
Shrimp Pad Thai
Did you know that a lot of Asian Dishes are Gluten Free because we don’t typically cook with flour? With this Gluten Free Shrimp Pad Thai I used thick rice noodles which is only rice flour and water. Asian food is all about layering flavors from fresh ingredients, seasonings to sauces. I simplified my Shrimp Pad Thai recipe so it’s not so intimating to make starting with ingredients that are easily sourced. Don’t worry about trying to find rice noodles, it’s literally everywhere at Asian market, the internationally section at your grocery store and of course available on Amazon.

Shrimp Pad Thai Ingredients
Here are all the ingredients for my Shrimp Pad Thai laid out for you. Once you see everything like this it’s not so intimidating. I do want to point out that I added red peppers to my dish, which is not typically found in traditional Pad Thai recipes. I added red peppers to give the dish a bit more color and also to add some Vitamin C. The only thing that might give you a bit of hesitation is the tamarind sauce. My mom actually makes this from scratch with boiled tamarind, strained and simmered again with more water and brown sugar. Tamarind is a fruit that when ripe turned into a dark pastel like molasses. That’s what you are looking for, but I know you might not. The simple solution is buy it store bought or substitute it with soy sauce, brown sugar and vinegar. Don’t worry, I use this in my recipe.
I know peanut and shell fish is a very common food allergy so here is what I recommend as substitutes. The shrimp can easily be replaced with any protein source like tofu, steak or chicken. My favorite way to make a Vegetarian Pad Thai is actually with Tofu. If you’re only allergic to peanuts then cashews would be a delicious swap, but if it’s all nuts then toasted sesame seeds will still give you that nutty flavor.
- 8oz dried wide rice noodles
- 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 egg
- ½ red bell pepper julienne
- ¼ onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 oz chopped green onions
- 2½ tbsp. sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. soy soy sauce
- ½ tbsp. brown sugar
- ½ tbsp. vinegar
- ½ lime
- And pinch of salt and pepper to your taste
- In a large pot boil water and cook rice noodles for 3-4 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water and set aside.
- Heat oil in a wok or large pan to medium heat and add garlic and sliced onions. Cook for about 2 -3 minutes and add shrimp. Cook shrimp 1½ to 2 minutes on each side.
- Next toss in your red peppers and cook for about two minutes. You still want it crisp and not fully cooked.
- Add your egg and with your spatula scramble it in cooking for another minute.
- Toss back in your shrimp and noodles.
- Add soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar.
- Toss and mix everything gently on low heat until until the noodles soak in the sauce.
- Lastly add green onions and salt and pepper.
- Plate and garnish with peanuts, a wedge of lime and cilantro.