As the carb lover and Italian that I am, a diagnosis of Celiac Disease turned my dietary world upside down. My beloved days of meatballs and sauce piled onto a plate of pasta were abruptly cut short. So I ventured into the gluten free pasta aisle, hoping to find a suitable replacement. After quite a few taste tests, the verdict was that corn or potato based pastas were the best and most comparable to regular pasta, but a tad more sticky. Anything brown rice or only rice based had a grainy texture that just seemed unnatural to me. So I settled for corn pasta, and it was a great substitute, until I saw a recipe for zoodles, I haven't used a box of pasta since because I am so in love with zoodles! I think I prefer it over gluten free pasta to be honest.
SO, what exactly is a zoodle? It is a 'noodle' made out of zucchini
It simply doesn't get any better than zoodles, not only do they taste and have the same consistency as spaghetti but you're getting in extra veggies by using them as your "pasta" and I am ALL about extra greens intake!
Before Getting Started
You will need:
A Spiralizer
(I have the Paderno World Cuisine Tri Blade Plastic Spiralizer, I found it on Amazon for 30 dollars!)
OR
A julienne peeler
(I found a cheap one at Walmart for less than four dollars and it was called a y peeler!)
OTHERWISE, you can use a regular peeler and just have thick linguine styled pasta!
Aim to buy thicker zucchinis since you can only make noodles out of a portion of the vegetable, as soon as your peeler hits the seeds, you cannot make any more noodles (well you can, but the seeded noodles fall apart and do not hold shape but just become mushy)
Buy MORE zucchini than you think you will need for the above reason!
CAREFUL using the julienne peeler, zucchini are very slippery and it's easy to slice a finger! It's much harder to be a chef if you have a sawed off fingertip...
Zoodling!
Zucchinis - for two servings for JUST myself, I typically buy three, adjust this number based on the size/width of your zucchini and how many people you are making the zoodles for
Julienne Peeler/Spiralizer
Peeler
Cutting Board
1. Cut ends off zucchini
2. Peel zucchini to remove all skin (using regular peeler)
3. Use julienne peeler to make zoodles, stop once you hit seeds, keep turning zucchini until you can't use any more of it (Save left over, you can chop it up and saute it with a little olive oil salt and pepper, DELISH or snack on it raw like me)
IF YOU HAVE A SPIRALIZER - SKIP THIS STEP, follow YOUR spiralizer's directions!
4. Put noodles in a frying pan with a DROP of olive oil and cook until zoodles become hot, do not overcook them, they will become mushy and watery so keep a close eye on them and stir constantly, it should take no more than five minutes (unless you're making enough to feed a tribe!)
I love having zoodles with my homemade Turkey meatballs and sauce, but they can be paired with any dish/sauce you would normally use with pasta! Once you go green, you'll see what I mean!
It simply doesn't get any better than zoodles, not only do they taste and have the same consistency as spaghetti but you're getting in extra veggies by using them as your "pasta" and I am ALL about extra greens intake!
Before Getting Started
You will need:
A Spiralizer
(I have the Paderno World Cuisine Tri Blade Plastic Spiralizer, I found it on Amazon for 30 dollars!)
OR
A julienne peeler
(I found a cheap one at Walmart for less than four dollars and it was called a y peeler!)
OTHERWISE, you can use a regular peeler and just have thick linguine styled pasta!
Aim to buy thicker zucchinis since you can only make noodles out of a portion of the vegetable, as soon as your peeler hits the seeds, you cannot make any more noodles (well you can, but the seeded noodles fall apart and do not hold shape but just become mushy)
Buy MORE zucchini than you think you will need for the above reason!
CAREFUL using the julienne peeler, zucchini are very slippery and it's easy to slice a finger! It's much harder to be a chef if you have a sawed off fingertip...
Zoodling!
Zucchinis - for two servings for JUST myself, I typically buy three, adjust this number based on the size/width of your zucchini and how many people you are making the zoodles for
Julienne Peeler/Spiralizer
Peeler
Cutting Board
1. Cut ends off zucchini
2. Peel zucchini to remove all skin (using regular peeler)
3. Use julienne peeler to make zoodles, stop once you hit seeds, keep turning zucchini until you can't use any more of it (Save left over, you can chop it up and saute it with a little olive oil salt and pepper, DELISH or snack on it raw like me)
IF YOU HAVE A SPIRALIZER - SKIP THIS STEP, follow YOUR spiralizer's directions!
4. Put noodles in a frying pan with a DROP of olive oil and cook until zoodles become hot, do not overcook them, they will become mushy and watery so keep a close eye on them and stir constantly, it should take no more than five minutes (unless you're making enough to feed a tribe!)
I love having zoodles with my homemade Turkey meatballs and sauce, but they can be paired with any dish/sauce you would normally use with pasta! Once you go green, you'll see what I mean!
| |  Zoodles made with my Julienne Peeler, BEFORE I bought my Spiralizer! |
Don't mind my goofy self in the video, this was originally taken to send to my Mom, but thought a visual might be nice for all of you :]
