Keto Zucchini Noodles (Zoodle) Recipe

Zucchini is Not Your Traditional Pasta

Top 8 Allergen Free, Keto Zucchini Noodles (ZOODLE)! Go to your local grocery and grab zucchini, PRONTO! How great is this vegetable? You can add it to so many dishes without realizing it’s even there with its neutral taste. Throwback to the first time I made zucchini noodles and was in shock how similar I could make them to regular pasta noodles. Not in the sense that you get that same “I want to fall asleep for 48 hours straight” feeling with these raw noodles, but the fact that a vegetable could hold its texture to be able to use it in the same way I used wheat noodles.

In the past, I made Chocolate Zucchini Balls, and nobody so much as guessed the secret ingredient was a bit of fresh zucchini. Spiralized zucchini is amazing to use in place of noodles, such as pasta or regular spaghetti noodles in most dishes as well. You can even make lasagna with thick slices of zucchini! Zoodles are my favorite low-carb alternative to wheat noodles (and yes, zoodle is zucchini + noodle). They are a good option for those on the keto diet (only 6 grams of carbs in a medium zucchini) – and this is the ultimate easy zoodle recipe! Before learning about zucchini noodles, I always had a hard time finding noodles that weren’t made with full-on wheat or super carb-heavy. Ya know, some days, I just wasn’t up for eating a carb load at dinner! But I still wanted good food …

Easy Zoodles Recipe

When it comes to zucchini noodle recipes, this is my favourite way to use up extra zucchini (and have a healthy meal while I’m at it). It’s that go-to lazy meal: no bake, no cook, no broil, toast, freeze, microwave-nothing. So easy. Just cut the zucchini, blend the avocado sauce, add the veggies, and mix! The end result is a creamy dish that I can’t get enough of – goodbye, heavy cream! Goodbye, all the sauce ingredients I pulled out of the fridge to make marinara sauce!

This is just the easiest way for me to make a sauce that doesn’t need to be cooked down, with me sitting there stirring the pot for the hundredth time, waiting for that extra liquid to evaporate so I can shove a forkful of pasta into my growling stomach. I may as well take a bottled sauce and drown my sad noodles in tomato chunks. Mmm … I think not. It’s that time of year when you don’t want the hassle of taking a casserole out of the oven, right? The perfect summer salad for the whole family – light and filling, without turning on the oven or having to heat and re-heat the food. Let me just say that I also use this recipe as a main dish rather than just a salad or side dish.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• No Bake, Raw and Simple Meal: This recipe is for everyone! Raw vegans, vegans, those on a low-carb diet and non-vegans alike. We ALL love noodles, and this recipe will leave you feeling full, yet not weighed down. It’s made with all simple ingredients!
• Five Vegetables in One: Zucchini, tomato, avocado, onion and spinach are all included. Plus, the lemon juice with the greens helps to absorb the iron! This entire recipe also has around fifteen servings of vegetables (did you know a third of an avocado is one serving of vegetables? Yup, that’s nine servings of veggies in just the avocados)! What’s better than a flavourful dish that also nourishes you from the inside out?
• Versatility: Experiment by adding in extra spices, seeds, nuts or more greens to up the health value of this meal! As mentioned in the substitutions below, you can also try using carrots to make carrot noodles. I’ve even seen butternut squash and sweet potato noodles pre-packaged at the supermarket!
• Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Refined-Sugar Free, Nut Free & More: This recipe is devoid of all common allergens, unless you have allergy to one of the vegetables being used.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here are the main ingredients in this recipe as well as their substitutions.

Spinach: Try basil instead of spinach. Or perhaps a mix of basil, parsley, mint and coriander.

Avocado & Tomato: There is no substitute for these! Avocado is the main ingredient of the sauce.

Onion: Try white onions or spring onions.

Cumin Seed Powder: This powder can be found in many Indian grocery stores. Or the Asian foods aisle of most generic grocery stores as well. Alternatively, toast cumin seeds in a small stovetop pan, then use a spice grinder to powder the seeds. This is a great way to make your own cumin powder at home! However, it can also be omitted or possibly replaced with a lesser amount of chaat masala. Chaat masala is an Indian spice mix that is also salty, so if you use an equal amount as the cumin seed powder, decrease the salt in the sauce.

Zucchini: Substitute carrots instead – this makes a crunchy noodle that can replace the zucchini!

Notes

• Pro-Tip: Add in fresh garlic, red pepper flakes or basil leaves as an optional flavour (and nutrition) add!
• A veggie spiralizer is a great tool that will easily turn vegetables into raw noodles. However, you can also use a julienne peeler, mandoline slicer or a knife to cut strips of zucchini. Find out all the ways to make zucchini noodle shapes here! You don’t need to drain the excess water here either – zucchini noodles don’t get mushy if you eat them right away and making sure you use a raw zucchini that is hard enough to spiralize is a good way to make sure you won’t end up with too much moisture in the noodles (it shouldn’t be soft to the touch or it is spoiling).
• Add in more black pepper, pink salt and other spices as desired after tasting the sauce. I don’t take exact measurements for spices when I’m working with a no-bake recipe, because they can always be adjusted at the end.
• Next time you find yourself with an abundance of zucchini, try adding a chili garlic sauce, sweet chili sauce, olive oil with salt and spices, balsamic vinegar or peanut sauce to make your next zucchini noodle dish! There are so many ways to flavour up raw zucchini.
• The noodles themselves can be stored in an airtight container ahead of time, but I recommend to make the sauce fresh and pour it on top (and only then add the other veggies) when ready to eat.

Meal Inspiration

Here is some meal inspiration when you want an easy-to-make hearty lunch or dinner.

Garlic Butter Noodles

Butter Tofu

Rice Cooker Taco Rice

Peanut Satay Noodles

Yaki Udon Recipe

Squash, Pecan and Kale Salad

Low Carb Carrot Noodles

If you make this recipe, leave a comment and rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!