Before jumping to the recipe, don't miss the HELPFUL RECIPE TIPS in the post! I hope you'll find them useful and will love this fantastic recipe.
Zucchini noodles are really easy to make but there are methods to make them better! If you are interested on how to make zucchini noodles less watery, and the best spiralizers you're in the right place.
Eat them plain, with butter or use them as a bed for your favorite low carb sauce!
🍲What are Zoodles ( Zucchini Noodles)?
I don't think these need much of an introduction but just in case...
Zucchini noodles are zucchini cut into the same shape as spaghetti noodles. If you get the right spiralizer, you can even cut them into the shape of thick egg noodles.
We all know that traditional pasta is off the menu when you first start the Keto Diet and "zoodles" can really help fill the gap when you want Low Carb Spaghetti, Chicken Alfredo or just noodles and butter ( the recipe for zucchini noodles and butter is in the card below).
It might take some longer than others to try zucchini noodles...it took me a while. But they taste so clean and my family actually prefers them now that we are Low Carb adapted. They just taste good.
🥒Choosing your Zucchini:
You can specialize just about any long, tube shaped veggie but zucchini is what is usually called for in Low Carb Recipes.
We have on occasionally used cucumber for cold dishes but this is a zoodles post.
You want to choose dark green, firm, medium sized zucchini if you can. If they are too large it makes them more difficult to spiralize.
🔪Which Spiralizer is Right for You?
There are actually a lot of different ways to cut your zucchini into noodles but I am not down for the time consuming work of using a knife or vegetable peeler. I don't know what anyone would want to make zucchini noodles this way, but it can be done...with a lot of patience.
We have a couple of different spiralizers at our house.
One is handheld like this:
This method is fairly easy, but the spiralizer itself is hard to clean by hand so we wash it in the top rack of the dishwasher.
It's fairly inexpensive and doesn't take up a bunch of room in my drawer. I like this one.
We also have a countertop model that someone gave to us. It has a lot of attachments and takes up more room. But it makes large amounts of zoodles super fast.
I like them both but if space is an issue...go for the smaller model.
Kitchen-Aid also has a mixer attachment for making zoodles, but I haven't tried it yet. You can check it out here if you are a die hard Kitchen-Aid fan.
👩🏽🍳 Cooking Methods:
There are no hard and fast rules about cooking the zucchini noodles, but I have tried a lot of different methods over the last two years and I can tell you which work best.
- No one says you have to cook zucchini noodles:
If I am serving these with hot marinara, I usually serve them raw and let the heat of the sauce do the work for me. But, this does result in watery noodles if you are meal prepping and saving some for you lunch my mixing the zoodles directly with the sauce.
- Oven Method:
The oven method makes for drier more al dente style noodles.
Just spiralize and spread out on a baking sheet. One with a bake-able rack would be perfect to keep the air flowing around the noodles.
Bake for 10-15 minutes @ 350F and pat the excess water off when they come out of the oven and serve.
I usually just spread them out on a pan like this. ( Cut them with kitchen shears if your zoodles are too long).
- Pan Frying:
If you want to pan fry your zoodles it's might be the fastest cooking method (besides not cooking them at all). However they do end up a little bit wetter than the oven method and the prep time is longer.
Spiralize your zucchini, sprinkle with salt and let drain in a colander for 30-60 minutes while you are making the rest of your meal.
Once some of the water has drained off, dump into a hot, slightly oiled pan and turn with tongs quickly. Don't cook for more than a minute or two or they will be mushy.
- Microwave:
Microwaving can be a real time saver. Still, if you want your noodles nice and dry, drain them the same way you do for pan frying.
Spiralize the zucchini, sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and let it drain in a colander for 30-60 minutes. Pat dry and microwave for a minute or at the VERY most two minutes and serve immediately.
🥗 What meals are great with Zucchini Noodles?
We use zucchini noodles as a side dish or as part of the main meal. They are purely versatile!
I think that is really all there is to say about the zucchini noodles!
Adieu!
📖 Recipe
Zucchini Noodles (Zoodles) Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 zucchini medium
- 1 tbsp butter or olive oil
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F (177C)
- Wash, cut off the stems and spiralize the zucchini.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes
- Toss with butter or olive oil and season to your liking. Or serve with sauce. Store in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Notes
Readers Made These Low Carb Recipes Next:
Readers' Favorite Categories:
Nutrition
The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. We are pretty careful about our figures but if you ever feel like anything is off please feel free to do your own calculations.
Leave a Reply