Lightning Prep

Mint cilantro pesto

Learn how to make veggie noodles with carrots, cucumber, mint cilantro pesto, and more! These colorful vegetable noodles are a healthy, delicious, and fun alternative to regular pasta. Did you know that you can make veggie noodles out of cucumber, carrots, kohlrabi, and more?

We’ve all heard of zucchini noodles by now, but lots of other vegetables can transform into curly, colorful noodles too! Making these veggie noodles is one of my favorite summer cooking projects. You can make vegetables noodles with a regular vegetable peeler, julienne peeler, or mandoline slicer, but my favorite way to do it is with a spiralizer. It’s pricier, but if you want to spiralize sweet potato or butternut squash, it’s the best option: it’ll cut through these tough vegetables without requiring tons of arm strength. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the vegetables I spiralize most often, along with serving suggestions for each of them. Try just one, or mix and match them into colorful salads and bowls.

Chop off the fat, seedy base of the squash, but don’t toss it! It’s not ideal for making veggie noodles, but you can still roast it or turn it into soup. Butternut squash noodles are one of the few types of vegetable noodles that I cook. Lightly sauté them with a drizzle of olive oil until they soften slightly. In a plant-based riff on spaghetti and meatballs.

Top the noodles with marinara sauce, vegan meatballs, and vegan Parmesan cheese. In place of the regular noodles in my Easy Pesto Pasta. Serve them with classic basil pesto or vegan pesto and tender greens like spinach or arugula. In an all-veggie riff on Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. Toss the noodles with sautéed garlic and kale, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vegan Parmesan or regular Parmesan cheese. Beet Veggie NoodlesI love the brilliant red color of these beet veggie noodles!