Chicken and Shrimp Pad Thai

I love making take-out inspired foods at home. While there are some nights that call for ordering take-out, it's nice to occasionally put aside the menus and create my own healthier version of some of my take-out favorites. Right before I started this blog, I made pad thai for Brady. We were both pleasantly surprised when it turned out as good as the pad thai that we order for take-out. I've talked about making the recipe again for months now and finally got the chance the other night. This is a surprising simple recipe and one that won't disappoint if pad thai is on your list of take-out favorites. 

Chicken and Shrimp Pad Thai
** adapted from All Recipes

Serves 3
Prep/Cook Time: 30 minutes

1 (8oz) package dried flat rice noodles
3 T. fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 T. sugar
2 T. oyster sauce
2 tsp Asian chili pepper sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp Tamarind sauce
3 T. vegetable oil
1 T. garlic, chopped
8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small cubes
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups bean sprouts
6 green onions, chopped
2 T. chopped unsalted peanuts
1/4 cups cilantro, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

Fill a large bowl with hot tap water and place the noodles in it to soak for about 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, oyster sauce, Asian chile sauce, chicken stock, and the Tamarind sauce.


Heat a wok, or large skillet, over high heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, saute the garlic for about 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Add in the shrimp and cook for an addition 3 minutes or until the chicken and shrimp or cooked through.

If you are using a wok, move everything out to the sides of the wok and pour the eggs into the center. Cook and stir the eggs until firm. If you are using a large skillet, I would suggest scrambling the eggs in a small skillet and then adding them back to the large skillet once they are cooked. Add the noodles to the wok and pour in the sauce. Cook until the noodles are tender. Stir in 2 1/2 cups of the bean sprouts and the green onions. Remove from the heat and garnish with remaining bean sprouts, cilantro and chopped peanuts. Serve with a lime wedge on the side.

Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth

I have been wanting to make the below Thai-Style Halibut recipe for awhile. My mom recommended it a couple years ago and I now see why. It was excellent! This was a quick recipe to make on a weeknight and the flavors and presentation are restaurant quality. The only downside is that halibut is a little pricy but it was well worth the splurge in my opinion. Brady and I couldn't stop saying how good it was, I think that's a sign of a winner :)

Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth
** from Food Network

Serves 2
Prep/Time: 25 minutes

1 tsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 1/2 tsp red curry paste
2 c. low sodium chicken broth
1/2 c. light coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
2 (6 ounce) pieces of halibut, skin removed
4 big handfuls spinach
1/2 c. coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 scallions, green part only, thinly sliced
1 lime
2 c. cooked brown rice, for serving

In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the shallots, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add the curry paste and stir for about 30 seconds. Add the broth and coconut milk; simmer until reduced to 2 cups, about 5 minutes

Season the halibut with a little salt and pepper. Arrange the fish in the pan with the sauce. Cover and cook the fish until it flakes easily, about 7 minutes.

While fish is cooking, steam spinach in the microwave or on the stove using a steamer basket. Steam the spinach for about 4 minutes or until starting to wilt.

Arrange a spoonful of brown rice in the bottom of 2 soup plates. Top with a pile of steamed spinach and top with a fish fillet. Stir the cilantro, scallions, and juice of one lime into the sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle the sauce over the fish.

Toasted - Coconut Rice Pilaf

Unfortunately I haven't spent much time in the kitchen this week. The last time I cooked (making eggs and heating up my rotisserie chicken from the store doesn't count) was last weekend. I felt like Thai food and it was the perfect opportunity to try out the below rice pilaf recipe. I LOVED it! It was super easy and tasted like something you'd order from a takeout restaurant. Plus it was so much healthier than anything that could have been delivered. I served the rice with chicken, zucchini, red pepper, and summer squash that had been sauteed in a Thai peanut sauce (I recommend House of Tsang, it's great and low in fat and calories).

Toasted-Coconut Rice Pilaf

Serves 4
Prep/Cook Time: 25 minutes

3 T. coconut
1 T. olive oil
1 c. long grain brown rice
1 c. broth
1 c. light coconut milk
2 or 3 slices lime
1/2 c. frozen peas

In a medium saucepan, toast the coconut over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

In the same saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add rice and sauce for about 3 minutes. Add broth and coconut milk and bring a boil. Add a little salt and pepper and the lime slices. Stir, cover tightly and reduce heat to low and simmer about 15-20 minutes or until fluffy. Make sure to stir occasionally.

Add peas and coconut and stir to combine. Cook 1 minute or until peas are just cooked through.

Thai Chicken Pizza

The Classic Cup is one of my families favorite restaurants in Kansas City. My mom and I absolutely love their Thai Chicken Pizza. I like just about anything with Thai flavors but Thai pizza, that's pretty hard to beat! Brady and I made our own Thai Chicken Pizza this past Sunday and it was delicious. I thought it tasted just like the Thai pizza at the Classic Cup.

The ingredient list below might look long, there are a lot of sauce ingredients, but if you cook Asian food occasionally you will most likely already have the majority of the ingredients. The only thing that I didn't have was the Oyster Sauce. The peanut sauce on this pizza is amazing though and worth buying a few extra ingredients if you don't have them on hand already. I honestly could have eaten the sauce with the spoon and it definitely took some restraint for us to not polish off the entire pizza in one sitting!

