Courgette noodles (AKA ‘courgetti’) are the perfect gluten-free, vegetable pasta. Courgette noodles offer an easy way to boost your veg intake and can replace spaghetti, noodles, rice or chips (fries) in a range of meals. You can make courgette noodles using a spiralizer, julienne peeler or mandoline slicer.

I’ve also got several tips on how to cook courgette noodles perfectly (so they’re not soggy) and I’m sharing my favourite go-to courgetti recipe.

How to make courgette noodles

Listed below are three popular methods for making courgette noodles. So let’s dive in!

1. Spiralizer
2. Julienne peeler
3. Mandoline

Sprializer

The Kenwood electric spiralizer is my favourite tool and I recommend getting one if you plan on spiralizing veggies frequently. It effortlessly creates curls of your favourite vegetables in seconds. You simply cut off the ends of a courgette, place it in the shoot and in less than 10 seconds you’ll have spiral sliced the entire courgette. With this spiralizer, you can also create your favourite carrot pasta, curly sweet potato fries or squash noodles.

Julienne peeler

The great thing about a julienne peeler is that you probably already have one in your kitchen. A julienne peeler slices the thinnest, most delicate courgette noodles. Then, you simply pull the strands apart with your fingers. The downside is it takes longer to make the noodles with a julienne peeler (you rotate the zucchini, creating a rectangular shape), it leaves the largest core and the potential of nicking a finger is high.

Mandoline

The mandoline creates julienne noodles that are slightly thicker than a peeler, but does it in half the time. The blades are SUPER sharp on a mandoline, so always use the plastic holder or a cut-resistant glove. A mandoline creates the best flat courgette pasta and allows you to vary the thickness. It has several blade options, giving you options for perfectly consistent noodles, slices or rounds (and easily cuts through any “harder to slice” vegetable).

How to cook courgette noodles

Courgette are comprised of 95 percent water so when you cook them, you can end up with a soggy, mushy mess of watery noodles – just by cooking one minute too long. The opposite of al dente. So when cooking courgetti, the intention is simply to heat them up and not really to ‘cook’ them:

1. Enjoy courgetti raw: Spiralize, mix with your favorite ingredients and serve. Not only is raw the easiest and fastest method, but the noodles are just as delicious cold as they are warm. If your zucchini is room temperature, simply mixing the noodles with a hot sauce, like a bolognese, also warms the noodles.
2. Saute: Just add one tablespoon of olive oil or to a pan and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
3. Blanch: Place the courgetti in a bowl of just boiled water for 1 minute and then drain and pat dry with kitchen roll.

Courgetti tips & tricks

After making, eating and cooking courgette noodles for several years, here are my top tips:

• If you’re using a spiralizer to make your noodles, you may end up with long strands. Just use a pair of kitchen scissors to snip through some of the strands to make them more manageable to eat!
• Make courgetti ahead of time. This is the best time-saving tip. After spiralising several courgettes, line a large airtight glass container with a paper towel, add the noodles and refrigerate for up to three days.
• Bigger is better! Larger courgettes are easier to spiralise. Use one medium courgette per person.
• To peel or not to peel the courgettes? I don’t peel courgettes before spiralizing as the skin provides extra nutrition and fibre, and the vibrant green adds a pop of colour to your meals.
• Don’t forget you can spiralise lots of other veggies too, including carrots, squash, aubergine (eggplant), sweet potato, beets and parsnips. Get creative!

Best recipe to enjoy courgetti

• Courgetti spaghetti bolognese.

Other ways to enjoy courgetti

• Tossed with salsa verde.
• Use courgetti in Rainbow pad Thai.
• Serve with Pan-fried sea bass with lime, coriander & chilli.

I hope you enjoy getting creative with spiralizing your veggies. If you make these courgette noodles, let me know how they turned out and which method you used to make and cook them. I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below, or post in The Fertility Kitchen Community.