Zoodles Aglio Olio e Peperoncino

Spaghetti aglio, olio, e peperoncino is an awesome Italian dish — spaghetti made with garlic, olive oil, and hot chili pepper. Served with chopped parsley and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
It’s well loved because it’s so easy and inexpensive to make, and it’s a perfect solution when you’re in a crunch.
For instance, when you’re starving after a night out and you’ve got nothing in your fridge or you don’t feel like getting greasy food from the nearby Deli, making this spaghetti is a cinch.
Even when it’s 3am and you’ve had a few too many.
You know, just to throw a random example out there.
And just for the record, making spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino late at night is pretty common in in Italy — according to my friend Francesco.

But since I like to do things a bit differently round here, I swapped zoodles (aka zucchini noodles) for spaghetti.
Because hey, spiralizing zucchini is awesome — especially at 3am after a drunken night out when you laugh/stumble/hug all at once.
Again, just saying. Nothing like it happened to me or something.

No but seriously, these Zoodles Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino are legit.
It’s the kind of meal that makes you stop and think that sometimes the simplest food are often the best.
With only a couple of ingredients, you can create a healthy, flavorful, delicious meal from scratch.
For lunch, dinner or a late night “snack”...

Zoodles Aglio Olio e Peperoncino                                                                                 Print this recipe!

Inspired by GI365

Ingredients
Serves 4

6 zucchini
1 ½ teaspoons red pepper flakes (adjust to taste)
2 to 3 small garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon fine grain salt
Ground black pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Using a spiralizer or peeler create zucchini spaghetti (always read the directions for your spiral slicer as they vary by brand - I use this spiralizer.) If you don't have a spiralizer use a regular vegetable peeler to vertically peel long, thin strips of the zucchini. This will form more of a wider "noodle" from the zucchini, like fettuccini.
Transfer zucchini spaghetti to a large bowl and set aside.
Put the oil, garlic and red pepper flakes in a large skillet over low heat, cook until the garlic gets to a pale gold color, about 5 minutes.
Keep an eye on the garlic the whole time, you don’t want it to brown or it will turn bitter.
Add the parsley to the skillet.
Turn the heat on high, add zoodles, and saute’ for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly until heated through.
Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 148 calories, 14 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of protein.