ZUCCHINI NOODLES + AVOCADO-CUCUMBER SAUCE
Cool and refreshing Creamy Avocado-Cucumber Sauce tossed with spiralized zucchini noodles makes a light and healthy, raw vegan meal!
Raw vegan pasta dishes are always the ones that leave me feeling refreshed and at my best. And they are perfect for the warmer spring and summer months ahead!
You may already be familiar with this Creamy Zucchini Pesto with ‘Noodles’, Spicy Kale Pesto with Zucchini Noodles, and ‘Raw’sta Pasta. And now we have this simple vegan zucchini pasta recipe with a creamy avocado-cucumber sauce. I think you will enjoy fresh dish time and time again!
The recipe is adapted from Feasting at Home. I have added a few extras to the dish, like tomatoes and jalapenos. The puree is a bit different too, as I’ve added cucumber along with the avocado. The cucumber adds a wonderful refreshing twist that I think you’ll just love and is inspired by my Avocado and Cucumber Soup recipe.
Is Zucchini Pasta Healthy?
Yes! Zucchini noodles are strands of zucchini that are cut to resemble the shape of noodles and are a healthy addition to just about any diet. They’re extremely low in calories, low in carbohydrates, gluten-free, quick to make and super easy to use in recipes, replacing regular noodles. The healthy benefits of zucchini pasta includes providing vitamin A, vitamin C, fiber, potassium and antioxidants.
Do You Eat Zucchini Noodles Raw?
Absolutely! Eating zucchini noodles raw is the quickest and easiest way to eat them, but lightly cooked zucchini noodles are delicious too. Zucchini pasta can be eaten cold or warm. When warming zucchini pasta, don’t overcook the noodles. To keep them from becoming soggy, it’s important to cook them al dente. Pairing your zucchini pasta with pesto or avocado sauce is delicious, wether noodles are raw or lightly cooked!
How Do You Make Zucchini Noodles?
You can either julienne the zucchini by using a julienne tool or you can spiralize using a spiralizer (<affiliate links). Both ways are great. The julienne tool is much smaller and will fit nicely in your utensil drawer. The spiralizer on the other hand is a bit larger and cumbersome, but well worth the space as I do use mine fairly often.
How To Make Creamy Avocado-Cucumber Sauce
- Peel the cucumber and slice it into 1 inch chunks.
- Slice the avocado in half, remove the seed and cut into slices.
- Add the avocado, cucumber, garlic, basil, lemon, salt and pepper to a blender or food processor (shown above), and blend until creamy (shown below), stopping every so often to scrape down the sides as needed.
That’s it, this creamy avocado-cucumber sauce is so easy to make!
Avocado cucumber sauce is ultra light, refreshing, and goes perfect with zucchini noodles!
You could also put this sauce on any pasta of choice. But my all time favorite way to eat this is with the zucchini pasta. It’s hands down the best!
If you try this avocado-cucumber recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintZUCCHINI NOODLES + AVOCADO-CUCUMBER SAUCE
When the warmer months are in season this is a perfect dish to keep you refreshed and feeling naturally high on life. Simple, versatile and of course…delicious!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2 - 3 1x
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 large zucchini (1 per person)
- grape, cherry or mini heirloom tomatoes, halved
- jalapeno, thinly sliced and seeds removed (optional)
- arugula (optional)
- pea shoots or micro sprouts (optional)
- zest of one lemon (meyer or regular)
Avocado-Cucumber Puree
- 1 medium avocado
- 1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced thick
- a few large leaves of basil (optional)
- 1 lemon (meyer or regular), juice of
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper or black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
Instructions
Prepare your zucchini noodles julienne style or spiralized. Or alternately, cook your pasta of choice, about 8 ounces.
For the puree, place all ingredients into a food processor/blender and process until creamy, stopping every so often to scrape the sides as needed.. Taste for flavor adding anything extra you might like.
Toss zucchini pasta with avocado-cucumber puree and a handful of arugula or sprouts. Serve with tomatoes, peas shoots, jalapenos, lemon zest, lemon wedges and fresh cracked pepper.
Serves 2
Notes
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT: For making zucchini noodles I recommend using a julienne tool to make straight noodles or you can spiralize using a spiralizer (affiliate links).
