Zucchini zoodle noodles are my best friends. I’m not sure what that says about my social life, maybe I’m just highlighting the fact that the zucchini zoodle noodles (AKA zoodles AKA noodle-y zoodles AKA zoodle-y zucchini noodles)…. and the list of names could go on forever, are changing my life.
At Lunch Lady Lou kitchen HQ we use zucchini zoodle noodles on the menu weekly. They’re not new to my repertoire and I’m not sure why its taken me so long to write about them. Zucchini zoodle noodles are great because:
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if you don’t have noodles or pasta they’re an easy substitute.
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a great way to add extra veggie greens to your diet.
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they have a relatively neutral taste and work well when covering them in sauce.
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they make a great noodle or pasta substitute for night time meals – have a massive ‘pasta’ style cook up but serve these instead and you won’t feel the slightest bit cheated.
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they’re fun to make.
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they’re quick to make.
But most of all everyone has a random zucchini or two in their veggie draw, right?
Add your zucchini zoodle noodles to: salads, soups, pasta dishes, casseroles. You name it you can add it. You can eat them raw or cook gently too.
3 ways to make your zucchini zoodle noodles.
1. Spiralizer
It comes with 2 parts, each part produces a different type of zoodle.
– 1 x thin and stringy (see photo)
– 1 x thicker version
There’s a third part you use to twist to zucchini through. You place your zucchini up against the blade and twist to produce what feels like a never ending zoodle strand. You can also use this for cucumber, carrot, sweet potato and more. Buy anywhere online ranging from $20-$35.
Pro’s: fun for kids, exciting to look at, 2 different sized strands.
Con’s: hard to clean, you need a certain size zucchini if it’s too large it won’t work. Takes a long time and a lot of muscle power!
2. Mandolin with a grater attachment
I love my mandolin it makes for quick, easy and safe slicing of various sizes. My mandolin is new and comes with interchangeable blades and a safe guard to keep your precious fingers safe from dramatic finger slicing which occurs with the old style. They range in sizes too.
A mandolin will revolutionise what you actually need to chop in your kitchen and not to mention speed the whole prep process up. When making zucchini zoodle noodles this way I find them a bit thick to eat raw. I usually lightly cook first by steaming or sautéing or I mix really well with lemon juice, salt and olive oil so they relax a bit (similar to how you’d massage kale).
Pro’s: so fast, easy to clean, perfect uniform size every time, time saving.
Con’s: This particular model produces a thicker style noodle.
3. Julienne Peeler
Oh wow, I love this one! It looks like a peeler but it has little metal grooves that produce super fine strands of vegetable. These little fine strands are perfect just the way they are to be eaten raw in salads. This peeler also works well with carrot, cucumber, sweet potato and parsnip. They’re super cheap, you can buy one for $15 or $20 from any home store. This one is my favourite (I’ve tried so many).
Pro’s: so fast, easy to clean, perfect delicate thin size, ready to eat straight away.
Con’s: if you get an average model, as you peel it can get tough to make a full strand the length of your zucchini. I seem to end up with 2 big ends and a really thin middle. If this happens I add to my soup stock bag in the freezer for future soup making – perfect stock ingredients and #nowaste here.
There are a few more styles of zucchini zoodle noodle slicers around but these are the three I have in my home kitchen. For me I use the mandolin and julienne peeler daily and now I’ve got them I couldn’t image my meals without using them – so.much.chopping.
