Zoodles are the whole package. Healthy? Check. Delicious? Check. Fun to slurp? Check. And most importantly, cool name? Check.
Zoodles are simply noodles made from vegetables instead of flour or rice. While the most well-known version of this dish is made from courgette — or zucchini, hence the “z” replacing the “n” — there is a seemingly endless number of variations. “Vegetable noodles can be made from carrots, radish, pumpkin, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes or celery root,” says Gabriele Kaufmann from a German nutrition centre.
The vegetable strips can simply be swapped in in place of normal pasta noodles in a dish, offering far fewer calories for those concerned with their weight. They’re also a good way to fool children into eating their vegetables: “Originally many people tried to use this method to make vegetables taste good for their children,” says Margret Morlo, from an association for nutrition and dietetics.
They offer all the benefits that go along with eating vegetables: Lots of minerals and nutrients based on what the zoodles are made of.
All you need to make zoodles is a spiraliser or a mandoline. Wash the courgette and remove the ends, then simply put it through the spiraliser to get long strips. “It can make them in the form of spaghetti or also, for example, tagliatelle — essentially wider noodles,” explains Kaufmann. A little practice will make perfect.
Zucchini noodles can be eaten raw or cooked. Ebermann’s suggestion is to make a cucumber salad, but use a spiraliser to make spaghetti-like strips. For those who want to try out zoodles but don’t want to invest just yet in a spiraliser, Kaufmann suggests using a regular peeler – though the strips won’t all be a uniform size this way.
However, zoodles made from sweet potato or pumpkin should be blanched if they’re going to be eaten cold. “This makes them easier to digest for those with sensitive stomachs,” says Kaufmann. When it comes to prepping zoodles in advance, Morlo is not a fan: “Chopped vegetables don’t last very long,” she says.
But Kaufmann disagrees, saying that it is possible to freeze it, in single-size portions preferably. In that case though, one should definitely blanch their zoodles before tossing them in the freezer in order to kill any lingering bacteria. – By Sabine Meuter
