Well good morning, you little ray of sunshine! Do I have a tasty recipe for you! So get this. I’ve made lots of casseroles on the blog already (I shared some links below this recipe) and when I shared my last one, a reader mentioned me making a pad thai casserole. So that’s exactly what I did! And it came out super tasty and umami-y. Totally a word.
Omg, that reminds me of this burger place I went to while I was on book tour that had this burger called the umami burger and it was absolutely OUT OF CONTROL! Do I remember what the place was called or even where it was? Nope. So this conversation is absolutely pointless and 100% not helpful to you. Lovely.
After last weekend of partying, dealing with super drunk friends, and drinking too many mimosas myself – I need a chill weekend. Maybe 1 restaurant, but other than that, I think it’s time to chill. My friend is celebrating her 40th birthday, which I swear she’s being celebrating for 2 months straight, but you can do whatever the hell you want when you turn 40, right? Anywho, she won a free Cyclebar class for herself and all her friends, so a bunch of us are trying a class out this weekend! Which I’m excited about since I’ve never tried a class!
And the other thing I’ve been doing over the weekend is trying out a new gluten free bakery every other weekend or so. I have this new obsession with getting a good workout in then exploring a new place I’ve never been to and having a treat before I work the rest of the day. I spend so much time at home working from my computer that it’s nice to get out and explore, even just by myself. So this week I have a new GF bakery I plan on trying then adding it to my favorite GF restaurants in Denver, if it’s good! You can find that list here! Feel free to add to the list whether you live in Denver or somewhere else! I always check it before I travel somewhere to see if there is a delicious spot to check out when I’m out of town! Speaking of out of town, I leave for LA soon! So pumped, minus the flying in to LAX part. F*ck I HATE THAT PLACE WITH ALL MY SOUL!
But to leave on a high note, this recipe is delicious and I hope you enjoy it oh so much!
Pad Thai Casserole
- Yield: 4-5 1x
Ingredients
- 1 medium spaghetti squash
For the pad thai sauce
- 1/3 cup sunflower seed butter
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
For the casserole
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large carrot, julienned
- 1 red bell pepper, julienned
- 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
- 1 pound ground chicken
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 eggs, whisked
For the garnishes
- 2 fresno peppers, sliced
- 1/3 cup cashews, chopped
- 3 green onions, sliced
- cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the skin gives when you press your finger to it. Remove the squash from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 baking dish.
- While the spaghetti squash cooks, place all ingredient for the pad thai sauce into a blender and blender until smooth. Set aside.
- Place a large saute pan over medium heat, add ghee along with the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Then add carrot and bell peppers and cook for about 10 minutes, until the carrots become soft. Add chicken along with salt, pepper, sriracha and red pepper flakes and cook until chicken has broken up into small pieces and is no longer pink, then remove from heat.
- Use a fork to scrape out the spaghetti squash strings and place in the greased baking dish along with the chicken mixture, the pad thai sauce (leaving about 3 tablespoons behind for garnish later on), and eggs. Mix until casserole is completely combine, then press the sliced fresno peppers into the casserole. Place in the oven to bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. When the dish has 15 minutes left, remove it from the oven and place the cashew pieces on top and place the casserole back into to finish cooking.
- Garnish the casserole with the leftover pad thai sauce, green onions, and cilantro!
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More Casseroles!
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Is there a way to cook this in the crockpot?
haven’t tried so i can’t say for sure
When/how are the eggs added? I see eggs listed as an ingredient but not in the recipe steps.
it’s there! check out step 4!
Could you use Almond butter for this recipe? or is it just better with Sunflower seed butter?
i personally think it’s better with sunflower seed butter because it has more of a peanut taste that you would be in a pad thai sauce, but you can totally use almond butter if you’d like to!
What about using tahini in place of sun butter?
go for it!!
I just made this and wanted you to know it’s one of the best pad Thai recipes I’ve ever tried. Amazing.
yayyyyyy!! that’s awesome!
Any idea about the nutritional information for this dish? Hubby is doing macro counting so needs calories, carbs, protein, fats, and fiber info please. Making tonight, half with zucchini noodles and half with spaghetti squash – can’t wait! 🙂
no clue, but you can add any of my recipes to a nutritional calculator online and it will give you that information!
Another great casserole! You’re right. People crap the bed over casseroles. I never used to because of cream of whatever soup and they are loaded with cheese, sour cream, mayo…but I’ve been finding paleo remakes, and yours are some of the best.
thanks Lauren!! so glad you liked this one!
Has anyone tried this with shrimp?
Could I leave out the fish sauce? My husband is allergic to fish & nuts? We love your pizza pie & this looks great!
yes! the taste will be just a tad different, but it should still be delicious!
I want to try but my husband is allergic to nuts & fish, would it be good still without fish sauce & cashews? Any other subs you would make? Also Can I do soy sauce instead of coconut aminos?
yes you can, the flavor will just be a little different. and i would be careful subbing soy sauce for the coconut aminos. soy sauce is MUCH saltier than coconut aminos so it could throw the whole dish off
This was great. Very labor intensive, but that aside, good for meal prepping as I’m sure it freezes well for lunches. Great idea, healthy, and I subbed almond butter for the other type mentioned and it worked out fine. I had way too much spagh squash for the pan and it leaked over a bit, but that’s because I had a huge squash. I used 5 cups of spaghetti squash – would recommend 4 cups for the 8×8 pan.
glad you liked it Steve!