Zucchini pasta -or zoodles- is a light, easy, and versatile dish. A good pasta recipe needs a tasty sauce and some protein-based ingredients too. My friend Rocío Isabel cooked with me this delicious vegetarian recipe.
Rocío has been a hair and beauty blogger for several years now, and I love to try creative and healthy recipes. That’s why we created this recipe focusing on a healthy and nutritious meal.
Almost all ingredients in this recipe are packed with nutrients and benefits, with a relatively low calories count. But, as important as healthy recipes are, it’s delicious!
Is Zucchini Pasta Healthy?
Basically, zoodles are thinly sliced sauteed zucchinis. Being so simple, you might think that they need many more ingredients to create a nutritious recipe. But, I found that zucchinis alone have many benefits.
According to Healthline, zucchini has a dozen of health and nutrition benefits as a nutrient and antioxidants source. Moreover, it helps to low sugar levels, improves heart health, and digestion among other positive impacts on our health.
Additionally, zucchini pasta accommodates perfectly for gluten-free and low-carb diets. Personally, I like its versatility -it soaks with taste. Furthermore, as much as I like traditional fresh pasta, I prefer zoodles when the heat is up! 🥵
Another good thing about zoodles is that they’re very easy to make. Some like to get a Spiralizer to make zoodles, which is very convenient. However, we used a julienne peeler and worked just fine.
Meatless meatballs make sense
I know it sounds a little absurd, but sometimes we just need to play along and enjoy. Sometimes is easier to use existing words than to create new names.
Words could be more accurate, but life would be more complicated. And who needs that?
Arguments aside, these meatless meatballs recipe is so yummy that sometimes you might prefer them to regular meatballs. They don’t taste like meat, but they’re tasty, hearty, healthy, and are perfect with zoodles.
These vegetarian meatballs bring contrast and enrich the taste, visuals, and textures of this dish. They transform a simple dish into an enjoyable one.
Kale and spinach in a pesto sauce?
We had to break another rule of pasta recipes. Our pesto was a concoction of super ingredients, instead of the traditional genovese one. We were already making pasta without pasta and meatballs without meat, so pesto was our next victim.
Traditionally, the pesto base is basil alone. However, I like to add kale because it’s packed with nutrients and offers a lot of benefits. Yet, as pesto originally meant something like “crushed” or “ground”, we aren’t too guilty of taking a wildly unconventional turn for this sauce recipe.
We added spinach too, which offers more taste and nutrients too. You won’t believe the beautiful color of this pesto, along with its rich taste and texture. Using cottage cheese helps to bring some creaminess, with a lower calorie count. Almonds are a great source of healthy fats, fiber, protein, magnesium, and vitamin E.
Without further ado, I am sharing the full recipe below. There you will find the ingredients and a step-by-step guide to cooking it at home.
Zucchini Pasta and Vegetarian Meatballs
Equipment
- Julienne peeler or a Spiralizer
Ingredients
- 2 large zucchini (or three medium-sized ones)
Veggie meatballs
- 3 cups 3 cups of rolled oats
- 1 cup 1 cup sundried tomatoes
- 15 oz of black beans (1 can)
- 1 tbsp of coconut oil, melted
- ½ red onion, caramelized
- 1 cup of mushrooms, caramelized
- Cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and salt to taste
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
Pesto
- ½ cup ½ cup of almonds
- 1 cup 1 cup of spinach
- 1 cup 1 cup of kale
- 1 cup 1 cup of fresh basil
- ½ cup ½ cup of olive oil
- ½ cup ½ cup of cottage cheese
- 4 garlic cloves
Instructions
Vegetarian Meatballs
- Let's start with the meatless meatballs!
- Blend rolled oats and sundried tomatoes until they turn into a flour-like powder.
- Put melted coconut oil, caramelized red onions, and mushrooms in the blender.
- Season with cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and salt. Finally, add the black beans and the egg, and blend until you get a puree-like consistency.
- Transfer the puree to a bowl and mix it with the dry ingredients. You will get a dough-like mix.
- Shape the meatless meatballs with your hands and place them in a side dish.
- Cook your vegetarian meatballs with a bit of olive oil on a hot pan for a couple of minutes.
Pesto
- Now let's make pesto!
- Put in a blender oil, lemon, almonds, spinach, kale, basil, and garlic. Blend them until they are well-processed. If all the ingredients don't fit at once, don't worry. Add half of the ingredients first and blend them. Once you have more room, add the rest.
- When you have a beautiful, bright sauce, add the cottage cheese for an extra-creamy texture. Blend thoroughly until the cheese is well incorporated into the mix.
- We put the pesto into a squeeze bottle to use our sauce creatively.
Zucchini pasta and serving
- Now, let's make the zucchini pasta.
- Use a spiralizer or a julienne peeler to make your raw zucchini pasta. Then, cook it with olive oil in a pan for a couple of minutes.
- Finally, let's build our zucchini pasta with pesto and meatless meatballs dish.
- Serve the zucchini pasta first, and place the vegetarian meatballs accordingly. Then, optionally you can add some grilled cherry tomatoes.
- Add the pesto, drawing some lines with your squeeze bottle if you like.
- And enjoy!
Video
Notes
If you liked this zucchini pasta recipe with pesto and vegetarian meatballs, you might like some of my other recipes too. You can check them here.
And remember, if you try this recipe and want to share your pictures, remember to tag me @lacooquette on Instagram. I’d love to share your pictures on my IG stories.
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