An easy recipe for stir fried halloumi pad Thai! Using all supermarket staple ingredients, these noodles are bursting with flavor and make for a healthy weeknight dinner. The addition of fried halloumi ensures that no one misses the meat in this veggie version!

Well, hello big bowl of noodle heaven!

Today I present you with a vegetarian pad Thai with… halloumi cheese.

Yes, halloumi again. It’s been a while since I posted a halloumi recipe, and there was a time when I thought I was over-doing it, but they are consistently my most popular recipes soooo, let’s just go all in and add it to everything we can think of. 

I’m glad we’re all on the same page here. 

This is Easy (but totally inauthentic) Vegetarian Pad Thai

So what I love about this pad Thai recipe is that it’s very accessible and uses supermarket staple ingredients. You will not be running around specialist grocers looking for your ingredients.

But obviously there’s a trade off to that, and it is decidedly NOT authentic, and I am not trying to pass it off as anything other than that.

Think of it as a fusion noodle dish inspired by pad Thai. It will hit the spot if pad Thai is what you’re craving.

So let’s discuss how it works.

How to make Vegetarian Pad Thai without fish sauce

Pad Thai would usually contain fish sauce, which is no good for the vegetarians among us.

Sadly many recipes claiming to be vegetarian are meatless but still contain fish sauce, which makes it pescatarian pad Thai, not vegetarian. Come on, guys, words matter!

Anyway, this recipe contains no fish sauce, and uses dark soy sauce as a replacement. Yay!

Strike one against it’s authenticity.

How to make Pad Thai without Tamarind

So tamarind is a great ingredient for Thai cooking, but I just never have any to hand. You may not either. So this recipe doesn’t use any.

Instead, we use a combination of lime juice, brown sugar and ketchup (yes, ketchup, not sorry) to recreate the sweet and sour vibe.

I think we can agree that we’ve gone very rogue at this point.

So why stop there? Let’s add some Cypriot cheese and call it a day!

Asian Style Halloumi? Have we gone too far?

Yeah, adding halloumi cheese to Asian food seems weird but… just try it!

Tofu is the more obvious choice for stir fried noodle dishes, and feel free to make that swap, but I like the halloumi in this recipe soooo much. It’s rich and salty and just feels like such a treat.

How to make it 

So, this can be a nice 20 minute dinner in theory, but it takes a little timing know-how.

You’ll need to chop your veggies and halloumi and prep your sauce. Then get the noodles cooking while you start off the stir frying.

Then once the noodles are ready you’ll add them to the wok…

Add the sauce, cook until it’s bubbling.

Add some toppings, and away you go!

And it’s really much easier when you don’t have to keep taking it off the heat to take photos.

Love Halloumi Recipes?

Well, me too. I put halloumi in everything. So feel free to check out my full collection of halloumi recipes which includes various gems like Bruschetta HalloumiHalloumi Fajitas, Halloumi Pasta and even a Butter Halloumi Curry.

Halloumi Pad Thai Noodles

An easy recipe for stir fried halloumi pad Thai! Using all supermarket staple ingredients, these noodles are bursting with flavor and make for a healthy weeknight dinner. The addition of fried halloumi ensures that no one misses the meat in this veggie version!
4.42 from 48 ratings

Ingredients

  • 200 g (7 oz) rice noodles
  • 250 g (8.8 oz) halloumi cheese
  • About 1/3rd of a carrot, sliced into matchsticks
  • ½ of a red or green bell pepper, sliced thinly
  • A handful of mushrooms, sliced

Sauce:

  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 5 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp ketchup
  • 1 tsp chili garlic sauce
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter

For garnish:

  • Chopped peanuts
  • Chopped cilantro / coriander
  • Lime wedges
  • Chili flakes

Instructions 

  • Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • Prepare your rice noodles according to package instructions. Usually this will involve soaking them in boiling water. Once cooked and drained, toss in some oil to avoid sticking and quickly get to work on the stir frying.
  • Heat some oil in a wok or large skillet. You want to make sure the oil is properly hot (test by throwing in a small chunk of halloumi and see if it sizzles- if it does, you’re good to go) and then add all of the halloumi and stir fry quickly until browned on each side.
  • Add the vegetables and stir fry until they are crisp.
  • Pour in the noodles and the sauce and mix until everything is well coated.
  • Serve, garnished with peanuts, lime wedges, cilantro/coriander and chili flakes if desired.

Notes

This is a very mild sauce. Add some fresh chili, chili flakes or extra chili garlic sauce if you want to add some heat.
Calories: 384kcal, Carbohydrates: 34.6g, Protein: 18.2g, Fat: 19.4g, Saturated Fat: 11.7g, Sodium: 751.4mg, Fiber: 2.3g, Sugar: 9.6g