to create a new, one of a kind recipe. but… I was shocked to see the lack of ‘Healthy Pad Thai’ on Pinterest. Most recipes included lots of soy sauce, brown sugar, cornstarch and more. A trip to the store later, I decided it was time to experiment! 

I took the traditional oriental flavors and found some healthier options.. think liquid aminos instead of soy sauce and natural peanut butter, opting for local honey instead of brown sugar and using spaghetti squash as the base. It was a huge hit and now on repeat in our home! 

The recipe is SO easy too, you can add any protein you’d like (we chose chicken) and lots of veggies. With a 100 Calorie sauce, and spaghetti squash base, you’re looking at about 300 calories per very filling serving. 

Pad Thai Spaghetti Squash

Serves 8

Easy

I N G R E D I E N T S

For the Sauce: 

2/3 Cups of Liquid Aminos (I get mine at Whole Foods) 

1/3 Cup of Natural Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup of Sriracha*

1 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

2 Tbsp Dried Cilantro + Extra for Garnish

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

Juice from 2 Limes + Extra for Garnish

For the Pad Thai:

2 Spaghetti Squash**

3 Chicken Breast

2 Cups of Shredded Red Cabbage

2 Large Heads of Broccoli

2 Cups of Shredded Carrots

Crushed Peanuts for Garnish (Optional)

D I R E C T I O N S

1. Dice chicken breast and cook in a skillet until no pink remains (all the way through)

2. While chicken is cooking, poke holes all over spaghetti squash with a fork and cook in the microwave 5 minutes on each side until it is very soft to touch, be careful they get very hot!

3. Combine all ingredients for the sauce and whisk together 

4. Remove seeds and shred spaghetti squash, add to the skillet with the chicken, veggies and sauce

5. Stir and simmer for about 10 minutes

6. Remove from heat, top with additional cilantro, peanuts and lime juice. Enjoy! 

*If you’re not a fan of spicy you could cut down the amount of Sriracha, this recipe is definitely on the medium scale of spicy. 

**This makes a lot of Pad Thai, but we believe Pad Thai is even better the next day. You can use traditional rice noodles or zucchini noodles for the base as well.

Notes: I’ve made this with rice noodles and with spaghetti squash and I swear you cannot tell the difference, so I would choose spaghetti squash every time! You could add more vegetables too such as onions, bell peppers, etc but it definitely isn’t missing any flavor without these! 

Click Here to Pin this Recipe

Like any time I create a new recipe, I make it at least twice and I have friends over to taste test. This was a huge hit here and I hope you guys love it too! 

We move in six days, and we’re finishing up packing the kitchen tonight so I don’t have many meals left to cook here (if any!). I think the kitchen is the most bittersweet room to pack up, we’ve made so many memories in our kitchen here– from teaching myself to cook (post coming on this next week!) to the insane amount of birthday parties, dinner parties, engagement parties, wedding parties, even our first Thanksgiving with half of my family & RJ’s family, I have to say lots of craziness went down in this kitchen. Plus, all the recipes I’ve created in here that have become a part of your life too! I got so lucky to have such a great first kitchen and I cannot wait to see what the new kitchen holds!! 

 Click Here to Pin the Pad Thai Sauce

Anyway, before I wash away in a river of my tears.. you must let me know if you try this and what you think! Remember you can tag me on Instagram (@RileySitton) and with the hashtag #OhYesPlz! Literally, nothing makes me happier than seeing you guys love a recipe I created. And in case you’re wondering, this one is definitely hubby approved and perfect for date night! xo