These zucchini noodles with creamy roasted tomato basil sauce are the perfect way to enjoy fresh summer produce.
I won a radio contest last month. Here’s the funny thing about it though…
1. I hardly ever even listen to the radio. I drive to CrossFit and the grocery store 99% of the time I’m in the car and both are within two miles of my house.
2. When I do listen to the radio, I don’t ever listen to the station I won the contest from.
3. Ulysses is the one who heard about it, came home and was like “there’s this radio contest where all you have to do is submit a ‘real food recipe’ to enter.”
Real food recipe? I think I might have a few things that would qualify for that…
So I grabbed this zucchini noodles with avocado cream sauce from last summer because it’s the one recipe that epitomizes summer + real food in my mind and it’s one of the most popular ones on this site, sent it in and forgot about it.
Three days later, I was on the phone with Chris Marino and his cheesy radio DJ voice (in case you were wondering if radio DJs talk like total tools off air, they do) telling me I won.
So in addition to a gift card to a local restaurant, a recipe reader and a credit to Plated, I won a 4-day trip to NYC.
Sounds glamorous, but I’ve lived an hour away from NYC almost all my life so I think the trip was a lot cooler to the 20 other people that won from their respective clear channel stations and got flown in from all over the country than the person who lives in the suburbs of the city.
But, I wasn’t about to pass up a car service to the city, spending money, hotel accommodations and a trip to Brooklyn Grange.
So Brandy and I spent last weekend eating, eating, walking a bit, eating, seeing Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (<–amazing) and eating some more.
Wanna know what we ate? Tomatoes, burrata, tomatoes, zucchini, burrata, tomatoes and some more tomatoes…
Then I came home, decided I still wanted more tomatoes and zucchini and made these zucchini noodles with creamy roasted tomato basil sauce as a spin off of last years zucchini noodles recipe that won me the contest.
Zucchini noodles have become somewhat of an obsession lately for me.
They seem to be all the rage in the healthy eating world so if you’re looking for more zucchini noodle recipes try Chinese chicken zucchini noodles, Thai chicken zucchini noodles or these simple basil and mint squash noodles.
How To Make The Zucchini Noodles
These zucchini noodles are made the same way I made last years recipe, with a julienne peeler but, like I mentioned in that post, I’ve since upgraded to a spiralizer.
I break down the difference between the two in the recipe for zucchini noodles with avocado cream sauce but use whichever tool you have. If you’re looking to invest in one or the other, check out that post for some specifics.
You can even freeze zoodles and use them once thawed for this recipe if preferred. Our guide on how to freeze zucchini can be helpful for dealing with an overload of summer produce.
Do I Have To Roast The Tomatoes?
I highly recommend roasting the tomatoes for the creamy tomato basil sauce in this recipe but it’s not totally necessary.
If you have really delicious, summer ripe, garden fresh tomatoes and want to add them straight to the food processor, go ahead.
I like roasting the tomatoes because it gives a certain depth to the flavor even the ripest fresh tomato doesn’t have. It brings out their natural sweetness and complements the grated parmesan.
How Do You Get The Sauce Creamy?
The secret to the creaminess in the this tomato basil sauce is a little bit of cream cheese!
Equally delicious options would be ricotta or even cottage cheese.
In fact, I’ve done the combination of zucchini noodles before in this zucchini noodles with sausage, cherries and ricotta recipe, it’s a lovely sweet and savory combo!
I know that sounds weird but cottage cheese is one of those things people freak out about texturally but in a recipe like this where it’s being blended in a food processor, I promise it’d be fine.
And if you want a similar recipe to these creamy tomato basil zucchini noodles, try this tomato basil eggplant noodle recipe. It’s another great one for summer!
Zucchini Noodles with Creamy Roasted Tomato Basil Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 pints grape tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 large zucchini made into noodles with a julienne peeler or spiralizer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet.
- Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the tomatoes start to brown and blister.
- Remove the tomatoes from the oven and transfer to a food processor.
- Add the cream cheese, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste and process until smooth.
- Place zucchini noodles in a large bowl. Add the tomato sauce to the bowl and toss until all the noodles are coated.
- Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
I tried this last night and I really loved it! Thanks so much for the recipe! The only thing was that the “pasta” was pretty cold which usually isn’t a problem when i make zoodle dishes. I think its because because the sauce lost its heat quickly in the blender. I was wondering if maybe trying to blanch and then drain the zucchini noodles would help? I was wondering if anyone has ever tried that?
Heather
Yeah, it wasn’t really meant to be served hot so if you’re looking for a warm pasta, definitely blanch the zucchini, that’d work great!
Thanks!! I really loved it though. It was the first time I made a sauce with roasted tomato. Flavor was excellent! I think I’ll be trying this more often.
Heather
http://www.myeurocrush.com
Excellent! I had this little gem tonight. I’ve had zoodles with my Italian sauce and love it. But this was a nice change. I sautéed the zucchini noodles in a little olive oil and my turkey meatballs that I cut up in small pieces. I’ve nuked the zoodles in the past… never again. Not too much fresh basil left in the garden, but enough to have this again in a few days. It’s just me, so there’s plenty of the sauce left.
I have a spiralizer and love zucchini noodles (or zoodles) with my Italian sauce. I don’t think I’d like the zucchini noodles raw. I will probably blanch them. But looking forward to trying this on.
These were delicious!! Have been looking for more low carb recipes to enjoy with my new Spiralizered zucchini noodles!!
I did not have cherry tomatoes, so just cut up some tomatoes from the vine and roasted them–delicious. I toasted a few pine nuts and tossed them in as well. Thanks for this recipe, it is going to be one I go to frequently!
I was inspired by this and made a few minor modifications…… It was soooo good. Oh and I used a mandolin instead of the spirolizer.
I like the simplicity of not having to cook the zucchini noodles, but I wonder if the texture of leaving them raw means it doesn’t mimic real noodles? I’ve seen other recipes using zucchini noodles, and some comments led me to believe if I closed my eyes while eating them in a dish, I wouldn’t know they weren’t real pasta. Does leaving them raw mean they’re extra crisp, or does it still somehow lend some element of being slurpy and noodle-like?
Honestly, I don’t think it matters if they’re raw or cooked, in the end it’s zucchini, not pasta and it’s going to taste different regardless. Leaving it raw definitely adds some crispness to the noodles so if you’d rather them soft and slurp-able like pasta, then blanch them quickly before tossing with the sauce.
I have the perfect solution. In the warmer months have the zoodles raw , and colder months cooked. I’m a sissy vegetable eater, so I just prefer them cooked year round. I guess most would blanch, but I like them quickly tossed in a tiny bit of olive oil… seems to be less moisture that way. However you have them, this sauce is amazing. It’s practically a staple in my house. I’m definitely going to have to try the zoodles with that avacado cream sauce. I just cook for me, so I’ll half the sauce, and use the other half in my avacado salsa for fish tacosl
The other half of the avocado, that is.
Do you leave the zucchini noodles raw, or do you cook them somehow?
You leave them raw although if you wanted to cook yours you could do that and blanch them quickly but you can totally eat zucchini raw.
So you don’t have to cook the zucchini before adding the sauce? I’ve been staring at the spiralizer I bought for a month and I’m still not sure about that step. Help! LOL.
Nope, you can eat the noodles raw!