If you want to make zucchini noodles at home, follow this step-by-step process! I’m sharing all my tips for how to avoid watery zucchini noodles so you get perfectly cooked zoodles every time!
It’s no secret I love my spiralizer. While I’d never give up pasta forever, zucchini noodles are a nice way to get in some extra veggies. While I love eating this spaghetti swap, I wanted a zucchini noodle recipe that wouldn’t be so soggy. So I’m sharing a delicious zucchini noodle recipe and my tips for avoiding watering zucchini noodles.
If you love adding more veggies to your plate, but you want to figure out how to avoid watery noodles, you’ve come to the right place!
Here are my tips to avoid soggy zucchini noodles:
- Don’t overcook the noodles, otherwise, they’ll get soggy. I like mine to have a slight crunch, sort of like al dente pasta.
- After spiralizing your zucchini noodles, sprinkle with a bit of salt and let them sit in a colander for 10 minutes. It’ll help get rid of some of the excess moisture. If I’m short on time, I’ll skip this step but it does seem to help! After resting, pat them down with paper towels.
- Get rid of the “seedy” noodles. These strands come from the very center of the zucchini and they have a high water content, which can make the rest of your strands soggy.
- Use smaller zucchini which are firmer and have fewer seeds. Larger zucchini have a higher water content so they’re more likely to be watery.
- Roast your tomatoes long enough to remove the moisture. Again, if you’re short on time you could skip this step and use jarred sun-dried tomatoes. Just make sure you’re getting rid of the moisture from the tomatoes so they don’t make your final dish too wet.
How to Make Cheesy Zucchini Noodles
One cause of soggy zucchini noodles is the tomato sauce. All that liquid combined with the moisture in the zucchini noodles means you end up with a bit of a soup on your plate. Of course, I couldn’t give up tomatoes entirely. So I decided to roast them in the oven for maximum flavor without extra moisture being added to the dish.
Side note: how cool is this colander? It hooks in the corner of the sink! Alex got it for me for Valentine’s Day! The man knows how much I adore kitchen accessories. It’s perfect for draining my zucchini noodles so I can still use the sink.
Once the zucchini noodles have drained for a few minutes, saute them for just a minute or two. Be sure not to overcook them!
When the zucchini noodles have just started to soften, I drain any moisture in the pan, then toss them with the cheese.
Once the noodles are coated in cheese, I add the tomatoes and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Dinner is served! This recipe turned out so well- it might be my new favorite way to eat zucchini noodles!
I like to shred my cheese with a microplane so it’s super fine and it coats the noodles evenly. Try one like this!
How do you keep frozen zoodles from getting soggy?
How do you keep zoodles moist?
Once you squeeze some of the moisture from the zoodles, line a plate or bowl with a couple layers of fresh paper towels. Then add the zoodles to the paper towel lined dish. You’ll also want to cover the zoodles with paper towels.
What is the best way of handling drooling?
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How do you cook zoodles after spiralizing?
Pat zoodles dry with paper towels after spiralizing them. In fact, this is a good idea as a starting point no matter how you’ll be cooking them afterward. Use a heavy pan over medium-high heat. High, even heat will encourage evaporation and reduce the chance of water remaining. Cast iron or hard anodized steel pans work great.
How do you drain zoodles after spiralizing?
If salt and paper towels don’t do it for you, loading your zoodles in a salad spinner (you can’t go wrong with this one) after spiralizing is also a great way to drain them. Let them sit for 20 minutes or so, or until you see a decent-sized pool of water in the bottom bowl. Give them a quick, gentle spin, and dump out the excess water.