*Caution, affiliate links ahead…Don’t worry, I’ll use the money for something practical, like wine…. or a pony!
Have you tried replacing your regular spaghetti noodles with zoodles (zucchini noodles)? This is probably the best kept paleo secret out there. I was never really a fan of zucchini, but I was desperate for something that resembled pasta and the store bought gluten free noddles kinda suck. I had seen a bunch of stuff on pinterest about making zucchini noodles and decided to give it a try. I was blown away by how much my family and I LOVED them. The kids actually ate something green, liked it and asked for seconds. Are you kidding me? I totally won at parenting that day!
We have now added zoodles to our weekly rotation and enjoy trying to find new ways to eat them. Serving them with spaghetti sauce in classic spaghetti style is always a hit, but I like to press my luck and experiment a bit. Some are hits and some are misses, but it’s fun to be in the kitchen experimenting and getting my kids to try new things.
One of my successes was this simple recipe for Parmesan Garlic Noodles. It’s so simple that it’s almost embarrassing, but I’m going to share it with you anyway 🙂
First, let’s talk about actually making the noodles. The first time I did this, I used a julienne peeler, it worked okay, but it was hard to use all the zucchini that way and I felt like I was wasting a lot of food. Next I tried a fancy spiralizer. It made great zoodles, but wasn’t very user friendly and a pain to clean. Now I use a Veggetti. I know it sounds really dirty and I can’t help but giggle every time I say it, but this thing is the bomb when it comes to zoodleing (that’s a word, right?). I picked mine up on Amazon for about 12 bucks. Totally worth every penny.
On to the recipe!
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Ingredients
- 4 Zucchinis
- 1/2 stick of butter
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- salt
Instructions
- Turn zucchini into noodles using a julienne peeler, spiralizer or veggetti.
- Put zucchini noodles into a colander and salt liberally let sit for 20 minutes (very important!)
- After 20 minutes, rinse and pat dry with a paper towel
- Melt butter and the garlic in a skillet or saute pan
- Saute noodles over med-high heat for 4-5 minutes
- Remove from heat and mix in parmesan cheese.
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I’ve got a spiralizer and have made zoodles several times, but never such a simple way, I always have added tons of other stuff…But this is brilliant, easier, and divine I’m sure!
Jenna recently posted…Take-out Tuesday, Sausage Gravy Biscuit Bake
Mmm, I have been looking for a substitute for spaghetti noodles and this looks so good. Ive got to pin this for later!
Stephanie R recently posted…I can and will
Yum! Can I get these at Trader Joe’s?! Would you share this on Friday Favorites? Party goes live tonight! yum!
laura
LAURA@NOTATROPHYWIFE.COM recently posted…Comment on Recovering from Lasik surgery: It’s a process by Runwright
This looks so delicious!! I’m stopping by from the Weekend Retreat blog hop.
Thanks
Angie
Angie recently posted…Shop Hopping & Shopping Linky#4
I love making zoodles and do so on a weekly basis too. I haven’t tried the salt and wait for 20, but I am going to try it the next time I make thee bad boys! Thanks for sharing!
J @ A Hot Southern Mess recently posted…Spinach And Blackberry Smoothie
I made these this evening and after I did the 20 minute salt and rinsed them, I realized I should have used the thicker spiral blade … they were still yummy but came out very thin and wadded up … next time I will do them with the bigger blade AND not squeeze them dry since I think that might have been my problem with the wadding up 😉 Thanks for sharing!
the time I salted my zoodles, they went completely limp!
I got a new machine to make these Zoodles for Christmas, and your recipe will be perfect to try. Thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and Happy New Year!
Miz Helen
Miz Helen recently posted…Whats For Dinner Next Week 1-3-16
Can’t wait to hear how they turn out!
hi – I made this tonight and it’s fantastic! I do have a question though – why is the salting/waiting “very important?” just curious!!
Hi Sarah! So glad you liked them <3 <3 The reason the salting step is very important is that the salt removes a lot of the water in the zucchini. If you don't do something to soak up the excess moisture you end up with a mushy mess that isn't nearly as good. Salting and waiting is the quickest and easiest way I have found to remove the excess water 🙂 Hope that helped!
Thank you so much for the reply! I recommended this recipe to a bunch of my friends last night because it was so tasty!
Awesome! You just made my day 🙂 Thank you!!
I keep wanting to try zoodles – I need to get one of those fancy tools you mentioned. This recipe sounds sooo good, and super easy! Thanks for linking up with Merry Monday this week!
I saw your comment and just had to share some info I just got from a friend. And I hope this helps ANYONE out that doesn’t have a machine to use. Target started carrying ‘zoodles’ that are 100% organic zucchini in their produce section! It’s a must for an easy ‘zoodle’ fix or to try them out before investing in your own machine!! :):)
I vote for the pony!
Ha! Me too! Still trying to figure out where I’m going to put it 🙂
Mine still came out mushy 😟 I didn’t understand why I should rinse them after we were trying to dry them out. Did I misunderstand?
Rinsing them is to remove the salt, if you don’t they will be too salty. That second rinse shouldn’t make them soggy unless they were soaked in water. I’m really perplexed. I would suggest letting them sit a while longer with the salt and then drying them with an absorbent paper towel right after you rinse the salt. Hope that helps a bit!
These zoodles were delicious! Thank you for sharing an easy recipe.
This is such a simple and delicious recipe! My husband is not on Team Zucchini at all, and now this is his favorite side dish!
I made this tonight and it was terrible. Very disappointing to waste the time and effort to make it. Both me and my husband trashed it 🙁
Casey, I’m so sorry that they didn’t turn out for you. I feel terrible that you feel that you wasted your time on this recipe. Can you tell me what you didn’t like about them? Maybe I can help figure how to fix it 🙂
I made this for lunch today. My husband and I both loved it. Only this I did differently was that I added in some Italian seasoning.