Zucchini Pasta Noodles aka Zoodles

A low calorie take on Skinny Mom Pad Thai Zoodles

I have been hearing, seeing and reading about noodles made of zucchini and people are raving about how it tastes just like pasta! I set out to test the hype of Zucchini Pasta Noodles aka Zoodles!

What an amazing way to eat your green vegetables and avoid the carbs and empty calories in starchy pasta. A dish that tastes delicious and will be a healthy low calorie substitute for your pasta cravings?! Sign me up! Our babysitter Sarah, makes zucchini pasta noodles aka zoodles all of the time for her family of six and recommended it to me, so I set out to put these zoodle noodles to the test! Spoiler alert: Trust me, don’t stop reading now, because this is one of my favorite posts yet!!!

I first went out and bought a spiralizer at Target, but you can also use a smaller spiralizer that is less expensive, or a julienne or vegetable handheld peeler, but a bit too much exta work for this Empress! I really had no idea what I was doing, but spiralizing using this Farberware Spiraletti was so easy! I love these zoodles so much that my next investment will be the KitchenAid Spiralizer! I decided to make a Thai inspired dish and with Sarah’s recommendation got her recipe for Pad Thai via Skinny Mom, but omitted and changed many ingredients to keep the calories down and suit my tastes. I mean what’s the point of eating zoodles if you’re just going to load them down with extra calories?!

Ingredients:

5 medium Zucchinis, spiraled with spiralizer

1 tablespoon Garlic, minced

1/2 cup of Peanuts, optional

Sauce:

1 tablespoon Sugar

2-3 tablespoons low sodium Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar

2 tablespoons Lime juice

½ teaspoon Paprika

2 teaspoons Sriracha Sauce

¼ teaspoon Red chili flakes, optional for extra spicy

Directions:

Slice one end of each zucchini and turn all of your zucchini into zoodles using your spiralizer In a medium bowl, add sugar, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, paprika, and Sriracha sauce and mix. Add flavorless coconut oil or your preferred cooking oil into a wok or large skillet.

Add garlic to the oil, and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant.

If using eggs, break open the eggs into the pan and lightly scramble for about 30 seconds. Add peanuts if using and mix. I chose to alleviate these two ingredients, but will certainly try the egg next time for some protein.

Add zoodles and sauce. Use tongs to coat the zoodles in the sauce and mix evenly. There are several ways to cook zoodles from boiling them to obtain a super soft texture more similar to pasta to sauteing this watery vegetable to keep a little crunch in tact. I wish I had boiled the zoodles prior, because I think Fred would have liked them a bit more for our first experience, being that a boil taste more like real spaghetti! All in all, this is a winning dish no matter how you cook them!Zoodles are an amazing substitute to highly processed pasta and will certainly leave you satisfied feeling like you just had a huge bowl of spaghetti, but without the guilt! From a healthy shrimp scampi to Thai inspired dishes, there are so many amazing and creative ways you can use these zucchini zoodles. Over the next few months I will be experimenting with lots of recipes and different veggie noodles from carrot coodles to sweet potato swoodles, so make sure you are following Crockpot Empire on Pinterest, so you never miss an Empress approved healthy veggie noodle meal!

Happy Friday, Empresses! Let’s meet back here next week! Until then, enjoy your weekend and most importantly relax and celebrate, because for most of us, it’s back to school on Monday!!!