Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Preparing Zucchini Noodles: Removing Excess Moisture Using Cheesecloth

One of my favorite things about cooking spiralized veggie pasta (most notably, zucchini noodles) is...

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

One of my favorite things about cooking spiralized veggie pasta (most notably, zucchini noodles) is that it’s quick. It takes 10-30 seconds to spiralize the vegetable and then it goes straight into a pan to cook. No waiting for water to boil, no preheating of ovens, no mushy noodles, no microwave. Just spiralize and cook!

Therefore, I don’t recommend y’all to do anything to “prep” the zucchini noodles, aside from perhaps a light pat-down to reduce the moisture that becomes present when the inside skin of the vegetable is exposed after spiralizing (especially with cucumbers – that’s a must!)  After reading this article in the NY Times about a farmer’s experience with zucchini noodles, I decided to try his method of squeezing out excess water, using a cheesecloth. I thought, “perhaps this will be a great method for avoiding a runny pasta sauce.Was I right? Let’s go through the process and then at the end, I’ll give you my Inspiralized opinion.

Removing Excess Moisture from Zucchini Noodles Using Cheesecloth

Step 1: Buy cheesecloth. I purchased one for $3.99 at Bed, Bath & Beyond. You can find it here.

Preparing Zucchini Noodles: Removing Excess Moisture from Zucchini Noodles Using Cheesecloth

Step 2: Unravel the cheesecloth and lay it flat on a surface. Add in your zucchini noodles to the middle.

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Step 3: Wrap up the zucchini noodles and twist tightly into a ball.

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Step 4: Gripping firmly, squeeze the ball of zucchini noodles over a large bowl to catch the water that seeps out.

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Step 5: Discard excess water and unravel the cheesecloth. Zucchini noodles are ready to use, just pat down lightly first to remove even more excess water.

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

There you have it. That’s how you can remove some of the water content from the zucchini noodles before cooking them.  What do I think? Skip it. Zucchini noodles are firm because they are filled with water. Once you take out some of that water content, the noodles become a bit mushy. Also, the water is still seeping out once you’re finished and the noodles feel gooey and wet. Even after a light pat down, I found the noodles to be wilted and still very moist.

Preparing Zucchini Noodles

If you’re going to eat them raw or apply a sauce without cooking the noodles first (ie an avocado-based sauce), then this method would work. However, I love the crunchiness of the “zoodle” when eating it raw, it gives it more heartiness and texture! If you don’t like that crunch, use the cheesecloth first. It clearly does reduce excess moisture!

I prefer to prevent watery pasta sauces with my own tips, found here and here.

I hope this tutorial was helpful. Do you have any other questions about zucchini noodles or any other type of spiralizing you’d like to see me tackle?

with love, Ali

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comments

  • Really interesting Ali! It's always nice to know that an additional step in the kitchen isn't necessary to get better results. You can tell that the noodles look much happier in the first picture, haha! :)
  • Nice post! I noticed in the chef's pictures that the noodles were a slightly different shape. That could cause different results in the texture as well.
  • Nice post! I noticed in the chef's pictures that his noodles were a slightly different shape. That could probably affect texture as well, but good to know that the extra step isn't necessary for your recipes. :)
    • Codie - thanks so much, I'm glad you found the article interesting as I did :)
  • Do Spiralized Cucumbers do well for pasta? I use Zucchini a lot but sometimes Zucchini is more difficult to find in the middle of winter. I would LOVE to have a good alernative!
    • Yes, I have many dishes on this blog that include cucumber noodles (check out yesterday's, for example)!
  • Interesting... Have you applied salt and them sit in a stainer? I do this with sliced squash. I'll be using my new gadget tonight.
  • Can the zoodles be frozen to be used at another time? I've discovered zoodles and I love them.
  • So I made zucchini noodles for the first time tonight. This may have been a mistake but I put them in a casserole dish and put the sauce and meatballs on top and attempted to make a baked spaghetti. Sadly all the water left the noodles and made the sauce completely watery and just not good. Should zoodles not be baked at all, just gently tossed in warm sauce?
  • Greetings, I love zucchini noodles. Thank you for your helpful hints! Can you suggestion which gadget you recommend to cut the noodles? I've look into several Vegetti type tools. Buying the noodles are sooo costly. I love the long strands and I'm looking for a successful tool for both zucchini & butternut squash. Many thanks!
    • The Inspiralizer is the official spiralizer of Inspiralized! You can buy it at InspiralizedShop.com!
  • Wonderful, what a website it is! This web site provides helpful facts to us, keep it up.