Some slice thin, limp noodles that don’t hold sauce well. Let me tell you, they are not all created equal. Over the years, I’ve bought nearly all of the spiral slicers. Or, you can make them yourself at home with a spiral cutter. You can source your zucchini noodles several ways:įind them pre-noodled in the produce section.īuy them pre-noodled in the frozen veggie section. Zucchini Noodles, or Zoodles, let you keep what you REALLY love about Italian food without all of the carbs from the pasta. They’re effective for pretty much any type of diet.When you think about your favorite pasta dishes, I’d bet $5 that what you love about them are the flavors of the sauces, meats, and veggies. Many people don’t like the way they taste either. But, these only work well for some situations and recipes. There are also options like PaleoThin Fettuccini.

You can find products like Miracle Noodles, which are gluten-free and made from plants. Some people do so because they’re avoiding gluten, others might be on a low carb or a paleo diet.īut, there aren’t that many good pasta substitutes. There are many reasons for cutting pasta (and other noodles) out of your diet. You can even mix the zoodles with some sauce for a quick snack, perhaps throwing in a few other ingredients at the same time. That’s much faster than cooking pasta.Īs a result, zoodles make dinner times simple. You can quickly make them from zucchini and cooking tends to take just a few minutes. You may even find that zoodles taste better than pasta, especially if you’re following a good recipe. It’s also perfect for warm weather, when you don’t want anything too heavy. This pattern is great for improving health. They’ll typically be lower in calories as well. Relying on zoodles often makes meals lighter and less bulky. Other pasta alternatives are much less versatile and might only be useful in a few recipes. They also work perfectly in most recipes that are designed for pasta or noodles. Zoodles aren’t exactly the same as pasta but they’re pretty close. This gets around the water issues entirely. Seasoning in the pan causes the water to release there, which guarantees soggy zoodles. If you’re going to season your zoodles, follow the step above. The site Gourmet Girl Cooks has a great visual guide for doing this. The salt helps draw out the moisture and the paper towels absorb it.

Season your noodles and then let them rest on paper towels (for about 10 minutes).

Focus on ones that rely on oil or fat instead. They don’t taste as good this way either. Overcooking releases extra water, making the zoodles soggy. The zoodles should still be firm, which won’t take long. This decreases how much liquid they’ll release.

Cook the noodles right before you want to use them.

Doing it the other way around increases the moisture content.

Spiralize the zucchini raw, then cook the noodles.The finished product mightn’t be perfect but it would still work well in many dishes. Instead, you get shorter pieces of zucchini. These methods are slightly different, as they won’t give you long noodles. Finally, you can use a grater or a food processor to make zoodles. Some people also make zoodles directly with a peeler, using a little finesse. You can also create flat strips of zucchini with a potato peeler and then cut these into thin noodles. But, this can be the perfect way to get started. The zoodles will never be as amazing or uniform as with a spiralizer. LifeHacker highlights two ways that you can create zoodles just using a sharp knife. Once again, the zoodles will be flat, not curled. But, you do need to be careful when using a mandolin slicer, as the blades are sharp. This type of slicer works well and products often come with many attachments. The main limitation is that you’re only going to get flat zoodles (they won’t be curled). They’re small too, which is perfect if you are short on space. They tend to be inexpensive and are very easy to use. This type of peeler is designed to create narrow strips.

Make zoodles