Cherry Tomato Arrabbiata Zoodles (paleo, GF)
Have you ever craved tomatoes for days on end? I’ve noticed recently that all I want is tomatoes! Tomatoes in my salad, tomatoes in my sauce, tomatoes as a side, even tomatoes in my quiche (scroll down on my home page, and you’ll see). Luckily this has resulted in lots of delicious tomato recipe experimentation in the kitchen.
Like this Cherry Tomato Arrabbiata Zoodles recipe… aka zoodles covered in spicy, tart yet sweet, rich tomato and garlic sauce. Italy in a bowl in less than 15 minutes!
This cherry tomato arrabbiata sauce is seriously one of my favorite things.
It’s perfect in the way that fresh garlic and tomatoes can only be. I can’t even begin to explain how good something this simple is.
The sauce begins with roasting garlic and crushed red pepper in olive oil.
Then cooking the cherry tomatoes until they are softened.
They almost caramelize, while still remaining juicy and crunchy. (I drool).
The sauce is then flavored with basil, oregano, salt, and pepper… and that’s it.
And if the sauce wasn’t good enough on it’s own, the combination of the cherry tomato arrabbiata sauce with spiralized zoodles is almost to good to be true.
Zucchini + cherry tomatoes were clearly meant to be.
The combo of zucchini and tomato actually reminds me of ratatouille.
But the crushed red pepper gives it the kick that arrabbiata is known and loved for.
Which makes one think of pasta!
However, I find using zucchini shaped like pasta is a great pasta replacement.
The crunch is satisfying (for me anyways). 🙂
This recipe is really quite addicting, which is great because it can be made in less than 15 minutes! Something that is key for me and all my tomato cravings.
Speaking of tomato cravings, I actually got concerned with my love of tomatoes recently, so I looked up tomato cravings.
Did you know that something called tomatophagia exists?! The article that I read suggests severe tomato cravings can indicate an iron deficiency or other vitamin deficiencies.
Very interesting… but I’m hoping that I just really love tomatoes right now.
Note: I loved this recipe with 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper. If you don’t like spicy, try 1/8 tsp but if you love extra spicy, you could try putting even more in.
Cherry Tomato Arrabbiata Zoodles (paleo, GF, vegan)
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1 Tbs + 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 heaping Tbs of chopped garlic (this was 8 cloves of garlic for me)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes , halved (this was 10.5 ounces for me)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
Instructions
- Spiralize the zucchini with a spiralizer. I used the Chipper Blade from my Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer. Place the spiralized zucchini into a colander/strainer. Put a large pinch of salt onto the zucchini, toss it around and then let the zucchini sit so that the liquid can drain from it.
- Put the olive oil into a sauté pan, put the chopped garlic into the oil and mix together. Then turn the stovetop heat to medium-high heat and let the garlic cook for 1.5-2 minutes. Make sure to stir the garlic often and watch it carefully, to make sure it doesn't burn and if it starts to turn brown too quickly, remove it from heat and then put it back on. Add the crushed red pepper, mix into the garlic and heat for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from heat and let everything simmer while cooling off.
- Reduce the stove top heat to medium. Put the pan with the garlic back on the burner, add the cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Mix together and let everything cook for about 9-10 minutes. You'll notice that the tomatoes will soften and the sauce will thicken. Make sure to mix every so often.
- While the tomatoes cook, put the zucchini noodles on top of paper towels. With another paper towel, press down on top of the zucchini noodles, getting all the excess moisture out.
- Once the tomatoes have cooked for 9-10 minutes, increase the stove top heat to medium-high and add the zucchini noodles to the pan. Cook for 1 minute and 30 seconds, mixing often.
Nutrition
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3 Comments on “Cherry Tomato Arrabbiata Zoodles (paleo, GF)”
This was so good. Very flavorful and really yummy. So easy to make too. I will definitely make this again. Thank you for posting.
I’m happy to hear it! It’s one of my favorite ways to eat cherry tomatoes 🙂
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