How to make zucchini noodles pasta with pesto and grilled corn in under 30 minutes? Just follow my easy recipe, watch the short video I made for you, and you’re all set. Make zucchini noodles pasta like a pro.
Hey Pasta lovers,
Today is all about you and your favorite ingredient. Heck, we can call it a pasta day because… well, just because. We don’t need any other reason, do we?
But today we’ll add something to our beloved pasta that will make it crazy delish.Can you guess what?
Zucchini, of course, it’s in the title :))
Now I am sure you know lots of zucchini recipes, but what everybody is crazy about these days it’s zucchini noodles.
Ever since the spiralizer made it so easy to make noodles out of zucchini we simply can’t keep our forks away from them, can’t we?
And I see a lot of questions related to zucchini noodles. Some of you want to know how to make zucchini pasta, while others would like to know how to make zucchini noodles without a spiralizer.
Well, stick around for a few minutes and I’ll answer both. These are the most common questions, but if you want to know more about zucchini noodles, don’t be shy. Just pop a comment below, or on Facebook, and I’m happy to help.
Before showing you how to make zucchini noodles pasta, I would like to give you a few tips before cooking this delish.
I will assume that you own a spiralizer, but if you don’t, I will tell you in a minute how to make zucchini noodles without a spiralizer.
How to cook zucchini noodles. Best Tips
- I like them raw but if you want to cook the zucchini you can stir-fry them to al dente (not longer than 2 minutes). This way they will keep their crunchy texture. If overcooked, the zucchini noodles will dry out and become mushy.
- Don’t peel the zucchini before spiralizing. I know most people tend to do that, but it’s actually the skin that keeps their crunchy texture after cooking, and it’s full of nutrients too.
- You shouldn’t salt the zucchini before spiralizing or while they cook. The salt will soak all their moisture out and they will come out soggy.
- Don’t use overripe or underripe zucchini. When buying them try to pick firm, ripe zucchini.
Now that you know how to cook zucchini noodles, I would like to answer one question that I see very often.
How to make zucchini noodles
- The first method is with a spiralizer. This is the quickest and in my opinion, the best way to make zucchini noodles. You just need to pop the zucchini into a spiralizer and roll the lever. It literally takes just a few minutes. Â I am sure you can find good, decent priced spiralizers on Amazon.
- The second way to make zucchini noodles is with the help of mandoline slicers. Most of them will do the job but just to be sure, ask before purchasing.
- Another way is with a veggie peeler, but the standard ones will not make them as thin as the spiralizer.
- And the last one and probably the cheapest tool to make zucchini noodles is the good old Julienne peeler.
Again, all these tools will do the job, but the spiralizer is definitely the quickest.
Besides zucchini, I added a few more ingredients that made this pasta recipe amazing. One of them is my favorite sauce in the whole world, pesto. You probably know this by now but I use lots of pesto in all my dishes. I love it because it’s rich in flavor and so easy to make.
Pasta Recipes that you might like:
I dropped the pesto ingredients and instructions in the recipe below, but you might want to watch this video to see how its made.
The great thing about this sauce is that you can use it with so many dishes like the BLT sandwich or with Hummus
And finally, I crowned this zucchini noodles pasta recipe with grilled corn. Mmm, such a delish. You can’t get anything better than this 🙂
Keep in mind that the zucchini noodles pasta recipe is versatile. This means that you can take out or add ingredients to your taste. For instance, vegans can leave the pasta and parmesan out and eat just the zucchini noodles. Or if you’re not a pesto fan, then you can swap it with your favorite sauce.
If you are unsure about the changes you can make just ask me. I like helping fellow foodies.
Now let’s get cooking, shall we?
Zucchini Noodles Pasta Recipe with Pesto and Grilled Corn
Ingredients
- 2-3 zucchini
- 2 cups (250g) pasta
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 avocado - ripe
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- a small bunch of fresh basil
- 1 jalapeño - seeded
- 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil - extra virgin
- 1/3 cup (30g) grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup (35g) pine nuts - toasted or raw
- salt and pepper - to your taste
- 2 sweet corn on cobs
- 1 cup (150g) mixed cherry tomatoes - cut into halves
Instructions
- Make zucchini pasta using a spiralizer
- Cook the pasta al dente, according to the directions on the package.
- In a food processor, combine garlic, avocado, lemon juice, pine nuts, basil, parmesan, jalapeño and olive oil. Blend until you have a smooth pesto sauce. Season with salt & pepper to your taste.
- Heat a large cast iron grill over medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. Once hot, add the corn and grill for about 10 minutes, turning it each 2-3 minutes until lightly charred on all sides. Cut the corn from the cob and set aside.
- Place pasta and zucchini noodles in a large bowl. Pour the avocado pesto sauce over then toss well to combine.
- Top the pasta with the grilled corn, tomatoes, and pine nuts. You can grate extra parmesan on top of the zucchini pasta if you like it!
Nutrition
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