Get excited for this non-traditional sweet potato chicken pad Thai! It’s one of our favorite things to do – make comfort food way healthier. This healthy pad Thai recipe is Paleo, Whole30 and easy to make. You’re really going to enjoy all the Thai flavors with this cleaned up, healthy takeout recipe!
Healthier Thai Flavors
Thai food used to be a go-to for me and a set of flavors that just always sounded good. To be honest, it is the one type of cuisine I’ve truly missed since going Paleo. Lucky for you guys though, Justin created this flavorful and vibrant sweet potato chicken pad Thai that is sure to be a new favorite. It has the Thai like flavors but with healthy sweet potato noodles, creamy cashew butter and coconut aminos instead of peanut and soy. You will love how tasty and comforting this dish is.
What Are Some Other Noodle Options?
Basically, any veggies you can turn into noodles will be pretty great! Our favorites are sweet potato and butternut squash. Carrot noodles would be good, and zucchini would work, too. We think you’ll find that sweet potato or butternut squash are most satisfying though! So what do you think? What will you try first?
Tips For Making The Sauce
The first time we made the sauce for this healthy pad Thai recipe, we used a bowl and a whisk and it didn’t get mixed up super well. If this happens to you don’t even worry about it! Just do the best you can to mix it up. It will be thick and feel like you can’t quite get everything combined. Promise…it’s going to turn out great! When you go to add it to the rest of the skillet, continue to mix it up in the pan. The heat will help break down the cashew butter, and it will all start to mix together just fine.
But…….we did find an easier way to mix the sauce. Just add the ingredients to a jar with a lid and shake it on up! This way of mixing helps to combine the ingredients for the sauce much better than mixing with a spoon or whisk.
Some Other Asian Inspired Recipes to Try
- Coconut Lime Chicken
- Thai Larb Recipe
- Thai Basil Chicken Bowls
- Teriyaki Beef Recipe
- Healthy Cashew Chicken
- Pork Ramen Noodles
Your Turn To Try Our Sweet Potato Chicken Pad Thai
Go make this healthy sweet potato chicken pad Thai recipe! You will love the flavor combo and enjoy a new way to re-create Thai cuisine. Let us know how it goes by leaving a comment below. Also, take a photo and tag us on Instagram @realsimplegood, so we can check it out! Make sure to give us a follow if you don’t already – let’s stay connected!
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Healthy Sweet Potato Chicken Pad Thai (Paleo + Whole30)
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breasts, cut into small cubes, (about 3 breasts)
- 1 shallot, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 green onions, diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, diced
- 1/2 cup cashews, chopped
- 3 sweet potatoes, spiralized into noodles
- 3 tbsp sesame oil, divided
- 2 eggs
- Salt and pepper
For the sauce:
- 1/4 cup cashew butter
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos, (see recipe notes)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 lime, juice of
Instructions
- First, make the sauce by combining all of the sauce ingredients in a jar with a lid. Shake well to combine. Or, add the ingredients to a bowl and whisk well. The sauce will be thick using this method, but mix it up as much as you can to get a creamy consistency. Set aside.
- Chop chicken as noted. Chop shallot, garlic, green onions, cilantro and cashews.
- Turn sweet potatoes into noodles using a spiralizer.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add in 2 tbsp sesame oil. Once hot, add the sweet potato noodles. Toss with oil and season with a big pinch of salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp each). Cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender but not too soft, about 6-7 minutes. Remove and place on a plate.
- In the same pan over medium heat, add in 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Add in shallot and garlic to saute for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add in chicken. Season chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.
- Next, crack the eggs into the pan. Scramble the eggs and cook for a few minutes, until the eggs are cooked through.
- Add the sweet potato noodles back in. Pour in the sauce and mix.
- Add in green onions, cilantro and cashews. Toss to mix and then serve.
Notes
- If you don’t have any coconut aminos on hand, you can make your own using our DIY coconut aminos substitute recipe.
WOW just WOW! One of the most delicious healthy pad thai recipes I’ve tried! Makes Whole30 a whole lot easier.
So glad you enjoyed our recipe Nikki 🙂
I’ve tried a couple paleo/whole 30 Thai dishes but this is the best I’ve tried so far! The sweet potato noodles were a great choice!
Just made this yesterday and loved it! I’m halfway through whole30 and this is by far the most flavorful recipe I’ve made, and it was relatively simple! While obviously this isn’t restaurant-style pad Thai, it really scratches that itch for it! Definitely will be making this again and immediately making the dressing again because I want it on everything!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Lindsey!
