I love this fresh and veggie filled zucchini noodle pasta with a yogurt herb sauce! While I love all pasta, pasta doesn't always love me. So the best thing about this pasta, besides the delicious flavors, is that it has half the calories and carbs of regular pasta! And you know what? I don't even miss it! This zucchini noodle pasta dish uses half regular spaghetti and half spiralized zucchini "noodles" or "zoodles." The zucchini noodles and pasta are then tossed with a light and creamy protein packed Greek yogurt sauce that's made with fresh basil and mint, feta, and Parmesan!
How do you spiralize Zucchini?
The easiest way is to use a tool, like the Vegetti or a vegetable spiralizer.
Tip: Stop spiralizing when you start to get to the seedy centers, those parts of the zucchini tend to get super soggy and don't hold up well when cooked!
What if I don't have a spiralizer?
No problem! There are so different ways you can cut your zucchini to create your zucchini noodles just using tools you already have in your kitchen!
Use a Vegetable Peeler:
- Take your peeler and apply light pressure along the sides of the zucchini. You should end up with some wide, thin slices, reminiscent of fettucini noodles!
Use a Knife:
- Cut thin coin shapes, like your traditional cucumber slices
- Your second option for using a knife is to carefully carve out some thing strips. Again, avoid the center core with all of the seeds. These zoodles will be a bit thicker than the other options and may need to cook for 1 additional minute in the frying pan.
Use a Cheese Grater:
- Use the largest hole on the box and grate your zucchini. These zoodles will be a bit more rice-like in size.
How to keep your zucchini noodles (zoodles) from getting mushy:
One of the problems with zucchini is that it has a lot of water in it! To keep your from getting mushy, you'll want to remove as much water as possible and make sure you're not overcooking your zucchini.
Removing water from zucchini noodles
First, you'll start by salting your zucchini noodles or "zoodles." Salt helps draw the water out of the zucchini. I let mine sit in a colander either in the sink or in a large bowl to catch the water that drains out.
After this step, you're going to go one step further--place your zoodles in either several layers of paper towels or a clean dishcloth and SQUEEZE! Remember, you are trying to remove as much water as possible from the zucchini.
Cooking your zoodles
After you've removed the water from your zucchini it's time to cook it up! Simply sautรฉ it in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil for about 2-3 minutes. It does not take long at all for the zucchini to soften. You want your zucchini to soften a little bit but to still be firm and have some body to it. Because we DO NOT want mushy zucchini in our zucchini noodle pasta with yogurt herb sauce.
Can I substitute dried herbs for fresh?
Of course! I always say, fresh is best and I much prefer to the taste of fresh herbs to dried. But sometimes you don't have time to go buy the fresh herbs or the grocery store is out of fresh basil, or maybe the frost got the best of your herb garden. Life happens. Either way this creamy yogurt herb sauce is delicious!
Dried herbs are more potent than fresh herbs, so when substituting fresh for dried herbs you typically want to divide the amount of fresh herbs required by 3.
For example, let's do a little math:
This recipe calls for ยผ cup of chopped fresh basil, so you would want to use 4 teaspoons of dried basil. If this seems confusing remember that:
ยผ cup = 4 tablespoons
1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons
So, ยผ cup = 12 teaspoons
Then, if we're going off our ratio rule: 12/3 = 4 teaspoons
Make sense?
After you've made your zoodles and pasta the yogurt herb sauce whips up in no time at all! Simply toss the pasta and zucchini noodles with the yogurt herb sauce, cherry tomatoes, and top it all off with a little extra feta and parmesan your zucchini noodle pasta with yogurt herb sauce is complete!
Should I serve this zucchini noodle pasta warm or cold?
It is totally up to you! I slightly preferredย my zucchini noodle pasta with yogurt herb sauce warm, but my husband loved it cold!
Enjoy!
Alyssa
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Zucchini Pasta w/ Creamy Yogurt Herb Sauce
Ingredients
- ยฝ pound spaghetti cooked al dente
- 1 medium zucchini spiralized (about 1 lb zucchini)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
Garlic Herb Yogurt Sauce:
- ยฝ cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- juice of ยฝ lemon about 2 tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ยผ cup roughly chopped fresh basil
- 2-3 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
- salt and pepper to taste I like about ยพ teaspoon salt, ยผ teaspoon black pepper
- ยผ cup grated parmesan plus extra for topping
- ยผ cup crumbled feta plus extra for topping
Instructions
- Take your spiralized zucchini and toss it with 1 teaspoon of salt. Let sit in a strainer for 10-15 minutes. After 10-15 minutes, place the zucchini in several paper towels layered together or in a clean dishcloth and squeeze out all the extra water.
- Sautรฉ spiralized zucchini in a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 2-3 minutes until the zucchini is heated and softened slightly. You want it to be firm but tender, not mushy.
- While your zucchini is draining in the colander bring your water to a boil and cook your spaghetti noodles until al dente. Drain off pasta water and toss pasta and zucchini together.
- Mix together all ingredients for garlic herb yogurt sauce until smooth. Toss zucchini and pasta with yogurt sauce and cherry tomatoes. Top with a little extra feta and Parmesan. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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