With gluten-free and low-carb diets growing in popularity, pastas made from vegetables are becoming all the rage! I mean really, there’s no downside: they’re healthy, low-calorie and provide many more nutrients than their carb-loaded counterparts. Find out three of the easiest pastas you can make to “lighten the load.”
Before we get started, you are going to need a spiralizer in order to make these pastas. If you’ve never used one, it’s a simple kitchen appliance that cuts different vegetables into pasta shapes that you can then cook however you want! There are different kinds of spiralizers you can use and, while they’re all pretty effective, some do work better than others, but it is purely based on your preference.
The three basic forms of spiralizers are a hand-held option, a cranking option and an electric attachment option, all of which are pictured below. I have used all of these options and I can say that I personally prefer the cranking option and the electric attachment option. The hand-held option works well, but I found it very difficult to clean and it does get taxing on your hands after a few vegetables. There is also a hand-held slicer that you can use for vegetable noodles that works well for longer noodles.
Zucchini Noodles
Zucchini noodles are by far my favorite form of veggie pasta. They are extremely easy to make and taste great in a variety of dishes. I love the attachment on my Spiralizer that makes a thick “spaghetti” shaped noodle. The spiralizer will core and cut the zucchini, removing the seeds and leaving the “meat” of the vegetable to make sturdier noodles. I like to cut them ahead of time and let them sit for at least an hour on paper towels to remove any excess water. This will especially come in handy when you’re cooking the pasta and you want to avoid watering down your sauce.
Zucchini also has such a neutral taste that it takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you put over it and compliments it well.
Yellow Squash Noodles
Yellow squash works very similarly to zucchini as far as how it holds up when you cook it and also works well when it’s cut like spaghetti. However, I like to use the smaller spaghetti-shaped blade. It ends up looking more like Angel hair pasta and also pairs well with any sauce. I have found that most yellow squash I’ve tried is less seedy than zucchini and therefore holds up better when you cut it smaller.
Tip: The smaller, skinnier squash works best because it doesn’t have as many seeds or water inside.
Again, to remove any excess water when cooking, let the cut noodles sit on paper towels at least an hour ahead of time to remove water. You can also sprinkle it with salt to make sure you’re removing as much water as you can.
Eggplant Noodles
My husband loves eggplant this way, and he’s pretty picky about his vegetables. For this, we use the vegetable peeler and cut the eggplant in half or quarters before you slice it. The idea is to then slice the eggplant into long, wide, flat noodles, which can then be layered in vegetable lasagna. Every time I make this, neither one of us can get enough! Check out my Roasted Vegetable Lasagna recipe for more delicious details!
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