Woah, throwing a crazy ingredient your way, but hey! You gotta try new things every now and then! PB2 is today’s surprise ingredient in this skinny shrimp pad thai with PB2 recipe. It is a powdered peanut butter that boasts fewer fat and calories than regular peanut butter. And if you like peanut butter as much as I do, then a little less fat every now and then is a good thing. This is extra nice for us women who are looking to lose some pregnancy weight (moi! whenever my baby comes out #41weeksandcounting)
PB2 is a bit spendy ($7.99+ for a jar)…I wouldn’t buy it for PB&Js because that’s just silly spending, but it works great in certain recipes you’d like to lighten up that don’t call for an absurd amount. That dish for me is pad thai! A restaurant sized portion of pad thai can push 1,000 calories if you eat the whole plate. Gulp. Thankfully, when you cook it at home you can control your ingredients and reduce a lot of those calories, starting with the sauce. Thanks to PB2 we’ve got a good head start!
I made this skinny shrimp pad thai with PB2 dish on the night of my official 41 weeks of pregnancy. My mom and I have been cooking delicious, healthy meals for the last 2 weeks thinking each time that this will be the last one of my pregnancy. Well, as the little babe in my belly keeps extending her birth date, our grocery bills keep adding up and we keep devouring some pretty tasty plates! I can only assume at this point that my baby will be pushing 9 pounds with all the healthy proteins, whole grains and maybe a little bit of ice cream that she’s been getting these last few weeks. Time will tell (but hopefully not much more time, geez)!
Let’s talk calories here. I mentioned above that the average number of calories you could consume by eating a whole plate of restaurant style pad thai is about 1,000. And then I said “Gulp” because, yuck, that’s like half of your day’s worth in one meal. No bueno.
This lightened up version serves four people with each serving coming in at a beautiful 300 calories! That’s something to celebrate. You could technically eat almost this entire dish for the same amount of calories as the restaurant style version. Please don’t though…that would defeat the purpose. But don’t feel bad if you sneak an extra scoop 
The kind of veggies you throw in this skinny shrimp pad thai with PB2 dish are totally up to you. Traditional pad thai usually has bean sprouts and sometimes peppers, cilantro or lime. I’m not a big sprout fan so I opted for some finely chopped savoy cabbage, carrot ribbons and lots of green onions! The veggies disappear in the deliciousness of the sauce and the more finely you shred them the more they become like the noodles. You wouldn’t even know they’re in there which can come in handy for picky eaters in your family.
I wouldn’t change a thing about this dish and it’s definitely finding its way into our family recipe bin. This would make a great “family style” plate for a larger gathering served with mounds of other delicious thai dishes. All you need is one of those round spinny things for the center of your table and you might as well hire a hostess because you’re halfway to opening the latest skinny thai restaurant in your dining room.
WHAT TO BRING TO THE STORE
In order to reduce your packaging waste, bring the following reusables with you to the store:
- 2-3 reusable produce bags for the cabbage, carrot and green onion
- any number of reusable bulk spice bags for any small ingredients you might be missing
Since you won’t find the type of noodle you need in bulk, opt for buying the kind that comes in a box over a plastic packaging. Cardboard is recyclable and most plastic bag type food packaging is not. Bring your reusable grocery bags as well!
WASTE METER – 4!
This recipe gets a 4 out of 5 on the waste meter which means little waste is produced in the making of it (especially since you followed my instructions on what to bring with you to the store above). Here’s what to do with your leftover packaging:
Recycle: Noodle Packaging, Shrimp Packaging (if applicable)
Compost: Shrimp Tails, Veggie Remains
Trash: Shrimp Packaging (if not recyclable)
Skinny Shrimp Pad Thai with PB2
Serves 4
A lightened up version of a classic peanuty favorite using PB2!
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
30 min
Peanut Sauce
- 6 Tbsp PB2
- 4 ounces hot water (1/2 cup)
- 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or amino acids
- 1 Tbsp red thai curry paste (or sriracha)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp honey or agave nectar
- 1 tsp flour
Pad Thai
- 1 package pad thai, rice or soba noodles (16 oz)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 green onions, diced
- 1 large carrot peeled then shaved into strips
- 1/2 head savoy cabbage, thinly chopped
- 16 ounces shrimp (fresh or frozen)
Instructions
- Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat add the PB2, water, soy sauce, honey and curry paste. Whisk briskly and increase heat until the sauce begins to bubble. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the flour. Whisk for an additional 1-2 minutes until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
- Meanwhile heat a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat to warm the olive oil. Add the shrimp and allow to cook through (5-10 minutes if fresh, 2-3 minutes if frozen).
- Add the carrots, cabbage and green onion. Saute for 5-7 minutes until the cabbage has wilted a little and the carrots become tender. Add a tablespoon or so of water to help steam the vegetables if needed.
- Add the cooked noodles and peanut sauce to the frying pan. Toss until all is combined and warmed evenly. Serve immediately. Garnish with extra green onion.
