Skip the takeout tonight and make this Healthy Chicken Pad Thai recipe for dinner instead! This lighter pad thai recipe is a healthier version of a classic takeout dish, packed with veggies, chicken and brown rice noodles.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Total Time40 minutesmins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: healthy chicken pad thai, lighter chicken pad thai
Cut chicken in 1 inch square pieces. In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in cubed chicken to the pan and cook over medium high heat for 12-15 minutes until completely browned and cooked!
While chicken is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil + cook rice noodles according to the directions on the package
While noodles/chicken are cooking, whisk together the sauce ingredients + set off to the side. Chop vegetables.
Once chicken has cooked, remove chicken from the pan + set aside in a large bowl. Try to leave the oil in the pan.
Add in peppers, carrots, garlic and onion to the oil and sauté uncovered for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir in bean sprouts and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Push vegetables to one side of the pan + crack eggs into the pan. Scramble eggs until cooked, approximately 2 minutes.
Stir veggie / egg mixture together. Remove from the pan and set aside with the chicken.
Add the sauce mixture to the empty pan (you do not need to clean the pan!) and bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. The sauce should bubble and slightly thicken.
Add cooked veggies, cooked chicken and cooked noodles into the pan with the sauce and toss to combine.
Garnish with peanuts. Optional garnish: lime, cilantro, green onions.
Instant Pot Instructions
To make this in the instant pot - it is important to DOUBLE the sauce recipe. All other ingredients remain the same.
Bring a separate pot of water to a boil (outside of instant pot) and cook the rice noodles according to package directions. While the rice noodles are cooking, turn instant pot on Sauté- High. Heat 1 tablespoon. of the olive oil, add the eggs in and scramble them quickly. Put them on a plate and set aside.
Drizzle in the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the whole chicken breasts. Sear them 2 minutes per side to get them nice and golden brown. Meanwhile mix together your sauce ingredients. Make sure to double sauce ingredients from recipe.
Move the chicken breasts onto a cutting board and chop them into one inch pieces.
Add the garlic and onion into the instant pot. Saute for 30 seconds then add in the chicken, peppers and carrots. Mix it all together and pour the sauce over top.
Set the Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure and Cook for 3 minutes. Keep in mind the Instant Pot takes 3-5 minutes to come to pressure before counting down the 3 minutes you’ve set.
When the time is up quick release the steam. Remove the chicken and vegetables with a slotted spoon. Set aside.
Turn the Instant Pot to the high sauté setting once more and bring the sauce up to a bubble. Allow it to bubble for 10-12 minutes until it thickens slightly. You’ll know it’s done when it begins to look darker and when you drag a spoon across the bottom of the pan and it takes just a second or 2 to come back together.
Add in your noodles, eggs, chicken and veggies. Toss it all together. Garnish with peanuts, green onions. Note - nutritional facts will vary slightly because of the increase in sauce.
Video
Notes
Substitutions for this recipe:
Egg free: You can simply omit the eggs.
Oil: You can sub olive oil with avocado oil
Veggies: You can omit the bean sprouts if you're having a hard time finding them. Bulk up the dish by adding more carrots or peppers!
Protein : You can sub in chicken for shrimp if you'd like. Shrimp take much less time to cook, depending on their size I would cook about 2 minutes on each side until shrimp begin to turn pink
Instant Pot Notes:
Make sure to cook the chicken whole and then cut it into cubes. Due to shape, the instant pot just doesn’t have the browning power of a wok or skillet when doing small pieces of chicken.
DO NOT cook the noodles in the Instant Pot. They are just too starchy and will not work.
Add in your noodles, eggs, chicken and veggies. Toss it all together. Garnish with peanuts, green onions. Note - nutritional facts will vary slightly because of the increase in sauce.