This tasted like "spring in a bowl". I admit to serving this over reg pasta. I love zucchini noodles but I didn't want to freak my husband out too much. Next time. Also served it with slight grilled asparagus.
'Spring in a bowl' is a perfect descriptions, even with regular pasta. So glad you loved it! :)
Mine came out too watery/grainy. I'm not sure what we did wrong. It was good though and we will probably try it again.
Hmm, could be the size of your cucumber…try again using 3/4 of the cucumber and add the rest as needed. That might be the trick! Cheers :)
I don't have a julienne tool yet, and it looks very useful. Is there a brand you would recommend?
I aplogize for the late response. A julienne tool is a great kitchen tool that doesn't take up a lot of space. I have one similar to this one: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GPCK_enUS396&es_sm=122&biw=1454&bih=703&tbm=shop&sclient=psy-ab&q=julienne+tool&oq=juliennetool&gs_l=serp.1.0.0i13.76724.77207.1.78767.4.4.0.0.0.0.109.358.3j1.4.0….0…1c.1.32.psy-ab..3.1.94.I7vNJo_1uWs&pbx=1#spd=11310953863740143463
But there are many out there and I would recommend checking your local stores in the kitchen dept to see if any grab your attention. That way you get a feel for it in your hand as well. They run from $8 to $25, but I find that one priced at the bottom will be just fine for your needs. Hope this helps. Happy New Year! :)
I couldn't wait to get home to try this tonight. I'm very new to raw eating, and this was my first time eating Zucchini Noodles… AH MA ZING. Why haven't I been doing this all along. I fiddled with the measurements a little but everything came out perfect. Thanks a ton for all your recipes!!!!!! :)
Your so welcome! I'm so glad this worked great for you. Cheers! :)
I should have added the cucumber in chunks time, because there was to much and the sauce was watery.
I also found the sauce to be quite bland and not creamy or rich at all. I added garlic powder and onion powder, which I think helped with the flavor a little bit.
I do suppose the size of the cucumber and avocado can play in a roll how creamy or watery the sauce will turn out. Maybe starting with half a cucumber first and adding the rest in slowly is a good idea…but personally I've never had a problem with that, even when making the sauce into a raw soup it's been fairly thick and creamy.
Adding some garlic powder and onion powder sounds great! Hope you make it again and find your perfect balance. :)
Hi! I made this recipe last night for supper and really liked it. Since my husband and I both have IBS, eating raw food can be tricky so I stir-fried the zucchini in some garlic and oil for a few minutes and then added the sauce so it was warm. What I would do differently next time is:
– Salt the raw zucchini before cooking it. This will draw out some of the extra moisture and make for a less watery dish.
– Stir-fry some tofu to go with it.
The sauce is amazing! So versatile I think it could be used for a salad dressing too.
I'm so glad this worked you all in all. Yes, this sauce works great as a salad dressing, I have used it a few times myself for that! Thanks for the tips and sharing your different take on this recipe. Cheers :)
Hi Julie.
Is the zucchini raw or cooked before putting the sauce on. If raw, could they be cooked to warm them up? This is a beautiful dish and I can't wait to try it.
Teresa
Hi Teresa…the zucchini is served raw but there is no reason you can't steam it for a few minutes to warm it up. Just be sure to not over cook it or they will become mushy. I think a little added warmth would be great! Enjoy :)
Awesome post! Can you please tell me what brand of spiralizer you use?
Sure thing…I use this one which has a few different attachments for various sized of slicing etc… http://www.amazon.com/World-Cuisine-A4982799-Tri-Blade-Vegetable/dp/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366039095&sr=8-1&keywords=spiralizer … you can also use this one that I have seen recommended by other's but haven't tried using myself…http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Chen-51-0662-Saladacco-Spiral/dp/B0000DDVYE
Happy spiralizing…it's so very good and refreshing to have zucchini noodles in place of pasta's. :)
Delicious! Thanks for an easy great recipe!
Your welcome! :)
Made this today and loved it! It was very refreshing. Thanks! Will put it up on my blog later. :)
Thanks Don! So glad you liked this…it's just one of those simple, refreshing meals we could all use a bit more of. Thanks for sharing. Cheers :)