Zucchini Noodles with Chicken Bolognese

Zucchini noodles! Zoodles! Gluten-free pasta that actually tastes good! Whatever you want to call it, “spiralized” veggie noodles have taken the world by storm and hopefully are here to stay.

I’m sooooooo late to the party when it comes to spiralized veggies. I learned of them several years ago during culinary school and have wanted a spiralizer ever since. However, being the queen of culinary tools/gadgets, couldn’t justify another “bulky” item in an already teensy, tiny, and over-filled apartment kitchen. Four apartments and one house later after my introduction to spiralizers, I’m proud to say that I own one. It’s been a long wait, but SO worth it!

You know what I REALLY like about spiralized veggies? Let me just list all the things (in ascending order to my very favorite):

• You can get more veggies + fiber in your diet when you sub spiralized veggie noodles for pasta.
• They are EASY to make and don’t require a long cooking time.
• It’s much less of a pain to spiralize a zucchini  and give the “noodles” a quick sauté than it is to boil a huge pot of pasta water, boil the pasta, drain the pasta while simultaneously steaming your face off (ick!).
• When you eat veggies as pasta, there’s definitely some “carb room” for a nice slice of garlic bread to soak up all your pasta sauce! That’s where it’s at, my friends.

During a crazy hectic last week, we spiralized up some zucchini and served it over the course of a few nights with this homey chicken bolognese. The carrots and San Marzano tomatoes in this sauce lend a subtly sweet flavor that cuts through the mild acidity of the tomatoes. A bit of chicken sausage is added to the mix to give major depth of flavor, as well as a heavy splash of marsala wine. Since this gluten-free dish is very light on the carb department, a nice slice of this sourdough bread toasted with olive oil and rubbed with garlic made the meal. That’s weeknight dining + leftovers at it’s finest; not to mention a happy, healthy, veggie-filled tummy for me!

Speaking of busy and in other “life matters,” I totally did not intend to go MIA for the better half of last week. I did two big events with an organization I do contract work for, and ended up being way busier than I thought! Ryan and I also were prepping for his parents to arrive for a visit on Saturday – so of course I was in a tizzy cleaning and planning yummy things for us to eat while they are here! It’s a good kind of busy, and I’m sooooooo excited for the month of May because we have some time off + an exciting trip planned. More on that soon! What do you have going on this month? Graduations? Weddings? Vacations? I want to know!

Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it turned out for you – leave a comment below or post a pic of your dish to Twitter or Instagram with the tag @sweetcayenne5 – it’s always great to connect with you! Look at more of our recipes here.

Zucchini Noodles with Chicken Bolognese

Zucchini Noodles with Chicken Bolognese is an easy, veggie-loaded recipe you can make on weeknights for a healthy and super-satisfying dinner that the family will love!

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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the chicken bolognese:

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¾ pounds ground chicken breast
• 2 links about ½ pound hot Italian chicken sausage (casings removed)
• 1 cup diced carrots about 3 medium carrots
• 4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Italian blend seasoning
• ½ cup marsala cooking wine
• 1 28 ounce can peeled, whole, San Marzano tomatoes
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt or to taste
• ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper or to taste)
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

For the zucchini noodles:

• 6 medium zucchini spiralized into “noodles”
• Extra virgin olive oil coarse ground Kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

For the chicken bolognese:

• Place a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the hot pan and heat for about 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken breast and chicken sausage and cook until just brown, about 4-5 minutes stirring often to break up the meat. Add the carrots and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and cooking wine. Stir to incorporate and cook until the wine is almost completely evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add the can of tomatoes and use a wooden spoon to break the tomatoes into small pieces. Reduce heat to a light simmer and cook the sauce down for an hour with a lid slightly ajar over the pot. This will reduce the sauce by about ¼ and allow the flavors to develop. Stir occasionally. Add the salt and pepper to taste when the sauce is ready to serve. Serve over hot zucchini noodles with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
• Refrigerate leftover sauce to serve over freshly spiralized zucchini for up to 3 days.

For the zucchini noodles:

• Heat a medium-large saute pan over medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan, followed by the zucchini noodles. Saute the noodles for 2 minutes (do not overcook or they will quickly become mushy!) Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and serve with hot bolognese sauce over top.

Notes

**Note - I like to freshly spiralize and saute the zucchini as I need it. Only plan to cook 1 zucchini per person. You can serve leftover sauce on freshly cooked zucchini for up to 3 days after you make the sauce

Shop the kitchen gadgets I used for this recipe!