Zucchini noodles covered in a thick and hearty tomato-based pasta sauce full of bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Add in ground beef or your favourite meat (turkey or chicken anyone?) for a delicious sauce for pasta or veggie noodles!

What I love about this meal is how nutrient-dense it is! This is one of our favourite meals to have on hand. It’s relatively easy to make, but there are a few steps to the process. Especially if you’re spiralizing the zucchinis yourself, it’s nice to have a second person in the kitchen with you! So why not make this into a date night for you and your partner, kids, or best friend? One person can be the spiralizer, and the other the chopper. There is a lot of vegetable chopping here, but I love it!

Over the years, I have discovered what I love most in my meals – homemade and full of vegetables. I have also learned is that some people are not big fans of said veggies. With that in mind, I’m constantly finding new ways to hide vegetables in dishes, and what I end up with are homemade comfort foods bursting with flavour and colour.

This pasta sauce is loaded with vegetables that are cooked long and slow, seasoned perfectly, and blended into a tomato sauce. With the addition of lean ground beef, it’s way better than any jar of pasta sauce you can buy at the grocery store.

Honestly, some days, I just want to eat the sauce with a spoon. It’s basically a meal in itself!

Let’s Talk Zoodles

For those of you wondering – what the heck are zoodles?? Don’t run away! Zoodles are simply zucchinis turned into a noodle form. A low carb, high nutrient substitution for pasta. Zucchini and cauliflower, I think, are the two most versatile vegetables that can be transformed into a wonderful base for any recipe (keep an eye out for my zucchini lasagna recipe!).

How do we get these beautiful zucchini noodles?

We Spiralize!

Now, the tricky part of cooking with zucchini is getting rid of all that extra moisture! Once you have your beautiful spirals of zucchini, you’re going to set them aside and begin the process. Place your zoodles in either a colander or a paper towel-lined bowl and cover them with salt, mixing them around to evenly distribute. The salt will help pull the water out of the zucchinis and avoid having soggy noodles and watery sauce (science, yo). I prefer using a colander and letting them sit in the sink for about 20 minutes. Then you’re going to grab yourself a cheesecloth or nut milk bag, load up your salty zoodles, and squeeze the ever-loving daylight out of them. Now that the water has been removed, they’re ready to fry!

Side note: When spiralizing the zucchinis, you’ll end up with some extra bits – don’t throw those away! Chop them up and add them into your pot of cooking vegetables. 🙂

Equipment

This recipe has a few components to it, so you will need a handful of kitchen appliances and utensils. Most of this is everyday, basic equipment; some of it, you may have to find on Amazon – but trust me, it’s worth it!

• Spiralizer to make adorable little zucchini noodles
• large mixing bowl/colander/cheesecloth * to strain zoodles
• large frying pan for ground meat
• wok or large frying pan to cook zucchini noodles 
• medium-sized saucepan with lid to make the pasta sauce
• immersion blender **

* If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can squish the zucchini in a colander with a spoon to remove the liquid or use a few paper towels and squeeze between your hands. I did this for a while and it doesn’t remove all of the liquid, so your final product may be a little watery, but that will mix into the sauce and won’t ruin your meal. But I highly recommend cheesecloths! They’re inexpensive and versatile.

** If you don’t have an immersion blender, you have a couple options: 1) make the sauce without blending. It will still be as delicious, just a little chunky (ain’t nothing wrong with that!). Or 2) allow the sauce to cool, and transfer in batches to a stand blender. Try it out either way – let me know how it goes!

Zoodles and Homemade Pasta Sauce

• Author: Coffee & Clementines
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 30
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Meal Prep

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Description

A tasty tomato and ground beef pasta sauce loaded with fresh veggies, over a bed of beautifully spiralized zucchini noodles. A low carb, healthy, nutritious dinner!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 3–4 zucchinis, spiralized 
• 2 tbsp salt
• 4 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 lb lean ground beef 
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire 
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1–2 bell peppers (1 cup diced) 
• 6 white mushrooms (1 cup diced)
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 1.5 cups crushed tomato
• seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic, crushed red pepper, chili powder, paprika, oregano
• fresh grated parmesan to top

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Instructions

1. Spiralize zucchinis and add them to a bowl/colander. Cover zucchini noodles in salt and let sit for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your vegetables.
2. Dice up onions, peppers, and mushrooms. They do not have to be uniform sizes as they’ll be blended down after cooking anyways! 
3. In medium saucepan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Add onion. Sauté for 3 minutes, until translucent and fragrant. Add peppers, mushrooms, and seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic, chili powder, paprika). Stir well and cover – allow vegetables to cook down on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to avoid burning. 
4. Add garlic and spinach to vegetables and heat for one minute. Add crushed tomatoes and oregano. Stir and turn to low heat to simmer. Once the sauce is starting to splatter, remove from heat. Now the fun begins!
5. Grab your immersion blender. You can either blend in the pot, or transfer to a bowl. Blend to your desired consistency. Set aside.
6. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over med-high heat in a large frying pan. Add ground beef. Season with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire. Cook for about 5 minutes until beef is brown. Add a couple tsp of crushed red pepper, and turn to low heat to simmer for one minute. 
7. Add ground beef to the pot of blended sauce. Set aside.
8. Now that our sauce is ready and the zucchinis have marinated, squeeze the ever-loving juiciness out of your zucchini noodles! A lot of liquid will come out. Keep squeezing.
9. Heat a large frying pan or wok with 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat & add zucchini noodles. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until tender to your liking. You can strain the extra juices as they cook, or leave them in your dish. The extra juice will mix into the sauce.
10. Top zoodles with the ground beef sauce, freshly grated parmesan, and black pepper. 

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 6
• Calories: 325
• Sugar: 10g
• Fat: 19g
• Carbohydrates: 13g
• Fiber: 3.5g
• Protein: 25g

Keywords: zoodles, low carb, zucchini noodles, homemade pasta sauce