Pesto Zucchini Noodles (Dairy-Free AND Whole 30 Approved Meal Idea)
If you’re trying to incorporate more healthy veggies into your meals, try replacing pasta with noodles made from zucchini! Add this flavorful dairy-free pesto sauce and some grilled chicken and you’ll have an amazing meal. And this delicious meal idea also happens to fit within the Whole30 nutritional plan (which Collin followed back in January of 2015).
To make the zucchini noodles, I used this micro plane spiral cutter found on Amazon.com and pictured above (or try using a cheese grater turned on its side). Note that Collin’s favorite is this World Cuisine Spiral Vegetable Slicer.
PESTO ZUCCHINI NOODLES
yield: 4 SERVINGS
Easy low carb zucchini noodles for any pasta inspired dish that is low carb.
Ingredients
For the Noodles:
- 2 large chicken breasts - grilled
- 2 large chicken breasts - grilled
- teaspoon olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
For the Non-Dairy Pesto:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 cups basil leaves
- 2 oz. pine nuts, walnuts, or shelled pistachios
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
Directions
1
Combine pesto ingredients in a food processor or high powered blender and pulse until mixture is coarsely ground. Makes about 1 cup prepared pesto.
2
Shred zucchini into noodles and sauté in a pan with olive oil on the stove for just a few minutes. Be careful not to overcook.
3
Combine pesto with noodles.
4
Top with sliced grilled chicken. I like to use a cast iron grill pan on the stove for convenience when grilling chicken indoors. Serves 4.
Additional Notes
For the Non-Dairy Pesto: Recipe via Food52.com
My family absolutely loved this meal – the zucchini noodles rock! They are super light but also very satisfying! And the pesto was surprisingly flavorful minus the cheese (of course, you can always add in cheese if you don’t mind the dairy!).
Am I missing something? I don’t see any dairy in the pesto recipe posted here?
It says “dairy free”
There’s a link “for dairy free”. That made me think the one posted wasn’t?
Love that you’re sharing whole30 recipes!
Yep
What kind of cheese does pesto normally have in it? And how much? Thanks!
I use parmesean in mine
Pecorino, to taste.
Thx for this recipe.& the link to purchase the noodle maker.. cant wait to try this. It looks YUMMY.!!!.
I just found out my one year old has a level 5 tree nut allergie a couple months ago. I’m changing our whole eatting lifestyle around this in the house. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to replace nuts with in a recipe like this? Thanks!
My son and I are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. When I make pesto I just omit nuts, I don’t have a substitute. Still delicious!
What type of blender are you using to make the pesto?
Looks like a Ninja
HI collin, I’m on day 6 on my whole30….. I don’t know how I’m gonna do it lol but thank you for this yummy recipe 🙂 running out of ideas lol
Lots of good recipe ideas online, Jana. You’ll have to select carefully or modify some, but 2 great sites are againsallgrain.com and primallyinspired.com.
Hang in there and best of luck. It might be helpful to focus on every small improvement you see, and on how great you feel as time passes. Breaking sugar addiction and improving quality of nutrition has potential to change your life!
Thank you so much jac. It’s tough, especially I’m the only one in my household who does it. …. it’s nerve wrecking almost but will keep thinking positive and definitely check out the recipes!
Those are two of my favorite sites, I’m not doing the whole30 just trying to eat healthier and less grain. I’m trying the crepes/wraps from against all grain tomorrow then I’ll use it to make enchiladas.
I’ve used the Vegetti gadget like this for a couple of years; however, I noticed at Aldi this week they had the same gadget for $1.99! Don’t know how well it works, but that’s really cheap. The Vegetti works great. It’s $14.99.