This chicken Pad Thai uses two kinds of grain-free noodles: thin zucchini strands and soft ribbons cut from egg pancakes. Roasted chicken thighs make it a substantial meal, with sweet onion, slivered snap peas, and a thick sesame almond butter sauce. The sauce clings to the drained vegetables instead of collecting in a watery puddle at the bottom of the bowl.
With six children, I pay attention to what a recipe actually makes before calling it a family dinner. This one makes three servings. If you need more, use the recipe card’s scaling control before you start chopping and allow room for the larger amount of chicken. Doubling the ingredients is straightforward; trying to fit twice the food into one crowded skillet is where dinner gets awkward.
A Full GAPS Noodle Bowl
This is a Full GAPS meal for when eggs, prepared almonds and sesame, and the remaining ingredients are already part of your meals. It uses vegetables and eggs in place of rice noodles. The separately linked sauce uses coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and honey instead of refined sugar.
It is not an early Intro recipe. Roasting, sautéing, the nut-and-seed sauce, and the seasonings all matter to that placement. During Intro, keep chicken and vegetables in the preparations for your current stage. Save this complete noodle bowl for Full GAPS.
The sauce contains fish, almonds, and sesame. The homemade almond butter linked from that sauce is prepared with cultured whey, and the chicken here uses ghee, so this version is not labeled dairy-free. It is also not an egg-free, nut-free, or No-Plant GAPS meal. Reducing the chili flakes in the sauce changes the heat without changing the chicken-and-noodle formula.
Ingredients
- 3 zucchini, cut into thin julienne strands, stopping at the seedy cores
- 10 ounces sugar snap peas, sliced into slivers
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 6 skin-on chicken thighs
- 3 eggs
- About 1 tablespoon coconut oil to begin, plus more as needed for the skillet and egg pancakes
- Homemade ghee, for a light drizzle over the chicken skins
- Sea salt, to taste
- 1 full batch sesame almond butter sauce, prepared separately
Keep the zucchini strands thin enough to bend when cooked. A julienne peeler is useful, or you can cut thin planks and then narrow strips with a knife. Stop when you reach the soft seed-filled center. Those wetter cores are not part of the noodle portion of this recipe.
Slice the snap peas into narrow pieces rather than adding the pods whole. They should mix through the zucchini and chicken, not sit as large separate pieces on top. Thin onion slices soften more evenly and are easier to fold through the finished bowl.
The sauce has its own complete recipe, including the measured nut butters, garlic, honey, coconut aminos, and seasonings. Make one full batch for this three-serving meal. It is a thick paste before it meets the cooked food, which is why draining the zucchini matters.
Recommended Equipment
Use a baking dish large enough to hold the thighs in one layer, a skillet, a colander, a cutting board, and a sharp knife or pizza cutter for the egg ribbons. A second skillet or griddle lets you cook the eggs while the vegetables are ready to come off the heat. Measuring spoons and a kitchen thermometer help keep the chicken and the first spoonful of oil consistent.
My Le Creuset Artichaut cookware fits this kind of oven-and-skillet cooking. Work in batches if the zucchini or chicken crowds the pan. A large mixing bowl is useful at the end so you can fold the cooked ingredients together without breaking the egg ribbons against the sides of a small skillet.
How To Make Chicken Pad Thai
1. Roast The Chicken
Heat the oven to 400°F. Arrange the thighs skin-side up in the baking dish, drizzle the skins lightly with homemade ghee, and sprinkle with salt. Roast for about one hour, until the skins are golden and the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165°F. Keep the thermometer away from the bone when checking.
When the thighs are cool enough to handle, lift off the cooked skins and roll them for serving alongside the meal. Pull the meat from the bones into bite-size pieces. Keep the meat moist and in recognizable pieces rather than shredding it into very fine threads. The vegetables and eggs can cook while the chicken is in the oven.
2. Cook The Vegetables Separately
Heat about a tablespoon of coconut oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the slivered snap peas and sauté until bright green and tender. Transfer them to a bowl. Add a little more oil as needed, cook the sliced onion until translucent, and lift it out to join the peas.
Add more oil as needed for the zucchini. Sauté the thin strands until soft and flexible. They should bend readily instead of snapping, while still looking like individual strands. Keep the vegetables moving and lower the heat if they begin sticking or browning too quickly.
Transfer the zucchini to a colander and let the loose cooking liquid drain away. Do not pour that liquid into the finished dish. You want tender strands carrying a little moisture, not a bowlful of zucchini water that will thin out the sauce.
