Let’s talk about zucchini noodles. Or zoodles if you’re fancy.
I’ve known about zoodles for a while, but they always seemed kind of time consuming. Then, I tried some at our local Noodles & Company and decided to look into exactly how time consuming they really are. If by ‘look into’ you mean, see a spiralizer at Target and just buy it with no forethought or research.
This is the exact one I bought at Target (OXO spiralizer at Target) they also have it at Amazon (OXO spiralizer on Amazon) both are listed at $40.00… which is what I paid. I also saw this one on Amazon while writing this post and it looks pretty similar for just $27.99.
As I said, I did NO research… otherwise I would have gotten the cheaper one off Amazon. Anyways, I bought it on a whim and brought it home. We had some zucchini in our fridge, so I unwrapped it and used it that same night.
It was SO EASY that Jack could do it!
You just chop the ends off the zucchini and stick one end into the spiky part of the machine and put the other end against the blade. Then crank. And crank. And crank.
So. EASY.
I had heard that a drawback of zoodles is that they can be kind of wet and watery. So,when I do my set up I throw a paper towel under the blade. All the zoodles collect on the paper towel and then I just roll them up and let them hang out while I’m cooking the rest of dinner.
To cook them up, I just add some olive oil to the pan, throw in the zoodles and shake on some salt and pepper.
That’s it. And they are SO GOOD! We’ve had them probably 4 times since I bought the spiralizer and we love them! Just keep in mind that they really cook down. That entire pan above made this much cooked zoodles:
So if you’ve been thinking of trying zoodles… go for it!
Now I need to branch out and start spiralizing other stuff. Do you have any favorite items to spiralize?
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They are so good! I have a “skinny” shrimp scampi recipe that I love to make with zoodles! I have the Vegetti (remember the “as seen on TV” one). It’s a simple device, but it takes forever and gives me carpal tunnel ! I just had a Pampered Chef party and one of the rewards I chose was the new veggie spiralizer! I’m so excited to get it and use it!
Awesome! Do you only make zucchini noodies or have you spiralized anything else?
We have the one you linked to on Amazon! One tip – we also cook up whole wheat rotini to mix in. The kids are more likely to eat zoodles if there are also some real noodles. You can adjust the ratios to each person’s preference. We like to eat with turkey meatballs.
We’ve also done cucumbers and carrots for salads.
What about potatoes? You could fry in a skillet like hash browns and add onions and peppers. They would break up some but that would be ok.
Also, if cucumbers work I would think any kind of melon like cantaloupe or honeydew. Then you can add things like berries or grapes etc for fruit salad.
My mom’s been obsessed with the spiralizer I got her for Christmas. She does zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, beets, daikon radish, sweet potatoes and carrots. Wegman’s has a whole “ready to cook” section full of packages of these. I peek in there for ideas.
I haven’t done anything other than zucchini, but the consultant suggested summer squash, beets, rutabega, turnips, butternut squash! I’d like to do some potatoes and use my air fryer to crisp them up. It came today and I’ve just downloaded a free ebook that looks really nice and has some great tips! Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out!
https://issuu.com/pamperedchef/docs/pamperedchef-spiralizerebook