Turkey Marinara over Zucchini Noodles

Name: Turkey Marinara over Zucchini Noodles
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 2-3 medium zucchini; 1 lb. lean ground turkey; 1 cup baby spinach (chopped); 1 - 2 cups pasta sauce (organic, no sugar added); 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese; salt + pepper; crushed red pepper and fresh oregano (optional)

By Brittany Mullins

Published May 28, 2015, Updated Feb 14, 2023

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Use zucchini noodles instead of pasta for a low-cal, low-carb turkey marinara pasta dish. With only five ingredients and about 15 minutes of prep time, this is a fast, healthy and easy meal you can make any night of the week.

With eating healthier, one great thing to focus on is eating more vegetables, especially green veggies. They’re nutrient-dense, low in calories, packed with fiber and fill you up. And no surprise, most Americans don’t eat enough.

Setting a goal for yourself to have a least one serving of vegetables (one serving = 1/2 – 1 cup) with every meal sounds so much better than saying I’m going to cut out or avoid _______ (insert unhealthy food item here). Mentally “adding in” doesn’t feel restrictive or cause feelings of deprivation the way “cutting out” does, BUT it’s just as effective because the veggies that you add into your diet take the place of the less-nutritious food you were eating previously. It’s a concept called crowding out and one that I happen to love.

There are plenty of ways to add more vegetables into your diet, but today I want to talk about one of my favorites at the moment — vegetable noodles! With a spiralizer you can make noodles out of almost any vegetable and use them in place of pasta or rice.

Volume eaters like myself LOVE veggie noodles because you eat a big bowl of “pasta” virtually guilt-free. Just to put it into perspective, 1 cup of regular pasta is around 180-220 cals, one cup of zucchini is about 20 cals. I mean, come on!

Veggie noodles aren’t new — people have been making them for years with a mandoline slicers and vegetable peelers, but now we have spiralizers and they make the process sooo easy. I’ve tried all the methods possible to make veggie noodles and the spiralizer is by far the easiest and fastest method. I’m pretty much obsessed with mine.

There are different spiralizer options out there, but I like this type the best! It has three interchangeable blade inserts so you can make a variety of of cuts and slices. Plus it’s relatively small so it doesn’t take up too much space in your kitchen cabinet. If you buy one, I promise you won’t regret it! There are so many fun ways to use it.

In honor of adding in more veggies and spiralizing it up, I thought I’d share with you a simple meal with zucchini noodles that Isaac and I have been loving lately. As I’m sure you know by now, I’m all about quick and easy meals and this dish totally fits the bill. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare and only requires 5 main ingredients.

It’s our new go-to pasta dish and soon to be your’s.

PS – Aren’t the blue and yellow bowls cute? I love using colorful serving dishes to brighten up a meal!

Be sure to check out the full collection of ground turkey recipes here on EBF!

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