Food trend alert! I can’t help but share my love for the spiralizing craze. Zucchini noodles in particular (or zoodles) have become an almost weekly part of our rotating menu. I think I am drawn to them because they are so neutral, but flavorful and lend themselves well to different recipes – plus they are so quick to make!
Let’s take a step back. I am talking about making noodles out of vegetables, so for example we are now eating spaghetti and meatballs sans the traditional spaghetti. Not only is this a grain-free, low-carb alternative to pasta, but it is delicious. All you really need is either a mandolin or a spiralizer of some type. You can go Veggetti, Spiralizer, or use a Kitchen Aide attachment (my new found love). All of these will make beautiful noodles and they are available in a wide price range.
With this tool in hand lots of recipes are possible, but today we have a very simple baked meatball recipe served over some lightly season zucchini noodles. I got to do some extra testing with this recipe by making it for a cooking class that I teach once a month at a local diabetes education center. It is part of a series of classes offered by the hospital and anyone is welcome.
It was a great experience to get some in-person feedback from the participants on this recipe. My favorite parts of these classes are the suggestions, questions, and general conversation about nutrition and meal planning. It is a great part of my job and I love all the enthusiasm the participants bring. Even though I was a little embarrassed that I under-estimated the oven quality in our classroom and everyone had to wait for the meatballs a little longer than expected, they were patient and thankfully were not disappointed!
I am truly grateful to get to spend some evenings with people that are motivated to learn new things about food and nutrition, and also are looking to incorporate healthier cooking or just cook with more balance.
Some additional information from the class questions include:
- What gives this recipe so much potassium? The zucchinis – they have about 324mg of potassium per ½ cup chopped.
- Can you make the noodles ahead of time? Yes – you can spiralizer the noodles in advance, keep them raw and store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 – 4 days. Some water may build up, so just pat dry before cooking.
- Can you add marinara sauce to this recipe? Yes, any add pasta sauce you like. You don’t need much as with traditional pasta because the zucchini will release some water.
- Can you freeze the zucchini? Not ideal – zucchini has too much water content to be frozen raw, so it gets really mushy when you thaw it. If you blanch chopped zucchini (about 30 seconds in boiling water), don’t add salt, shock in ice water to stop the cooking, then drain and freeze – this will work better for when you have a lot of zucchini that you don’t want to go to waste.
Baked Turkey Meatballs with Zoodles
Ingredients
- ½ cup of rolled oats
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoons salt
- ½ tablespoon pepper
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 5 medium zucchini
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees
- In a food processor add rolled oats and pulse until becomes coarsely ground.
- Add onion, parsley and garlic to food processor and pulse until appears like a crumb.
- Last add the egg, milk, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons grated cheese and pulse again until combine.
- Add the mixture from the food processor into a large bowl, add the ground turkey and mix until just combine, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes.
- While the meatballs are resting spiralizer your zucchini and set aside.
- Remove the ground meat mixture from fridge and on 2 prepared baking sheets scoop out meatballs about a tablespoon each and place on baking sheet 1 inch apart. (Mine came out to be ~26 meatballs).
- Place in oven and cook at 350F degrees for 20-25 minutes or until done.
- Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in pan and add zucchini noodles, season with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes (optional), to just lightly soften the noodles, about 2-3 minutes. Once meatballs are ready, add to pan with noodles and stir lightly, add remaining cheese, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size295g
Servings
6
Amount Per Serving
Calories 364
Calories from Fat 217
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 24g
37%
Saturated Fat 6g
28%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 5g
Monounsaturated Fat 12g
Cholesterol 114mg
38%
Sodium 548mg
23%
Total Carbohydrates 13g
4%
Dietary Fiber 3g
11%
Sugars 5g
Protein 26g
Vitamin A
12%
Vitamin C
55%
Calcium
13%
Iron
16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.