I’m always on the lookout for good things to replace pasta in my diet, and that is how I discovered zucchini noodles. They are pretty easy to make, low in calories, and go well in creamy dishes like stroganoff or pasta primavera. You can also just have them with some butter and seasonings as a vegetable side.

Ingredients:

2 medium zucchini

Slice the ends off the zucchini, and then slice them in half lengthwise.

You will use a vegetable peeler to peel off strips to make the noodles. Imagine that the zucchini is a very tall and skinny cake and you are cutting off long and narrow slices by holding the peeler at an angle. The first few strips off the sides will be narrow, but after that the strips will be wider and more noodle-like.

Peel some strips off each side, and then make as many noodles as you can until you can’t safely peel any more while holding it in your hand. At that point, you can place the remaining piece flat on a cutting board and just peel along the top until you’ve peeled the whole thing. Repeat with all four halves of zucchini.

Before steaming.

Steam the noodles in the microwave for about 3 minutes. Since zucchini cooks pretty fast, and these are very thin strips, be careful not to overcook them because you can end up with mush. If you leave them to sit too long in the steamer, they will continue to cook, so be careful of that as well.

After steaming.

If you want to use these in place of pasta in a dish, prepare the sauce first and then add it to the noodles before serving. Avoid a lot of vigorous stirring as these aren’t as sturdy as wheat noodles.

If you want to make these into a side dish of their own, steam them for only 2 minutes, and then saute them with a little butter and seasoning on the stove top for a few more minutes.