Whether you’re eating low carb, or just want a healthier way to enjoy pasta, these colorful veggie noodles have got you covered. Sneak an extra serving of vegetables into your next pasta dish, there’s one for every sauce and craving! Let me show you how to make them, cook them, and the best recipes for each.
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Every veggie has a different taste and texture. For example: sweet potatoes and significantly firmer than zucchini, and cucumber contains much more water than beets. For this reason, there are tips and tricks for spiralizing, cooking, and adding sauce to each.
Below you’ll find each of my favorite veggie noodles, the best tools for making veggie spaghetti, how long (and tips) to cook them, and sauces that compliment their flavor profiles.
Cucumber Noodles
Refreshing, light, and easy to make, these veggie noodles are a great side dish. You can spiralize cucumbers with the skin on or off, and they work well with a handful of delicious sauces.
- How to prep: Remove the ends. Option to peel off the skin.
- Best tools for making: Since cucumbers are high in water content, they’re soft and easy to shape using almost any tool. Make cucumber noodles with a spiralizer, veggie peeler, or even a julienne. Pro tip: use kitchen scissors to cut the noodles into shorter strands, otherwise you’ll have REALLY long noodles.
- How to cook: Cucumber noodles are best enjoyed raw, I don’t recommend cooking these vegetable noodles.
- Important tips: Cucumber is HIGH in water content, meaning, these noodles and your sauce will get soggy over time. I find any cucumber noodle recipe is best enjoyed immediately after making it.
- Nutrition facts: Cucumbers are a low carb vegetable, and they’re low in calories too.
Sauces + Recipes
Think light and refreshing; I love…
- A peanut sauce.
- Try spiralizing the cucumbers for your next Mediterranean or Greek salad.
- Make your creamy cucumber salad with spiralized noodles.
- Check out the umami sauce on these cucumber noodles.
Kohlrabi Noodles
These mild and slightly sweet-tasting noodles are a fun way to sneak in a veggie that you probably don’t often eat. They’re firmer (contain less water) than other vegetable noodles, so they don’t get as soggy, AND they make for better leftovers.
- How to prep: Remove the tip and leaves. Peel the tough skin off with a veggie peeler.
- Best tools for making: You can use a plastic veggie spiralizer, but know that its firm texture is hard to cut through. If you have a Cuisinart spiralizer (i.e. metal), I recommend that instead.
- How to cook: Saute in butter or oil, I’ll typically cook these for 8-10 minutes over medium heat. Kohlrabi is harder to overcook than other varieties.
- Nutrition facts: Kohlrabi noodles are a bit higher in carbs than zucchini or cucumbers.
Sauces + Recipes
These noodles are as flexible as they come. You truly can use any sauce, just cook them to your liking and twirl away. Some ideas that come to mind…
- Try the simple butter, garlic, and parmesan sauce I use to make these kohlrabi noodles.
- Creamy sauces like this alfredo sauce.
- Make keto spaghetti with this spaghetti sauce and some meatballs.
Summer Squash + Zucchini Noodles
These veggies can be used interchangeably for the most versatile and popular type of vegetable noodles. For a deeper dive, be sure to check out my zucchini noodles guide here.
- How to prep: Chop off the ends, that’s it!
- Best tools for making: Any veggie spiralizer will do, zucchinis are softer and super easy to make noodles with. You can use a mandolin to make zucchini lasagna or zucchini ravioli noodles, or a handheld peeler for long/flat pasta, which I typically use to make these zucchini lasagna roll ups.
- How to cook: Very important: you want to cook these vegetable noodles very little to not at all. Zucchini is packed with water and will become soggy in a matter of seconds. I prefer to twirl this pasta made from vegetables into a warm sauce or cook for 1-2 minutes max.
- Important tips: Just like cucumbers, zucchini pasta is best enjoyed right after making it. Another tip: if you purchase zucchini noodles from the store, steer clear of frozen options as they’re always soggy.
- Nutrition facts: Low in calories and carbs.
Sauces + Recipes
Zucchini’s subtle taste and easy to use texture make these noodles perfect for just about any sauce. I use them to make all my favorite Asian, Italian, and American inspired dishes, including:
- Zucchini spaghetti with a delicious red or meat sauce. I also love twirling these noodles in bolognese for a more complete meal.
- Pad Thai is made for zucchini noodles.
- Pasta salad anyone? Try this zoodle salad instead.
- Summertime pasta classics like pesto zucchini pasta and keto shrimp scampi.
- Add them to soups; I love adding raw zucchini noodles to my keto chicken noodle soup.
Butternut Squash Noodles
It’s true, everyone’s favorite fall vegetable can be spiralized and twirled into pasta. Take advantage of its firm texture and slightly sweet flavor; here’s how.
- How to prep: Slice the neck from the bulb of the squash, and save the bulb for later. Working with the neck, remove the stem, and peel with a veggie peeler.
- Best tools for making: Butternut squash is a firm veggie, and its vegetable noodles are best made with a metal spiralizer. I have used a plastic veggie spiralizer for this in a pinch.
- How to cook: Saute your butternut squash noodles for about 8 minutes.
- Nutrition facts: Butternut squash is higher in carbs than other veggies on this list.
Sauces + Recipes
Subtly sweet and nutty, these noodles are delicious with a handful of different sauces:
- My favorite butternut squash noodle recipe is another butter, garlic, and parmesan combo. Simple and perfect.
- Try making an Indian inspired pasta dish, curry and butternut work so well together! (check out my curried butternut squash soup to see what I mean).