My daughter is going through chemotherapy so I have been trying out whole 30 recipes. My whole family loves this, even my meat and potatoes husband. I did find that I can’t spiralize a whole sweet potato with out breaking off the strands after 3 or 4 turns, otherwise, there are a VERY long strands. This has turned into a family favorite. I’ll continue to make this even after treatments are done. Thank you for such a delicious recipe.
You’re very welcome! We are happy to hear that this is a favorite with your family and we wish you all and your daughter the best.
I was sceptical but this is one of the best dishes I have made in sometime. I did not have cashew nutter on hand and used almond butter instead. First bite…mouthgasm.
Absolutely delicious! Even my husband, avowedly not a huge fan of most Asian dishes, totally loved this!
I subbed almond butter for cashew butter, as I didn’t have cashew butter on hand. I also had some precooked leftover chicken in the fridge which I used in place of fresh chicken, but it still got all the yummy flavors and the rich sauce helped to keep it from drying out when reheated. Definitely printing a hard copy to keep in my go-to recipe binder in the kitchen!
That’s so great to hear Alison. We love hearing when a recipe of ours goes in the binder 😀
Loved this healthy version of pad thai!!! I was slightly lazy and didn’t want to spiralize a sweet potato so I used premade sweet potato pasta…it was just as delicious! I loved the cashew sauce and the dish was pretty easy to make. I’ll definitely be adding it to my list of favorite dinner staples!
Glad to hear that Lindsey!
When I was doing a whole30, I was looking for new recipes to try and this one is one of my favorites. Even when not doing a whole30, I make this when I have all ingredients on hand!
The sweet potato noodles are so satisfying and the eggs, chicken and green onions are so yummy! I have added palmini to it as well as made it with other variations of the sauce. All in all, this is so yummy. I have given some to my toddler (I add the salt after he gets his share) and he loves it also! When I have leftovers, I look forward to it every time.
I do have a question though: how do I make it so that the sweet potato noodles are not mushy but yet cooked enough?
Glad you enjoy this recipe! For the noodles, the key is to just cook them slightly in step 4. You can remove them when they are still crunchy. Then, when you add them back in, cook them to your liking. You need to stir them frequently as well or they won’t cook evenly. Hopefully this helps!
My boyfriend and I have Pad Thai Tuesdays now solely because of this recipe. We’ve mixed and matched sweet potato noodles, zucchini noodles, rice noodles, chicken, and shrimp. We sometimes add other veggies like bell peppers, broccoli, bean sprouts, etc. as well. It’s so freaking good every single time!
What a great review! That makes our day to hear that you guys have created a tradition around this recipe :).
Family staple! And our favorite for potlucks. Great warm or cold!
Never thought of trying it cold, I’ll have to make it again :).
Love love love this meal! So easy to make. The sweet potato noodles give it the perfect sweetness to go with the peanut sauce. It’s a weekly staple in our house. Also… toddler approved and you can’t go wrong with that!
Everyone I’ve made this for absolutely loves it! It’s a favorite around here.
Wow. Winner! Incredibly easy to make. Made this during COVID quarantine with what was in the fridge… subbed Justin’s Peanut Butter and soy sauce. Added broccoli and crushed red pepper flakes. Loved.
I have to say this is one of my ALL TIME favorite recipes…I love sweet potatoes, and spiralizing them just makes this dish so satisfying and delicious! The seasoning is just right and the recipe is flexible enough so you could add different veggies if you have those on hand. My only complaint is that it does take awhile to make (with all the spiralizing) but it really is worth it!
We agree, this one is worth the extra effort! We are so happy to hear that this is one of your favorites :).
This was absolutely fantastic. It was so easy to make and a perfect healthy version of a comforting dish. I will be making this again. I added some spinach as well and it turned out great.
Glad you liked the recipe Allison :).
The first time we made this it was amazing! We were craving it again but didn’t have chicken so we substituted 99% lean ground turkey breast, and subbed juice of a lemon for the lime juice. Used cashew butter instead of almond. On a whim, I added 1 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce to the sauce and it turned out really tasty! We enjoy doing the prep together.
The addition of chili garlic sauce sounds like a good one! Thanks for making the recipe again and coming back to leave a comment :).
Tried this recipe tonight so good!! Thank you for sharing. Will be making this a lot.
Made this tonight and boy it did not disappoint! So much flavor, and easy peasy! I used pre-spiralized sweet potato which made it very plug and play. Highly recommend spending extra couple bucks for pre-spiralized to cut down prep big time. I refrigerate my cashew butter, which caused the sauce to have hard cashew butter lumps. A quick fix was to throw it on the stove to soften, then add in the other ingredients. And if you don’t have fish sauce on hand, don’t worry, the flavor definitely won’t suffer.
Overall, the dish came out amazing. Will be my new go-to healthy thai meal. 🙂
Thanks Kate, glad you enjoyed the recipe :).