3. Make The Egg Ribbons
Beat one egg and pour it into a well-greased hot skillet or griddle. Spread it into a thin pancake. Cook until the underside is lightly browned and the pancake holds together, then slide a spatula underneath and flip it. Cook the other side. Repeat with the remaining eggs, one at a time.
Stack the three cooked egg pancakes on a cutting board. Cut across the stack into half-inch-wide strips with a knife or pizza cutter, then gently loosen the ribbons. They should be soft and flexible, with a few golden patches from the pan. They are thin cooked egg, not a thick flour pancake.
4. Combine And Finish With Sauce
Bring the drained zucchini, cooked snap peas, and onion together. If the skillet is small, work in batches while warming them. Add the chicken meat and egg ribbons and fold carefully until the cooked ingredients are hot through. A wide spoon or spatula helps lift the strands without chopping them up.
Take the food off the heat and divide it among three bowls. Add the prepared sauce to the ready-served portions, using the full batch across the meal, and fold it through. The homemade tahini in the sauce contains raw olive oil, so there is no further frying or simmering after the sauce goes in.
Serve the rolled chicken skins alongside each portion. There is already garlic, salt, and chili in the sauce. Taste a complete bite before adding extra seasoning so you can judge the chicken, vegetables, and sauce together.
Chicken Pad Thai With Sesame Almond Sauce for Full GAPS
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Arrange the thighs skin-side up, drizzle lightly with homemade ghee and sprinkle with salt. Roast about 1 hour, until golden and 165°F in the thickest part away from bone. When cool enough to handle, remove and roll the skins for serving alongside. Pull the meat from the bones.
- While the chicken roasts, heat the starting coconut oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the snap-pea slivers until bright green and tender; remove. Add oil as needed and cook the onion until translucent; remove. Add oil as needed and sauté the julienned zucchini until soft. Drain the zucchini in a colander so loose cooking liquid does not dilute the sauce.
- Beat one egg, pour onto a greased hot skillet or griddle and spread thin. Cook until lightly browned underneath and set enough to flip; flip and cook the other side. Repeat with each remaining egg. Stack the pancakes and cut into ½-inch-wide ribbons.
- Combine the drained zucchini, cooked peas and onion, working in batches if the skillet is crowded. Fold in the chicken meat and egg ribbons and warm until hot through. Remove from the heat, divide among the servings, and fold the prepared sauce into the ready-served portions. Use the full sauce batch across the meal. Do not cook further after adding the sauce. Serve the rolled chicken skins alongside.
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Preparing Ahead And Keeping Leftovers
The sauce can be mixed separately and refrigerated while the chicken cooks. The vegetables can be washed and sliced ahead, but keep the zucchini separate so you can drain it after cooking. Having a bowl ready for each cooked vegetable makes the skillet steps easier to manage.
If you are planning a portion for the next day, reserve the sauce separately before combining the meal. Refrigerate the cooked chicken, vegetables, and egg ribbons promptly in a covered container. Reheat that portion until hot through, then add its sauce at serving. That keeps the raw oils in the sauce out of another cooking step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Are My Zucchini Noodles Watery?
The zucchini releases liquid as it softens. Leaving the seedy cores out and draining the cooked strands helps keep that liquid out of the sauce. Squeezing or stirring the strands roughly can break them, so let the colander do the draining and handle them gently afterward.
Can I Cook All Three Eggs Together?
Cook each egg as its own thin pancake. Pouring all three into the same pan at once makes a thicker layer, which changes the ribbons. A broad, thin pancake is easier to stack, slice, and fold through the vegetables.
How Is This Different From The Pork Pad Thai?
The pork Pad Thai uses ground pork, fish sauce, tamarind, lime, and prepared peanuts. This chicken version uses roasted thighs, egg ribbons, snap peas, and sesame almond sauce. They share zucchini noodles, but the sauces and cooking methods give them different flavors.
Can I Double It?
Yes. At 2×, use six zucchini, twenty ounces of snap peas, two onions, twelve thighs, six eggs, and two full batches of sauce. Give the chicken enough oven space and sauté the vegetables in batches. Keep the oven at 400°F and judge the chicken by its doneness, not by doubling the roasting time.
Planning Dinner Around The Prep
The Weekly Kitchen Rhythm Planner is the WFLI resource for putting jobs like sauce-making, chopping, and the main cook into a workable week. Find it among the current and upcoming resources in the shop. For this meal, put the sauce and vegetable prep on the list before the chicken goes into the oven.
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