Sesame almond butter zucchini noodles are a hearty and healthy main dish recipe, making use of a spiralizer. This vegetarian main dish recipe is thick, creamy, and coats the 'zoodles' beautifully. It's a 20-minute meal that's adaptable to what you have on hand!
I’m sorry (okay, not sorry) for all of the spiralizing I foresee gracing the blog in the coming months. Truth is, I got a spiralizer! Pretty sure the fruits and veggies hanging out in my fridge are shaking in their proverbial boots right now. And when it came to this sesame almond butter zucchini noodles, the zucchini hogging up my produce drawer took the fall.
Each time I spiralize something I’m kind of amazed at how good it is. Generally I’m not picky when it comes to vegetables buuuuut I will say I don’t exactly lose sleep over missing out on the traditional zucchini side dishes when presented with them out at dinner. This spiralizing business though…never have I ever downed multiple zucchini in a day and wished I had more. Until now! That. Blows. My. Mind.
One of the first meals I broke out my spiralizer for were these sesame almond butter zucchini noodles. An easy-to-make sesame almond butter sauce is poured over stir-fried zucchini noodles and mixed until the “zoodles” are evenly coated. This healthy meal takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, which totally makes it weeknight-friendly. Yessss!
This sauce (in loose form) is one of my favorite things to whip up when I’m feeling like an Asian-inspired dinner, or to be honest if I have NO idea what to make. Most of the time I have all of the ingredients on hand, but I’ve done plenty of substitutions. I’ve used peanut butter in place of almond butter, chili garlic sauce for the sriracha, subbed in some rice vinegar if I didn't have enough soy sauce, etc. You can really adapt this sauce recipe and make it yours.
This recipe works in tandem with Italian zucchini fritters to allow me to down a bushel of zucchini. And while fritters are an appetizer, these sesame almond butter zucchini noodles have a knack for filling me up for hours afterwards. That may sound silly because this meal is comprised of zucchini, a food that’s super low in calories and not exactly thought of as 'filling'. This sesame almond butter sauce adds a heartiness and a good deal of heft by coating these zucchini noodles to make it more substantial. Plus serve these zucchini noodles hot or serve them cold straight from the fridge - they’re great either way!
I have a small apartment kitchen so I resisted getting a spiralizer for a while because cabinet space is at a premium around here. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer, so the KitchenAid spiralizer attachment is ♥. I expected there to be a learning curve when it came to getting uniform, long spaghetti-like noodles, but for real, once I snapped the blades into place and flipped the switch on, a zucchini was 'zoodled' in less than 20 seconds. If there’s anything to point out (besides it not taking up much room!), vegetables longer than about 7” may need to be cut in half in order to fit in the attachment, but I don't think that's anything particular about my model. But even so, an extra few seconds is no biggie, especially when it comes to quick meals like this one, right?
Sesame Almond Butter Zucchini Noodles
Ingredients
- 5-6 zucchini
- 2 tablespoon olive oil, more as needed
For the Sauce:
- ¼ cup creamy almond butter
- ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 2 ½ tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoon sriracha, to taste
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ⅛ - ¼ teaspoon five-spice powder, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- Sesame seeds for serving
- Sliced scallions for serving
Instructions
- Spiralize zucchini and set aside. I peeled them first, but you don't have to.
- In a bowl, whisk together all all sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Add olive oil to a large non-stick skillet set over medium heat. Add zucchini noodles and let cook for about 4-6 minutes, stirring frequently to allow all of the zucchini noodles to become tender. Add additional olive oil as needed.
- Once noodles have softened and are tender (like cooked spaghetti), remove skillet from heat and pour in sauce. You may wish to pour out any excess water released from the zucchini as it cooked from the skillet before continuing so the sauce doesn't thin too much. Stir to evenly coat the noodles with the sauce. Serve with a garnish of sesame seeds and/or sliced scallions.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
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Christine M Scalfo says
Loved it. So simple yet flavorful. May I share it in my email newsletter with a link to your page?
Alyssa says
Hi Christine, I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you for asking, as long as you don't share the full recipe and link back to this post that would be fine. 🙂
Christine M Scalfo says
Thanks so much, Alyssa.
Afra says
Amazing! This is going to become a go-to. I omitted the oil and dry fried the zucchini. First fried some sugar snap peas. Served it with chicken thigh baked in gochujang honey marinade. I think next time I will add some shitake or beech mushroom (which will be very soon) Thank you so much for this recipe!
Alyssa says
Sounds great! Glad you liked it, thank you for letting me know how it went. 🙂