How To Make Noodles Out Of Zucchini

There’s no denying that pasta is comfort food.

It’s fast, easy, and fills your belly with starchy goodness.

But we all know pasta isn’t exactly health food. For many of us (me included), wheat causes bloating, gas, and for lack of a better term, digestive turmoil. I’ve always felt funny after eating pasta or pizza, so they weren’t a frequent item on my menu, but after getting confirmation through my MRT test for food sensitivities that wheat is reactive for me, it’s now strictly off the menu.

Even if wheat feels fine in your tummy, there’s good reason to not go overboard on pasta. Foods high in carbohydrates spike your blood sugar and insulin levels, which leads to post-meal cravings and weight gain. And the symptoms of wheat sensitivity, allergy, or full-blown celiac disease go beyond the gut.

Since life without pasta is just SAD, I decided to hunt down a low-carbohydrate and wheat-free pasta alternative.

I have seen spiralizers being promoted by the grain-free and Paleo community, but those contraptions are bulky and hard to clean. I’m a minimalist in my kitchen and have limited storage space, so I searched for an alternative.

Finally, I found this little gadget, a GEFU Spirelli Spiral Cutter that is small enough to fit in a kitchen drawer and is easy to clean. This little guy works like a pencil sharpener, cutting ribbon-like noodles out of zucchini or carrots (or any oblong vegetable). There are no moving parts to break or complicated instructions. Plus, there are two sides for different sized noodles.

You can grab this little gadget for yourself here. (and since this is an Amazon affiliate link, a portion of your sale will help support all the free goodness I share with you)

If you’ve been following my food sensitivity journey on The Pilates Nutritionist facebook page, you’ll see I’ve been making noodles out of zucchini pretty often. Know that the texture is different than traditional pasta, but it sure beats going completely noodle-free.

And health-wise, it’s better than the alternative grain pastas, which despite being wheat-free, are just as loaded with carbs as their replacement (though, I do have those from time to time).

How To Make Noodles Out Of Zucchini:

1. Wash zucchini. Cut off bottom, but leave stem intact.
2. Cut zucchini with your GEFU, using it like a pencil sharpener. When you get to the bottom, you’ll have a few inches of zucchini left. Rather than throw it out, I cut it into julienne strips with my knife and use it with the rest of the noodles.
3. If you’ve ever cooked with zucchini, you know that it releases a lot of water during cooking. So, I quickly stir fry these on high heat in ghee or coconut oil before mixing with a sauce. If you over-cook zucchini noodles, they can get a bit soggy, so just heat them enough to warm through.

One medium zucchini will yield approximately 2 cups of raw noodles.

How To Prepare Zucchini Noodles:

• Quickly sauteed and topped with marinara sauce, pesto, or meatballs
• Raw, marinated zucchini salad with lemon juice or vinegar. Serve atop salads or tacos
• Added to soup right before serving (see the Thai coconut soup photo below)
• Zucchini pasta bake

You can also use a mandolin (or fantastic knife skills) to make zucchini lasagne noodles! Check out this recipe for Low Carb Lasagne with Zucchini Noodles for a real treat!

The best thing about these zucchini noodles is I can eat as much as I want and there’s absolutely, positively NO BLOATING! Hooray!

Now that I’m a full month into my food sensitivity journey, I’ve actually surprised myself with how normal my digestion is. I was looking back over my food-symptom journal and I’ve been bloated only once in an entire month. 

I didn’t think of myself as someone with bad digestion before, but I realize now I never knew what it felt like to have really good digestion. If you’re tired of living life bloated & gassy, you might like to work with me and figure out food sensitivities for yourself.

Cheers to eating pasta and not looking 6 months pregnant afterwards!

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Now in the comments below, tell me:

Have you ever made noodles out of zucchini?
If so, what did you make with them + how did they turn out?

Until next week,