It’s amazing how something like zucchini, spiralized into noodles, can taste so much like pasta. If you know me, Italian food is my favorite. I will eat risotto, penne, farfalle (is that how you spell it??), all day long. It’s not an exact substitute, but plenty good enough to give me my Italian fix while still cutting out a huge amount of starch, calories, and carbs.
This healthy pasta recipe makes a HUGE plate of food which will fill you up. If you have been following me, you know I started a new program recently that is focused on mindset and makes portion control really easy. I’ve done several other rigorous programs that have much more specifically defined meal plans which work great, but this program is perfect for an extremely simple (and simple to follow) guidelines for success that you can carry forward, even if you aren’t following an extremely defined meal plan based program.
For this zoodles recipe, I spiced it up with red pepper flakes and some Srirachi sauce. I mixed turkey meatballs in with chicken sausages (both were premade in the grocery store), but you could just as easily use only chicken sausages or just turkey meatballs. It’s preferable to make your own turkey meatballs, but I’m a busy mom so…. I was keeping it simple for myself!
Variations: For the portion size, I used a total of 12 meatballs and 4 chicken sausages, so each serving was the equivalent of 3 meatballs and 1 chicken sausage. If you are just using chicken sausages, I would use about 6 of them, and if I were only doing meatballs, I would use about 24 of them. You can be flexible here and pick what you’d like! Also, you can swap out diced tomatoes for crushed or actual tomato sauce, choose what you like and the consistency you want.
If you enjoy this recipe, please comment below!
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Turkey Meatball & Chicken Sausage with Zoodles & Marinara Sauce Ingredients (makes 4 Servings)
- (1) 16oz Bag of Frozen Turkey Meatballs
- (1) Package of Chicken Sausage (4 sausages)
OR - Homemade meatballs:
- 1 lb 93% Lean Ground Turkey
- 1/4 cup Bran Cereal, pulsed in a food processor
- 3 Green Onions (Scallions), chopped
- 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1/2 Tsp Salt & Pepper
- 1-1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- (6) Zucchini, Spiralized
- (1) 16 oz Can Diced Tomatos
- (2) Cloves Garlic
- (1) Small Package Mushrooms, Sliced
- (1) Yellow Onion, Sliced into chunks
- Parmesan Cheese
Turkey Meatball & Chicken Sausage with Zoodles & Marinara Sauce – Cooking Directions
If you are making homemade turkey meatballs – combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix with clean hands, roll into (16) 1-1/2″ meatballs.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until browned, on a pan with a little oil to prevent sticking.
Heat a large non-stick skillet on medium heat. In the pan, add a little olive oil (1 tsp), and add in the mushrooms and onions, and cook. You can also add peppers here, if you’d like – I used some red peppers, but green or yellow or a combo works too! Add in the garlic as well.
Saute until soft, about 3 – 4 minutes.
Add the diced tomatoes, salt & pepper to flavor. If you’d like some spice you can add in some red pepper flakes here. Lower the heat to medium-low.
Slice the chicken sausage. Add to the pan along with the meatballs. Simmer for 3 – 4 minutes until heated thoroughly.
In another nonstick pan, heat on medium with a little olive oil. Saute the Zucchini Zoodles for 2 – 3 minutes. They don’t take very long – the longer you cook them, the softer they get, so I prefer them on the quick side. Hot, but not overcooked.
Divide the zoodles onto four plates. Top with 1/4 of the pasta & meat sauce. If you’d like it spicier, add in some srirachi sauce or hot pepper flakes.
Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp of Parmesan Cheese. You can garnish with parsley or green onions if you’d like. Serve and enjoy!
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