The spaghetti substitute

Zoodles, short for zucchini noodles, is a good low-carb substitute for spaghetti, or the noodles in Asian cooking. There are a few ways to make them: with a spiralizer (the easy way), a mandoline (quick and dangerous), or a julienne peeler (the never-ending way). You can also use a grater, but be careful not to peel off the side of your hand.

Zucchini is an excellent low-carb vegetable at four grams of carbs per hundred grams. One medium zucchini weighs about three-hundred grams and makes a decent serving of noodles for one.

The trick to avoiding soggy zoodles is to salt and leave on kitchen towels for 15-20 minutes before squeezing out any excess water. Zucchini is ninety-five percent water, so expect your noodles to shrink by quite a bit during this process.

How to cook your zoodles depends on what you’re eating them with. I like them raw straight from the grater when I make a Vietnamese shrimp salad. They’re good at absorbing oils and sauces, so a quick way to get some nice flavor in them is to toss them in a hot pan with a bit of garlic sautéed in olive oil. You can also oven-bake them on a sheet of baking paper for twenty minutes on low heat.

In essence, anything goes with zoodles. They’re easy to make and delicious.