Here’s the best way to make amazingly delicious zucchini noodles – a great, healthy alternative to pasta – without fancy, specialized equipment!
You may have seen something about these yummy and inventive zucchini noodles or “zoodles” somewhere around the internet in the last couple of years. Basically. they’re like noodles made out of zucchini that you use just like you would regular pasta, but they’re completely healthy and low in calories because they’re really just strips of zucchini! They’re a great, healthy way to indulge your pasta cravings and they use up lots of zucchini if you expect to have a zucchini overload from your garden this year like I always do! 🙂
The usual way to make these is to use a spiralizer, basically a cutting gizmo that allows you to quickly create long spirally strips of veggies. Those things are great! The problem is that I just really don’t have room for yet another kitchen gadget that I may only use every once in awhile and I don’t love the idea of cleaning something with a bunch of moving parts when I’m just trying to whip up a quick lunch for myself. So, what to do?
A couple of years ago, I came up with a way to make long, thin, zucchini noodles in just a few seconds! I have to admit I’m pretty excited about it. It’s like I can eat pasta for lunch everyday lately while still eating healthy! The best part is that it takes so very little equipment and lunchtime cleanup is no more difficult than if I warmed up a can of soup!
How to Make Zucchini Noodles!
Start off with a whole bunch of zucchini. One large-ish zucchini from the garden like these will make one giant heaping plate of noodles. You can also use 2-3 regular grocery store zucchinis.
Wash them to remove all of the dirt, pollen, and thistle fluff, then cut the ends off of any zucchini that you’ll be using.
Get out your cheese grater or a regular box grater. I’ve had this grater from IKEA for years and it fits on top of a little container to catch the cheese, that’s why it’s a funny oval shape and not your standard box shape, but it works just as well!
Now, instead of grating perpendicular to the length of the zucchini like you would normally do if you were making zucchini bread or something like that, grate along the length, creating long noodle-y strands!
The thing I love about this is that zucchini (zucchinis?) are really easy to grate, so this whole process takes about 20 seconds and doesn’t leave you feeling exhausted.
Ta-da! Noodle-y goodness! Noodle-iciousness!
Make Healthy, Gluten Free Pasta Dishes
Instead of boiling water to cook these noodles, just sautee them in a frying pan for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat, just basically until they’re warm and starting to get a teeny bit more translucent.
The texture of this type of zoodle is kind of like angel hair pasta and I just think it’s the most delicious thing ever. You feel like you’re eating pasta but you’re really getting a huuuge serving of veggies!
Top your zucchini noodles with whatever you would normally like on your pasta and dig in!
I hope you find this idea helpful for using up all that zucchini from your garden later this summer, or if you’ve just been wanting to try zoodles, but haven’t wanted to fill your cupboards with anymore gizmos!
Have you tried making zucchini noodles or zoodles before? What’s your favorite thing to top them with?
More Summertime Recipes
- Marinated and Grilled Zucchini Recipe
- Healthy No-Bake Chocolate Cookies
- How to Make Homemade Tortilla Chips
- Magical Disappearing Layered Taco Dip
- Sugared Lime Mini Cupcakes
- S’mores Dessert Pizza
- The Creek Line House Food Archives
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.