Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles and Tomatoes is a light and tasty vegetarian dinner or family-friendly side dish ready in less than 20 minutes! In this zucchini noodles recipe, tomatoes and zoodles are coated in a healthy, light olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan sauce. This easy one pot recipe is perfect served alone or with baked meatballs or breaded fish.
Garlic Parmesan Zoodles
This healthy parmesan zucchini noodles recipe (zoodles!) is full of simple and nutritious ingredients. Plus it’s ready in barely 20 minutes! How’s that for a quick dinner on a busy night??
I use frozen zucchini nests to avoid slicing the zucchini and only 4 other whole, simple ingredients: garlic, cherry tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and basil.
Zucchini seems to be all the rage right now, so I bought these frozen zucchini nests from Sam's Club as an alternative to pasta, which we eat way more than we should. 😊
The best part about these delicious zoodles is that you can serve it alone if you're a vegetarian (or if you're not, but are going meatless for the night). Or, you can serve it with simple baked turkey meatballs or this crispy baked breaded Italian fish.
Zucchini noodles have 90% less calories than regular old pasta noodles and are gluten free and vegan. And I am really, really trying to lose some of this quarantine weight by eating healthier, so a zucchini noodles recipe this week kick started healthier habits in my house!
This recipe for zucchini noodles is a one-pot, 20-minute, 4 step dinner that I hope you'll love!
Tips to Prevent Soggy Zucchini Noodles
For the average cook it's really difficult to saute or bake or stir fry crispy zucchini. I've tried many recipes and most turn out with mushy, soggy zucchini, even when the recipe states otherwise. Zucchini has a high water content, so it's very hard to get that crispy texture.
Baking or dehydrating zucchini chips are one of the only ways I have successfully cooked a crunchy, crispy zucchini! Until now!
Here are a few tips to making your garlic parmesan zucchini noodles stay as crisp as possible:
- Season with salt after the zucchini noodles are done cooking, not during. Salt draws moisture out of the zucchini and causes it to break down. Adding salt in the beginning will give you soggy zucchini.
- Cook the zucchini only for the amount of time it needs, never more. The longer you cook it, the more "crispness" it will lose. I cook frozen zucchini just until it's warmed through.
- Add the butter to individual servings when ready to eat, not the pan full of zucchini noodles. This will help ensure the noodles don't sit in the butter for too long and soak it up, leading to sogginess.
- Saute the tomatoes and garlic in just enough oil to coat them. As with the butter, you don't want zoodles sitting in oil for too long.
If you follow these tips, you are more likely to end up with crunchy garlic parmesan zucchini noodles!
Ingredients in Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles Recipe
For this zoodles recipe, you need:
- zucchini noodles
- grape or cherry tomatoes
- garlic
- fresh basil leaves
- freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (use grated Parm if that's all you have)
- butter
The easiest way to make this is with frozen or fresh zucchini noodles, but you can certainly make your own zucchini noodles if that's your preference.
And while fresh shredded Parmesan cheese will give this recipe the best flavor, grated Parmesan works too if that's easiest.
And the goal with this zucchini noodles recipe is to keep it as simple as possible!
How to make Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles
This incredibly easy recipe is made in these 4 easy steps:
- Saute the cherry tomatoes in a little olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Add frozen zucchini noodles and cook 3 minutes. Flip and cook 3 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Add Parmesan cheese and basil leaves and stir to coat the noodles with the cheese.
Transfer your garlic parmesan zoodles to individual bowls and add 1 tablespoon of butter to each. Stir to melt the butter, top with more cheese if desired, and enjoy!
Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles and Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen zucchini noodles
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup basil leaves
- 4 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Saute the cherry tomatoes in a little olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Add frozen zucchini noodles and cook 3 minutes. Flip and cook 3 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. Add Parmesan cheese and basil leaves.
- Transfer to 4 individual serving bowls. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to each.
Notes
Nutrition
Storing Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles
Store garlic parmesan zoodles in the fridge for up to 2 days. They will stay firm as long as you haven't yet mixed in the butter.
I hope you've enjoyed this recipe for delicious garlic parmesan zucchini noodles!
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TheKingsHand1987
This looks amazing! I am a gamer friend of your husband's and an avid cook myself. I am really excited to try these noodles as I'm always on the look out for new recipes!