Zoodle Vegetable Stir Fry

Happy July! I hope everyone had a great long weekend celebrating ‘merica! For me it was a great weekend filled with sun, pool, tennis, baseball and lots and lots of food and drink. It certainly wasn’t the healthiest weekend for me, and I’m sure that is true for most people. But that’s ok! What’s life if you can’t spend quality time with your friends and family while eating hamburgers and hot dogs and drinking beer and cocktails? Boring, that’s what life would be. Boring.

However, by Sunday afternoon, I was done. I felt gross and was craving something easy and healthy. So I turned to one of my favorite spots over the summer…the vegetable drawer in my fridge. This time of year it is packed with fresh veggies from the CSA, and as soon as I saw what I had, it was a no brainer – Zoodle Vegetables Stir Fry.

Enter one of my new favorite appliances…the Cuisinart Electric Spiralizer.
I have been using the hand spiralizer for years, and there is definitely nothing wrong with that. It builds up arm muscles! But this machine is a game changer. It takes vegetables and can turn them into spaghetti, ribbons, slices, match sticks..the list goes on. And it does it all in seconds. OK, shameless plug over.

Start by spiralizing the zucchini and squash. The biggest mistake you can make when making and cooking your own zoodles is to cook them right after you spiralize. Zuchinni and squash have a lot of water in them. If you just throw them in the pan, the water will come out and steam the veggies and cause a mushy mess. You want to get as much of the water out as you can before you cook so you can get a nice bite from the zoodles, just like you would with al dente pasta. So once you have all the noodles made, place them in a large bowl and sprinkle them liberally with kosher salt. Use your hands to toss the noodles around and make sure it is all mixed through. Then spread out some paper towel and spread the noodles in a thin layer over the paper towels. Allow the noodles to sit for 15-20 minutes to allow the water to drain out of the noodles.

While the zoodles are resting, chop your remaining vegetables. And as is the case with most vegetable focused recipes I do, here is where I tell you to be creative and go with what you have or what you like. You can put any veggies in a stir fry – eggplant, corn, asparagus…anything. I had a red pepper left over and the onions and snap peas are from the CSA.

Just had to take a quick second and post a picture of these peas with a little comment. How pretty are they? They are crunchy, sweet and delicious. This is why I love the CSA! One more quick note – to prepare these peas for cooking, take each our and snap off the rooty top and peel off the little string that comes with it. Then enjoy raw as a snack or add to a stir fry or vegetable medley.

After about 20 minutes, move your zoodles onto dry paper towels, and roll them up and give em a squeeze. Just get any remaining water out to prepare them for the hot pan. One stir fry tip – stir fry cooks up super quick. It is important to make sure you have all your ingredients ready to go so you can just add and toss and cook. No time to chop while you fry. Vocab word of the day – “mise en place.” It literally translates to “everything in it’s place,” but it is the cheffy word for having all your ingredients ready and prepped before you start cooking. I would say “try to use it in a sentence today” but I don’t see that happening. So just take it in as a fun new tid bit of knowledge today.

Before you start cooking, mix together your stir fry sauce. In a bowl or measuring cup, mix together the soy sauce, sriracha, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar and corn starch. The corn starch will cause the sauce to thicken when it hits the heat and allow it to really coat the vegetables.

Now it’s time to fry!

Start by heating the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat until shimmering. Add the onions and took to cook for 2 minutes until softened.

Add in the peppers and snap peas. Cook, tossing constantly for 1 minute until heated through.

Add the zoodles and toss constantly until warmed through — see a trend here> It’s add and toss. Add and toss. Super easy. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper and toss again.

Pour on the sauce and, you guessed it, toss to combine. The sauce will thicken up quickly and coat all the vegetables.

Once combined, plate the stir fry and top with crispy chickpeas for a little crunch. You can buy crispy chickpeas, or make them easily in an air fryer. Quick recipe input – open, drain and rinse chickpeas, toss in a bowl with spices (I did chili poweder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt) and a few sprays of olive oil, then place in a single layer in the air fryer and air fry for 10-15 minutes. Perfect for a salad topper or crunchy snack!

I love how you can eat this dish like pasta and twirl the zoodles on your fork. All the perks of pasta without the carbs. Enjoy!