My oh my, what a week! I don’t know where to begin, so let’s get right to the recipe. Pretty, isn’t it? This dish was inspired by Stonesoup’s lentils with zucchini noodles recipe. I loved the zucchini “noodles”, but felt the lentils with tomato paste were too heavy for a light, vegan summer dish. Then came the idea to try making my own arrabiata sauce, which has been on my to-cook list for a long time. I threw in some chickpeas for protein.
Voila! An amazing meal was born.
Zucchini Noodles with Arrabiata Chickpea Sauce
Author: Cookie and Kate
Ingredients
Arrabiata sauce
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 or 4 diced tomatoes, seeded, with juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Zucchini pasta
- 2 to 3 zucchinis
- olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onion starts to caramelize, which will take about 10 minutes. Add the pepper flakes and red pepper and cook until the pepper softens, about 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and heat until the sauce begins to simmer. Lower heat and cook (uncovered) until thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Slice the ends off two to three zucchinis. Use a vegetable peeler to shave off strips of zucchini. It’s easier than you think it’ll be.
- On a baking sheet, layer the zucchini a few layers deep, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on top.
- Bake for about ten minutes, until the zucchini has lost its crunch.
- Back to the sauce: stir in the basil and chickpeas. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Cook about 5 more minutes, until everything is heated through. Serve generous portions of zucchini pasta topped with arrabiata sauce!
Notes
- Inspired by Diet, Dessert and Dogs and Stonesoup.
- Serves two to three people.
- This spicy arrabiata sauce takes longer than the noodles, so get the sauce on the stove before shredding your zucchini.
22 Comments
dude… this sounds sooo good! must try soon…
Very, very pretty indeed! I’ve never done wide zucchini “noodles”, I always cut mine thin. The wide ones look better for holding that rich tomato-chickpea mixture. Sounds absolutely delicious.
Gorgeous plating!! I’ve been wanting to try zuchinni noodles and your version looks simple and tasty. Perfect for summer, although it’s RAINING today in LA..
WOW! This looks beautiful!! :) I’m a huge fan of your photography, too! :)
Looks amazing as always my dear. -jes
Looks quite delish and I’m not even vegan! I love zucchini so much, it’s just delicious and so versatile. :)
This looks fantastic!! I have been holding out on zucchini for now, so I am not overwhelmed if I get a bumper crop in the garden but this will get made this summer. It looks so fresh and flavourful. :)
THis looks wonderful and full of flavour. we love zuchinni in our household. It is such a versatile ingredient to have on hand.
I was skeptical about this as I’ve never done the squash pasta thing before, but I’ve been trying to eat less pasta so I thought I’d give this a shot. It was incredibly easy and pretty quick to make. I like my food spicy so I amped up the black pepper and red pepper flakes. It was insanely delicious and filling. I will definitely be making this again and again.
Yay, I’m so glad to hear you liked it. I want to get a spiralizer tool so I can make fancy zucchini noodles, but a vegetable peeler does the trick for now!
So delicious! One of my favorite blog-discovered recipes thus far! Making it again tonight!
Hooray! I just love to hear from readers who have made my recipes. Thank you, Shannon, and happy eating!
I have made this twice, it is absolutely delicious. I use roasted red pepper instead of fresh. Thank for the great recipe!
I’m so glad you linked back to me so that I could see this–I hadn’t seen it when you first posted! This dish looks amazing. I love the combination of ingredients–and so, so healthy. Yum! :)
This was quite good. I omitted the oil (except to mist the zucchini before roasting) and added more tomatoes so that I’d have a bit more sauce. I also omitted the red pepper, since my wife doesn’t like spicy food (I know, now it’s not a real arrabiata!) and added some paprika – both sweet and smoked – instead to boost up the flavor.
Glad you enjoyed it, David!
Just made this and it’s SUPER good! I ate all the noodles on my own though (I used two smaller zucchinis). Very easy to make!! Definitely sharing this recipe.
Thanks!
Awesome, thanks, Jazmyn!
Do you use fresh tomatoes that you dice, or canned diced tomatoes?
Lorel, I used fresh tomatoes but I think a can of diced tomatoes would work well also.
Made this and it was so delicious. Thanks for the inspiration and recipe :)
Hooray! Glad you liked the recipe, Erika.
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