Zucchini noodles with pesto are delicious low carb keto pesto pasta made of spiralized zucchini and cooked in a creamy almond milk pesto sauce. Also, this zucchini noodle recipe is vegan and gluten free also known as vegan zoodle recipe
What are zucchini noodles?
Zucchini noodles also known as zucchini zoodles are vegetable pasta made of raw zucchini using a vegetable spiralizer . Zucchini noodles have the same consistency as real pasta without the carbs or calories. It is an healthy way to enjoy a pasta dish without the carbs, calories or fat of wheat pasta. In fact, zucchini contains only 17 kcal and 2 grams of net carbs per 100 grams. As a result, they are the perfect vegetable to create pasta-like dish on a low carb keto diet.
An easy keto vegan zoodle recipe
This zucchini noodle recipe use Parmesan cheese. It should be noted that vegan Parmesan or nutritional yeast works very well for a vegan zoodle recipe. Therefore, this recipe is a tasty keto vegan meal made with only 6 ingredients.
- Zucchini, it is up to you to peel the zucchini or not. Keeping the zucchini skin adds fiber and nutrient to your dish
- Olive oil or an other healthy oil like avocado oil, almond oil
- Sunflower seeds or pine nuts if you prefer to make a regular pesto recipe, both contains the same amount of net carbs
- Parmesan or vegan Parmesan
- Unsweetened almond milk, this is the magic ingredient to create a really creamy sauce without adding carbs or calories. I love to use Almond Breeze has it is low in flavor and contains few carbs.
- Garlic cloves
- Salt
How to cook zucchini noodles with pesto?
The best way to cook zucchini noodles is in a lightly oiled frying pan. First, stir fry your noodles for 5 minutes to give them a little crisp and soften the center slightly. Then, add your pesto and combine evenly. Finally, pour a splash of unsweetened almond milk to create a creamy pesto sauce. Obviously it is recommended to not cook them for more than 10 minutes in total or they will get really soft and lose their pasta texture.
How to make veggie noodles without a spiralizer ?
If you don’t have a veggie spiralizer you can simply make noodles with a veggie peeler. Peel thin ribbon from the zucchini, then slice thin strips on each ribbon. This is time consuming and it doesn’t make round noodles. However it is a cheap option to make keto noodles without fancy tools. Enjoy this pasta recipe and leave me comment if you love it !
More keto zucchini recipes
If you love zucchini, I recommend you try those keto zucchini recipe too.
- Crustless zucchini Quiche with pesto
- Keto chocolate Zucchini bread for the sweet tooth
xoxo Carine
Zucchini noodles with pesto
Ingredients
- 4 zucchini, ends removed (400 g)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil to stir fry the noodles
Sunflower seed pesto sauce
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds (50g)
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves (30 g)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt -adjust regarding taste
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or vegan Parmesan or nutritional yeast
For the sauce
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Cut out the ends off the zucchini.
- Place the zucchini on your spiralizer. If the length of your zucchini doesn't fit the spiralizer, cut the zucchini in half and spiralize half piece at a time.
- Turn the spiralizer to create zucchini noodles. Make sure you center the zucchini onto the spiralizer and that you firmly press the zucchini onto the blade while you turn. This will create long zucchini noddles and avoid short curly pieces.
- Set aside on a plate while you are making the sunflower seed pesto.
Sunflower seed pesto
- Heat a small frying pan under medium heat. Add the sunflower seeds and toast them for 2 or 3 minutes until fragrant.
- Transfer the toasted seeds into a food processor along with all the rest of the pesto ingredients: basil leaves, olive oil, garlic clove, salt and grated Parmesan (use vegan Parmesan or nutritional yeast if dairy-free)
- Process until it forms a smooth pesto spread, it should not take more than 1 minute. If needed, stop the food processor, scrap down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and process again until it forms a consistent spread.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan on low-medium heat. Add the zucchini noodles and toss for 2-5 minutes, stirring often with a pasta tong to warm the noodles evenly. Note that the longer you cook them the softer they become. For aldente crunchy zucchini noodles, stop after 2 minutes. I recommend you taste the noodles and adjust time regarding your palate.
- Stir in the homemade sunflower seed pesto and add the unsweetened almond milk to create a sauce.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes until the sauce is hot, thick and form bubbles on the side of the pan. Feel free to add more unsweetened almond milk to create a thinner sauce. Don't cook more than 8 minutes in total to avoid the zucchini noodles to soften too much.
- Serve with extra grated Parmesan.
Storage and freezing
- Store in the fridge in airtight container up to 3 days or freeze. Defrost the day before in the fridge.
- Rewarm in a saucepan under medium heat or microwave for 2-3 minutes.
This recipe is sponsored by Almond Breeze Made from the best California Almonds and I received a compensation to develop this recipe but note that I only recommend product I love and trust on this blog. Thank you.
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Leave a comment
Thank you Carine, this turned out to be very tasty! I will make it again. I fried the zucchini noodles in coconut oil, not in olive oil, just because I like the smell of coconut oil. This added an extra bit to the dish, I should say. I also added some sprouts on top of the ready meal, which looked very healthy. Pesto turned out to be better than I expected, considering I put it in the blender and not in the food processor, just required more liquid, so I added more olive oil. A bit fatty in the end, but it is good fat, so bring it in 🙂 Thank you!
I love frying those noodles in coconut oil too! Thanks so much for trying my recipes. I am glad you are here with me. XOXO Carine