Thai Chicken Pizza before baking.

Pizza garnished after baking.

Thai Chicken Pizza
** adapted from bakedbree.com
print recipe


Serves 3-4
Prep/Cook Time: 30 minutes

Sauce Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut butter (i used Natural Smooth PB)
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sriracha (or hot chili sauce)
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 cup boiling water (may not need this if you use Natural PB)

Pizza Toppings
pizza dough- I recommend Pillsbury or Trader Joes 
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red pepper, diced
2 carrots, shredded or diced
1/2 c. mung beans
3-4 green onions, sliced
1 c. Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese
handful cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges

Combine all sauce ingredients except the boiling water in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium high heat and stir until smooth. If the sauce is too thick add in boiling water until desired consistency is reached.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet and cook the chicken pieces.  Meanwhile prepare the vegetables, red pepper through green onions.

Spray a large baking sheet or pizza pan with PAM. Spread out the pizza dough. Cover the pizza with sauce (you probably wont need all of the sauce), chicken, vegetables and cheese. Bake the pizza according to your dough directions, about 15 minutes for most pizza dough varieties. Garnish pizza with cilantro and serve with a lime wedge.

Thai Basil Chicken Stir-fry

My favorite pan-Asian restaurant in Chicago is pingpong, found in the Lakeview neighborhood. They have the best stir-fry's and Pad Thai that I have found in the city so far. Lesley (my former roommate) and I discovered the restaurant 6 years ago when we first moved to Chicago and I have been going back ever since. I love that their stir-fry's are full of fresh vegetables, they offer brown rice on the side, and the dishes don't taste too oily. Plus they give you chocolate fortune cookies which are amazing!

I usually order the same thing, the Spicy Garlic Chicken, because I love it so much. Brady tends to switch up his order more often, therefore allowing me to try the other dishes on the menu.  Recently he got the Thai Basil Chicken and it was so good, I have been craving it ever since! I found a similar recipe online this week and we gave it a try. We both really liked the dish. It had a great flavor. I think we were both in agreement though that it could have had a bit more sauce so I have doubled the sauce ingredients listed below. If you like a less saucy stir-fry just half the sauce ingredients.

** The picture doesn't look like much but I promise it tastes good! 

Thai Basil Chicken Stir-fry
** adapted from Tastes of Home: Easy Asian Homecooking Recipes
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Serves 2
Prep/Cook Time: 20 minutes

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
handful of basil
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 shallots, sliced thinly
2-3 Serrano chili peppers, seeded and chopped
3 T. fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
2-3 T. sugar- (start with 2 T and you can always add a little more)
cooked brown jasmine rice
* I would also suggest adding a sliced red pepper, we didn't have one but I think that would have been a nice addition.

Heat up a wok or large skillet until almost smoking. Add some cooking oil and swirl to coat. Turn heat to medium and add the chicken. Stir-fry till about browned on the outside (not fully cooked). Remove skillet from the heat and put chicken on a plate.

Heat up the pan again, and add a little more oil, swirling to coat. Turn heat to medium and add shallots, garlic, and chillis. Fry to aromatic. Turn heat up and quickly add chicken chunks.

Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir chicken well to coat evenly. Continue stir-frying until chicken is cooked through. Do a taste to check and see if you need more fish sauce or sugar. Quickly add in the basil and stir well to coat. Remove from the heat and serve over rice.

Thai Red Curry

I discovered my love for curry years ago at Thai Place in Overland Park, Kansas.  Their red curry and panang curry dishes are amazing.  Last year I was searching the web for a similar but healthier version of these dishes and came across a recipe on Whole Foods website.  At the time I didn't realize that Whole Foods website even had recipes, but turns out they have some pretty good ones. 

This dish is great for two reasons, the first being that it's completely adaptable, you can use whatever protein and vegetables that you want.  The other reason why I love making this dish is that besides the protein and the vegetables, every other ingredient is one that you'll buy once (or may already have) and it will last you for awhile- major plus when you want a cheap and quick meal that tastes just as good if not better than take out!

Thai Red Curry
** from Whole Foods website
printable recipe

Serves 2
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

1-2 T. Thai red curry paste, I use Thai Kitchen brand
1 14oz can lite coconut milk
3 T. fish sauce
1/4 c. low sodium chicken or veggie stock
2 T. brown sugar
1 small red bell pepper, cute into bite size pieces
1 small zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces
1 Ib. chicken, beef, pork, seafood, or tofu, cut into strips or chunks
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
brown rice for serving

In a medium size saucepan over medium heat, combine curry paste and coconut milk, continuously whisking for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, spray a skillet with cooking spray and cook protein over medium high heat till no longer pink, set aside.

To the saucepan, add fish sauce, stock and brown sugar, along with the veggies and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add protein and simmer until just heated through. Serve over brown rice and top with fresh basil.

** If you aren't sure how hot you want this dish, start off with just 1 T. of the red curry paste.  You can always add more if you don't think it's spicy enough.  Always better to start of mild and then kick it up!