This recipe is insanely delicious, by far one of my favorites. The flavor was incredible, I did swap out Almond Butter for Cashew Butter and it was still really good. Next time I would double to sauce and have extra for the next day as the sweet potatoes sucked up most of the sauce but it was very delicious!
I honestly was shocked at how good this tasted. Just as good as any take out place and none of the guilt!
We made this during our Whole30 and we loved it, so good and easy!
Oh my gosh! Yum!!!
Super easy recipe and the flavor is absolutely amazing! Will definitely make this again soon!
I’ve made this twice now and it is just SO good! I actually used peanut butter and peanuts tonight, and made 1.5 times the sauce to have some extra, and it came out perfectly. We throw a decent amount of sriracha in at the end for extra kick! Amazing! Thanks for giving me something healthy to crave!
You’re welcome! We’re so happy to hear this one has become a favorite! And I bet the peanut sauce was really delish, too! Love that you made extra to have some on hand! So good! And the sriracha – a little heat sounds pretty great, too! Thanks so much for making our recipe and taking the time to come back and share! We really appreciate it and are grateful you’re here! 🙂
This was SO GOOD. The flavor was amazing. I had to use almond butter because it’s what I had, I added crushed red pepper for a little heat. We will make this regularly. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome Tiffany, glad you liked the recipe!
this recipe is sooooo freaking good. what would you guys estimate the caloric content of a single serving is? couldn’t find that info anywhere.
Hi Emily, glad you enjoyed the recipe! As part of our real food/paleo lifestyle we don’t track any nutrition information personally, and it has been really liberating for us and helped us find food freedom. For that reason we don’t post the nutrition info on our recipes, with the only exception being the Keto specific recipes on our site. You could plug the ingredients into an online nutrition calculator if needed though.
Made this tonight, and it was so good!!! Will definitely make it again soon 🙂 thanks for the recipe!
We’re so happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for giving it a try and coming back to share, too! 🙂
DELICIOUS!! I substituted sunflower butter for cashew and shiitake for chicken and pine nuts for garnish. Outstanding recipe!! Thank you for all you create!!
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed it! Those subs sound great, too! Thanks for trying our recipe and taking the time to come back and share! 🙂
Can this be made a day ahead?
Yes, the leftovers are great! Hope you give it a try!
I have been following Whole30 for over a year. This is by far the best recipe I have made. Very easy to follow to make and it tastes phenomenal. Thank you 🙂
Thank you for the great review!
Oh my goodness!!!! Am I ever a fan for life for your brilliant post of this recipe!
Half Thai, went to try Whole30 & craved anything compliant to home cooking & this … so much love!!!!! I have only made the cashew butter with a bit of sunflowers seed swap as well as added a few Thai chillies & enoki mushrooms for a more ‘noodly’ effect.
My friends are obsessed. My family, obessed. They cannot believe they are eating a healthier version to a classic street food dish.
Thank you so much. This is life changing for the best <3
So happy to hear you loved it! What a compliment, thank you 🙂
Holy smokes! I can not believe how good this was! My roommate and I both loved it. Pretty easy to make and find ingredients. We used Trader Joe’s ribboned sweet potatoes and they were perfect in it. We wish it was a little spicy so next time may add red pepper chili flakes. Phenomenal!
Thank you for the great review, glad you loved it!
Tried this tonight with spiralized butternut squash noodles. WOW – my non whole 30 husband and two teenagers loved it as much as I did and asked for it in the regular rotation – thanks for curing my Thai fix on whole 30!!
That’s so great to hear! Glad the whole family enjoyed it :).
Great recipe. Adding to my GO TO Whole30’s. Thank you. Made it tonight, store bought spiralized sweet potatoes, yay! Sesame butter sub, cuz that’s what I had.
Thanks, so glad you liked the recipe!
This is literally the best thing I’ve ever had. So good. Idk how I’m going to keep myself from making this every single night. Thanks guys!
Oh wow, what a great review! Thanks for trying the recipe, we are so glad you love it!
Should this use white wine vinegar or regular white vinegar?
Either would work but we used regular white vinegar.
This was delicious! I replaced the chicken with shrimp, and all of the flavors were phenomenal. I will be making this a lot, thank you for sharing the recipe!
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It’s always a challenge to find something that both my boyfriend (non-paleo) and myself (paleo) really love. We also are not the biggest fans of veggies, but it’s part of adulting! 🙂 This recipe really killed it! It was easy, especially when I cheated and bought pre-spiralized sweet potatoes. It was also super filling, full of veggies, AND we both thought it was delicious! This is now going into my regular menu rotation. THANK YOU!
