Peanut Butter Zucchini Noodle Dish

Try this delicious and quick peanut butter zucchini noodle dish. It is fantastic hot or cold and can be made less than 30 minutes. You can use different vegetables to make it your own!

Pasta and noodles are comfort foods that complement everything in the food pyramid. And every ethnic dish uses some sort of form of pasta noodle as a staple. As a result, I was on a quest to find an alternatives to carbohydrate-rich pasta to reduce the carbohydrate load while still enjoying my favorite dishes. This is when I discovered – spiraled zucchini noodle.

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What is Spiraled Zucchini?

To turn vegetables easily into noodles, you can spiral them. There are several types of spiral cutters on the market. In the beginning, I ended up buying something simple and small in case I would never use it again. I recommend starting small unless you know for sure you are going to spiral your heart’s content. I recommend the below especially if you have limited storage space. There are other models on the market that capture the noodles in a container and/or are easier to handle.

You can spiral all types of vegetables including zucchini which is what I will be using to make our peanut butter noodles. For instance, you can use it on carrots, cucumbers and beets. Because of this, your recipe ideas can be endless. For instance, I use spiraled vegetables noodles to spice up salads. Or I even used the vegetable noodles in casseroles and frittatas. There are so many uses for them, you will not regret investing in a small spiralizer.

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Recommended Utensils & Equipment

• Spiralizer
• Cutting Knives
• Cutting Board
• Colander
• Cooking Pan
• Immersion Blender
• Kitchen Scissors

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Peanut Butter Zucchini Noodle Recipe Tips

Making the Zucchini Noodles

• As mentioned, you can make zucchini noodles using a spiralizer. When making noodles, you may want to snip during the spiraling. Otherwise, you will have a mound of the longest zucchini noodle ever. I found it challenging to portion it out to my family when it is one big noodle! Or you can spiral the zucchini all at once and then snip a couple sections of the zucchini in the bowl using kitchen scissors.
• When using high moisture vegetable such as zucchini, I highly recommend drawing the water out before using the noodles in the recipe. There are a couple of ways you can do this. You can use the salt/sit or the saute method. I prefer the salt and sit method since it gives a firmer texture in the end product. If you choose to not dry your zucchini out, the zucchini will leech its water content into your dish which will dilute your sauce and flavor. It will not be as flavorful.

The Salt and Sit Method of Drying out Zucchini

Place your spiraled zucchini in a colander and place this either over the sink or on top of a plate to catch the water. Add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the spiraled zucchini noodles. Massage the salt into the zucchini until they are all covered. Then set aside for about 10 minutes. You will notice at the end of the 10 minutes, there will be a pool of water under the zucchini noodles that drained away. Briefly rinse the salt off the zucchini and they are ready to be used. While your zucchini is sitting, you can mix up the rest of the recipe so you lose no time.

The Saute Method of Drying out Zucchini

The other method entails putting the spiraled zucchini in a frying pan that has about a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Cook the zucchini for about 5-8 minutes until you see the water leech out and evaporate off. Then sit the zucchini aside for later.

Making the Peanut Butter Sauce

I recommend using an immersion blender to puree the sauce. I ended up reluctantly buying one and then soon realized I use it for many recipes like pasta sauces and vegetable soups. It is a life saver! In some instances, it can replace a blender or food processor. As a result, you save space storing it.

Thickening the Sauce

• I recommend adding a small amount of corn starch to thicken up the sauce and create cling to the vegetables. Remember to add the corn starch to the sauce mixture before heating and cooking. Adding any type of food starch after the sauce is heated will create “fish eyes” or “clumping”. Your sauce will be thin with chewy balls of starch.
• If you started cooking and forgot the starch. You can add the food starch to about a quarter to half cup of water. Mix the starch around so it doesn’t settle in the water. And then slowly add the starch water slurry to the sauce while stirring the sauce quickly. You may need to cook longer to evaporate the water you added. Otherwise the extra water will dilute your flavors.

Vegetables to Use

• You can used a variety of vegetables in this dish like asparagus, green, yellow or red peppers, mushrooms, carrots, etc. The key here is to add up to 2 1/2 cups of vegetables split among the variety you choose. Adding more will overload your dish. If you decide not to add a protein source like tofu, then you can substitute the tofu amount with vegetables.
• You will add these vegetables first into the heated sauce and cook before adding the zucchini. The zucchini will be the last thing you add to the recipe. This preserves the tender bite that most resembles noodles. If you want more crunch to your dish, I recommend adding chopped water chestnuts, jicama or carrots.

Garnishing the Dish

There are several options when garnishing this dish. I recommend crushed peanuts and chopped green onion. However you can also garnish with sesame seeds, grated carrot or even chopped cilantro.

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Other Zucchini Recipes

Spiraled Zucchini & Farro Salad

Benefits of Peanut Butter Zucchini Noodles

• Quick and easy to make recipe
• Lower in calories due to the zucchini noodle
• Served hot or cold for winter or summer months
• Tasty and flavorful
• Uses a variety of vegetables