Jul 14, 2015 in dairy-free, dinner, epicurious, recipes, sides, taste, vegan, vegetarian, basil, pasta. Read the original on: Simply Quinoa
ZOOOODLES! (read zucchini + noodles = zoodles) smothered in a dreamy vegan pesto sauce. On the menu tonight and ready in 5 minutes.
Dinner in 5 minutes? Iâll take it. Any day of the week.
BUT especially after coming back from a two week vacation with little to no motivation to cook, while also carrying around a few extra pounds (who doesnât after vacay, right?) and craving/needing something super healthy. And yesâ¦while it would have been easy to order takeout, in the amount of time it would have taken me to place my order, I whipped up a delicious, veggie-filled summer meal.
Now THAT I can handle.
If you havenât become a zucchini noodle groupie yet, now is your chance.
All you need to turn that gorgeous green veggie into noodles is a spiralizer or julienne peeler. In moments youâll have a giant bowl of healthy noodles ready to be devoured.
And while zucchini noodles might be the star of todayâs dish, the quinoa pesto sauce surely canât be ignored.
Because inside that little jar of green goodness is where all the magic happens. Weâre talkinâ bursts of flavor from the basil, lemon and garlic, with a hint of salty cheese (but without the actual cheese) and  a mild heat from red pepper flakes.
Then to give the whole thing a little extra boost, I stirred in quinoa.
Adding quinoa to your pesto might sound little crazy but 1) by now you should I like to add quinoa to everything and 2) it helps give the dish more umph. Meaning with the added protein of the quinoa, you donât have to worry about getting hungry later and needing to make something else.
(because remember, I promised you only 5 minutes for dinner tonight!)
Pesto pasta has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. And I say guilty because the greenness can be quite deceiving.
Traditionally this dish would be packed with cheese, drenched in oil and trashed up with some glutinous pasta. So while it might seem like youâre ordering one of the âhealthyâ meals on the menu, youâd probably do better with a bowl of pasta marinara.
But for a pesto lover like me, marinara just wonât cut it. So these pesto zucchini noodles are my solution: theyâre quick and easy, I use nutritional yeast instead of cheese, I went light on the oil and thereâs no gluten in sight. Rather itâs a big bowl of veggies smothered in a protein-rich sauce.
And it tastes better than the ârealâ thing.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
Instructions
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If you make this recipe, make sure to snap a pic and share it on Instagram using #SIMPLYQUINOA â I want to see your own quinoa creations!
The post 5-Minute Quinoa Pesto Zucchini Noodles appeared first on Simply Quinoa.
Read the original on: Simply Quinoa
I'm Alyssa, the writer and photographer behind the gluten-free website Simply Quinoa. My passion is creating wholesome, nutrient-rich recipes all with a little quinoa twist.