Zoodles with Sunflower-Arugula Pesto

Oodles and oodles of zoodles!

You guys, I think I may be obsessed with spiralized veggies. They are so FUN to eat! I don’t think I can quite get on the bandwagon that they are a pasta replacement, but they are a nice alternative! And a super fun way to eat salads!

That’s kinda what this recipe is…a salad. It’s all veggies, fully raw, and super tasty!

I’ll admit, this was my first foray into veggie spiralizing, and I was honestly floored by how much the zucchini zoodles look like real noodles. They’re fantastic!

Beets don’t quite work the same way, as beets are much harder (and um, maybe may cause you to incidentally spiralize your finger…), but they look so unbelievably gorgeous! They muddy up the pesto in this dish a bit with their red juices, but their earthy sweetness works so well, here!

So this pesto—it’s super flavorful! It’s fresh, kinda spicy from the raw garlic and arugula, a bit tart from the lemon juice, and kinda creamy from the walnuts and sunflower seeds. This on the zucchini and beet noodles is excellent, but you could also toss it with real noodles, or with some roasted veggies.

I also think this dish would be amazing with some ricotta cheese mixed in, or a protein like salmon or chicken. Of course with these additions the dish would no longer be vegan, but… *side glancing eye emoji*

I also like to put the noodles on or in other things. Here’s two ways that are kinda weird, but super tasty:

I stuff them in a mini wheat tortilla that I warm in the toaster oven (excellent with some sort of sort cheese spread on the tortilla, too).

OR I pile them high on avocado toast. I have an avocado toast addiction…evidence here.