This low carb spaghetti recipe was a lifesaver when I first transitioned to low carb eating. Still a go-to meal for me 7 years later. The zucchini noodles are a great substitute to satisfy my pasta cravings.
Is pasta even permitted on a low carb keto diet? Not regular spaghetti! Or low carb recipe below is though.
Want my #1 favorite Easy Keto Recipe? Download it here
Low carb pasta recipe
- Prep Time: ~25 min
- Cook Time: ~20 min
- Makes 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds ground turkey or ground beef (defrosted)
- 1 huge bottle of store bought spaghetti sauce (or 2 smaller ones)
- 12 fresh zucchinis (the key to low carb spaghetti)
- 1/4 cup of Olive oil (my favorite below)
- Salt (my favorite salt company below)
Instructions:
Brown your meat:
Brown your ground meat in pan large enough to hold all the meat & spaghetti sauce. Leave all the fat (don’t drain the fat). Pour your bottle of spaghetti sauce on top of the browned meat and stir it together. Heat the meat sauce on HIGH til it reaches a slow boil, then turn heat to LOWEST setting and simmer for additional 15-20 minutes.
While your meat sauce simmers…
Prepare your zucchini:
Rinse your zucchinis and lop off all the ends with a knife. Slice zucchinis in half lengthwise then slice each halve into long thin strips that resemble noodles. I don’t obsess over this step. Just do something that reasonably approximates noodles — long and thin, like spaghetti noodles or even long, & flat like ribbon noodles – doesn’t matter.
In a large wok or pan, heat your olive oil on MED/HIGH til it shimmers and pops. It may even smoke a little. Once the oil is hot, add your zucchini noodles with some salt and flash fry them for about 3 minutes, stirring rapidly.
Remove zucchini noodles from heat and drain off excess oil and water in a strainer.
Serve your noodles in a large bowl with your spaghetti meat sauce on top. Enjoy!
Shopping notes:
I’ve noticed that fresh “Zucchini” are now also being called “Italian Squash” in some stores — they are the same thing. Be careful not to buy cucumbers which look similar. I’ve done that before :(.
Some premium grocery stores like Whole Foods and Central Market now sell pre-made zucchini noodles. I buy them whenever possible as it saves me about 15-20 minutes of prep time.
Low carb spaghetti sauce
For the low carb spaghetti sauce, there easy and REALLY easy options.
I get the large bottles off the bottom shelf and opt for whichever brand has the lowest carbs & sugar on the nutritional label. Sometimes, I just buy cans of tomato sauce and use it unseasoned (still tastes great).
Any olive oil and salt will work. I love me some himalayan sea salt. San Francisco salt company is my favorite spot to order salt online. A good quality olive oil is always good to have in the kitchen.
If you want to get a little more fancy with your keto spaghetti sauce to go with your low carb pasta, this recipe is highly rated. It’s still and easy no-cook recipe and goes great with zucchini pasta or spaghetti squash pasta, both low carb staples.
Cut your meal prep time by 50%
Like you I wanna eat low carb but don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen. I’ve figured out recipes that cut your meal prep time. I wanna share them with you.
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- Want to cheat and grab a straight up low carb pasta substitute? Here are 10 of the best.
- Looking for low carb alternatives to pasta and noodles? Here are the top 11 choices out there.
- Want an alternative route to spaghetti? Spaghetti squash casserole is really yummy.
- Did you know you can create a low carb pasta alternatives out of avocados. Yep! It even surprised me.
Think you’ll try this one out? Reply back and let me know.
Cheers,
-Mr. SkinnyPants
Want my #1 favorite Easy Keto Recipe? Download it here
I was not able to locate the nutritional value per serving on your recipes. Are they available and if so where can I see that? Thanks Aprel