Sweet Potato Noodles
Hearty, filling, and absolutely delicious. If you’re a fan of sweet potatoes, then you have to try spiralizing them into noodles. This is another type of veggie spaghetti that makes for great leftovers due to its lower water content.
- How to prep: Cut off the pointy ends and remove the skin using a veggie peeler.
- Best tools for making: Sweet potatoes are super firm and their noodles are definitely best made with a veggie spiralizer. I have made them with my plastic spiralizer before, but it was a total pain.
- How to cook: Saute your noodles in oil or butter in a pan before adding your sauce. Sweet potatoes definitely need to soften a bit, give them 8-10 minutes over medium heat.
- Nutrition facts: If you’re looking for low carb or keto noodles, these aren’t for you.
Sauces + Recipes
Slightly sweet, firm, and hearty, sweet potatoes work with just about any sauce you love, such as:
- Check out the delicious peanut sauce I use in these Asian inspired sweet potato noodles with green beans.
- Try your favorite red sauce and some hearty meatballs like my mozzarella stuffed meatballs.
- Cream sauces are a delicious complement, try my shrimp carbonara or any heavy cream based sauce.
Beet Noodles
Make this veggie spaghetti because it’s beautifully pink, slightly sweet, and easy! Or make it to sneak another serving of vegetables into your meal plan.
- How to prep: Remove the leaves and tip, then peel with a veggie peeler, and they’re ready to go.
- Best tools for making: Beets can be turned into noodles using any veggie spiralizer you have.
- How to cook: Saute in oil or butter for 5-10 minutes, depending on how soft you’d like them to be.
- Important tips: Wear gloves if you don’t want pink hands.
- Nutrition facts: Beets are higher in carbs than other veggies on this list. For keto noodles, opt for a different veggie.
Sauces + Recipes
Earthy and slightly sweet, we love beet noodles with a simple sauce, or with a few other veggies twirled in.
- Pesto, yes, please! Check out my broccoli pesto or kale pesto for even more veggies in every bite.
- Sauteed with butter and sprinkled with goat cheese.
Spaghetti Squash
Ironically, my favorite pasta made from vegetables is not made using a veggie spiralizer, it’s spaghetti squash. I love its subtle taste and its hands off prep, and I’ve made a deep dive into how to cook spaghetti squash here. Here are a few of my tips and tricks:
- How to prep: This depends on how you plan to cook it. In the microwave: keep your squash whole and pierce all over with a fork. In the oven: slice it in half (remove the stem if you’re struggling to get a knife through that).
- Best tools for making: A fork. I prefer to bake my spaghetti squash in the oven, as the microwave is easier, but it’ll yield soggier noodles.
- How to cook: In the oven at 400 F for 30-40 minutes. Or in the microwave on high, for 5 minutes. Flip, 5 more minutes. Then let it rest for 5 before slicing.
- Important tips: Don’t overcook your squash (al dente is best!), as it gets really soggy really quickly. Spaghetti squash recipes are best enjoyed fresh, as this water packed veggie will release liquid while it rests in the fridge.
- Nutrition facts: Low in carbs and calories, spaghetti squash is a winner for all meal plans.
Sauces + Recipes
I have dozens of spaghetti squash recipes because I truly do love it so much. It doesn’t have much flavor, and its texture can be similar to al dente noodles. Here are some of my favorite ways to eat it:
- Make insta-worthy spaghetti squash boats with this stuffed spaghetti squash, spaghetti squash alfredo, spaghetti squash lasagna, or creamy chicken spaghetti squash.
- Keep it simple with garlic parmesan spaghetti squash or pesto spaghetti squash.
- Make a noodle casserole, like this million dollar spaghetti squash casserole.
- Make spaghetti squash pad Thai!
More Vegetable Noodles to Consider
Although not made with a spiralizer, there are a few other veggies in my healthy noodle rotation. Each is prepared differently (for example, cauliflower needs to be baked), so let my recipes guide you! Here are a few other ways to make pasta from vegetables:
- Roasted cauliflower makes for a delicious pasta substitute, I use this to make cauliflower baked ziti or cauliflower mac and cheese.
- Eggplant, which is best prepped using a mandolin, then baked to remove excess liquid. I love using these noodles for eggplant rollatini and eggplant lasagna.
- Shredded cabbage makes for incredibly quick and easy noodles, and doesn’t need much cook time. Use it to make my favorite goulash without noodles, stroganoff, or cabbage lasagna.
Veggie Noodles
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 large cucumber ends removed, peeled if desired
- 3 medium kohlrabi bulbs leaves and tip removed and skin peeled with a veggie peeler
- 1 medium summer squash or zucchini ends removed
- 1 medium butternut squash stem removed, bulb removed (we're using the neck only), skin peeled with a veggie peeler
- 1 medium sweet potato pointy ends removed and skin peeled with a veggie peeler
- 3 medium beets ends removed and skin peeled with a veggie peeler
Instructions
- Cucumber: I don't recommend cooking cucumber noodles. Enjoy them raw and twirled into your favorite sauce.
- Kohlrabi: Saute in a pan for 8-10 minutes.
- Summer squash or zucchini: My favorite method of "cooking" these noodles is to twirl them into a warm sauce, as they will get soggy if overcooked. If that doesn't work for your recipe, saute in oil for 1-2 minutes max, keep in mind al dente is best here.
- Butternut squash: Saute in pan for 8-10 minutes.
- Sweet potato: Saute in pan for 8-10 minutes.
- Beets: Saute in pan for 5-7 minutes.