You’re so very welcome! Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment, you just made our day 🙂
This recipe was great! I used frozen butternut squash noodles and subbed sunflower butter for cashew butter and the sauce was creamy thick with a lot of flavor!
Sounds delicious!
Would this still be good without the fish sauce ?
We haven’t tried it, but if you omit the fish sauce add a little more coconut aminos to replace it. But really, don’t be afraid of fish sauce it’s delicious!!
I made this for dinner tonight. We were sorely disappointed. This had a weird taste and we tried to like it but no, it was just awful. I filled the recipes to a tee. So disappointing I was looking forward to a good whole 30 meal. I hate to post a negative comment, because there were some 5 star reviews. Not in my opinion.
Janice
Sorry to hear that, perhaps you used an ingredient that had gone bad?
This is the most delicious Whole30 recipe I’ve ever made/eaten! Even my boyfriend who doesn’t like giving up real noodles absolutely loved this! It tasted like real pad thai – I felt like I was cheating. So so so delicious. I made this with almond butter/almonds instead of cashews and it was delicious! I tried it two different ways – one with sweet potato noodles and one with zucchini noodles. Both were good but I preferred the sweet potatoes because they weren’t so watery and they really complimented the flavors in the dish.
Yay! So glad it was hit! I bet the almond butter/almond combo was delicious! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try and taking the time to come back and share! We appreciate it so much! 🙂
So excited to try this recipe!! My husband can’t have fish sauce though… will it make a huge difference if I leave it out? Or can you recommend a substitute?
You can leave it out. It will make a difference in flavor but you could add in a little more coconut aminos if you’d like. The only substitute I can think of is oyster sauce but I can never find any without added sugar. Let us know how it goes!
I made this tonight and it is actually better than the Pad Thai I used to get at the local Thai restaurant! It made a lot (just hubby and me) so I was wondering if it can be frozen and microwaved.
That’s such a great review! We haven’t frozen this recipe but you could try it and let us know how it goes.
Best dinner I’ve had since going paleo! I’m not even a fan of Thai food but I couldn’t get enough. I’ve already made it 3 days in a row for my husband and our friends. Thank you so much for this recipe and for your whole site I’m obsessed and so excited to try more!!!
Aaaaw! Yay that is the best review! You totally just made our day! Thank so much for giving our recipe a try and taking time to come back and share. We really appreciate it! You should check out our Potsticker Noodle Bowls too! You can use Cappellos noodles, zucchini noodles, sweet potato noodles, etc. Keep us posted on how your Paleo journey goes! 🙂
This dish was so simple to make and SO GOOD! I used a Magic Bullet to blend the sauce because I wasn’t happy with the consistency I was able to get by mixing with a fork; it turned out creamy as suggested in the recipe. I’m on Whole 30, day 7 and was craving Thai food. This hit the spot!
That’s a great idea to blend the sauce up in your Magic Bullet! We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe and that it hit the spot! Good luck with the next few weeks of your Whole30! 🙂
Can you sub zucchini or butternut squash noodles for the sweet potato noodles? This looks so good!
YES! You absolutely can! If you use zucchini though, make sure not to overcook the zoodles so they don’t get mushy. Let us know how it goes!
Made this tonight and my 3 “foodie” kids LIVED it! I was hoping to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow but my 7 year old daughter already claimed it for her school lunch! Also, I subbed almond butter and chopped almonds for the cashew butter and cashews because my 9 year old son is allergic to cashews. I also added some broccoli slaw to the noodles for more veggies! So good! The kids said I must make this again soon!! Thank you!
Amazing!! That is the BEST! We’re so so happy you and your kiddos enjoyed it so much!! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try and taking the time to come back and share! We appreciate it! 🙂
Great idea adding the broccoli slaw! I’m making this for dinner tonight and I happen to have a bag in the fridge!
Hooray! That works out well! Hope you love it! 🙂
This looks so good!! I’ve been craving Thai food ever since I started Whole30. I can’t have cashews so is there something else I can use? Thank you!
You could use almond butter or sun butter instead of the cashew butter and use chopped almonds or another nut for topping. We hope you try it out and come back and let us know how it goes!
Thank you! I’ll try almond butter.
Great! Let us know how it goes! 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight and OMG so good! The spiralizing took a long time but we ended up with a lot of noodles so you could get away with giving up before you’re done 🙂
So happy to hear you loved it!! And yes, depending how big your sweet potatoes are you could probably get away with giving up when you get tired. Lol! Thanks so much for trying our recipe and taking the time to come back and share! We appreciate it! Hope to see you again soon! 🙂
What kind of spiralizer do you have? I just bought one that takes literally 30 seconds for an entire potato!
We have one similar to this (not exact one), but I think the real question is which one do you have?? 😉