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Quick MealsPesto zoodles with roasted poblanos are a light, tasty take on pesto pasta. A low carb, gluten-free, vegetarian recipe to make for an easy weeknight dinner. There’s a vegan option, too! With arugula, poblano peppers, basil, and cilantro, this pesto has some zippy heat and incredible summery taste.
Poblano pesto zoodles, OMG delicious and just pure genius! That roasted poblano pesto… I CAN’T EVEN BEGIN to describe my love.
You see, I’ve been on a fresh, light food kick for a few weeks now. Well, minus the barbecue gluten-free meatloaf. But I think it’s about time to shed some of that winter worry and get back to what matters – family, and good, fresh, healthy food. Am I right?
Maybe now that the husband is coming home I should try to lay off the cookie dough for a while. If you missed that confession, just check out my behind-the-scenes post on Instagram. Haha!
And just in time for all that light, fresh spring food comes my friend Jessica Merchant’s (How Sweet Eats) new cookbook, The Pretty Dish. Just from the cover, it’s stunning. I mean, WOW! Bright, beautiful, happy photography and totally DELICIOUS food!
Of course, I went straight for the poblano pesto zoodles because I’m on a HUGE pesto kick. Um, just wait till next week and you’ll see why. Anyways, this sounded outrageously good and GAH, it sure delivered. With a little heat from the poblanos and an infusion of herby flavor from arugula, basil, and cilantro, it tasted fresh, summery, and a little zippy.
On a side note, this pesto zoodles recipes happens to be one of the most made recipes on Pretty Dish so far!
I don’t blame everyone for wanting to make this pesto zoodles dish. I’m keeping it on rotation all summer here at the Cotter household.
Now let’s talk more about Jessica’s book.
The Pretty Dish Cookbook
The Pretty Dish is one of those cookbooks full of healthy comfort foods. There’s a lot packed in, so you’ll always find something to make. By the way, that hummus is soooo amazing! Oatmeal station? Yup, Jessica’s on it. She’s also got a DIY beauty section, and I’m eyeing the face scrub recipe. Believe me, there’s MORE. The Pretty Dish has a little of everything you’d want in a cookbook. It’s FUN, pretty, and healthy – what more could you ask for?
And, just to encourage any pesto-haters, you’ll want to give this poblano pesto recipe a try. I have a friend who is a pesto-hater, seriously, and she totally fell in LOVE when I made her the pesto zoodles.
Just in case you like it when I get all nutritional nerdy on you, this pesto pasta is loaded with vitamin C and powerful antioxidants. So go make this AMAZING pesto, you will love it, too!
Ingredients in this Pesto Zoodles recipe:
Made with simple Ingredients you probably already have …
- Poblano Peppers
- Olive oil
- Parmesan (Vegans sub with Nutritional Yeast)
- Basil
- Argula
- Salt and pepper
- Lemon
- Garlic
Plus you can use it in more than just zoodles. Maybe poblano pesto potato salad should be made next. Thoughts? Um, yes!
Pesto Zoodles with Roasted Poblanos
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Roasted Poblano Pesto Zoodles are a light, tasty take on pesto pasta, perfect for a spring or summer meal. A low carb, gluten-free, vegetarian dish to make for an easy weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
Poblano Pesto:
- 2 poblano peppers
- 1/2 cup fresh arugula
- 1/2 cup fresh basil
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Or Nutritional Yeast for Vegan option)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
Zoodles
- 2 medium zucchini squash
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Torn fresh basil, for topping
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for topping (Nutritional Yeast for Vegan option)
Instructions
To Make the Poblano Pesto:
- To roast the poblano peppers, preheat your oven’s broiler.
- Remove the core and seeds from the peppers and slice into pieces. Lay the pieces on a baking sheet. Broil skin side up for about 10 minutes, or until the skins are completely charred and black. Broiling time can vary, so check every 2 minutes or so. Immediately remove the peppers from the oven and use kitchen tongs to quickly place them in a resealable plastic bag. Seal the bag and set aside for 20 to 30 minutes, or until softened.
- Remove the peppers from the bag. Peel off and discard the skin. It’s okay if a little bit of char remains as it adds to the flavor.
- In a food processor, combine the peppers, arugula, basil, cilantro, Parmesan, salt and black pepper. Process until the mixture is combined, then stream in the olive oil with the processor running.
To Make the Zoodles:
- Spiralize the zucchini into noodles.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute, then stir in the lemon juice. Add the zoodles and toss well to coat.
- Cook, tossing often, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the zoodles soften slightly. Add in the poblano pesto and toss well. Cook for 5 minutes, or until warmed.
- Serve immediately with basil and Parmesan cheese (or nutritional yeast).
Notes
Vegan option: Replace the parmesan in the pesto with nutritional yeast
Tip: If you’re just getting into zucchini noodles, try combining them with gluten-free pasta. Use half regular gluten free pasta, half zucchini noodles, and toss. It’s a great way to incorporate more veggies and lighten up the meal.
Adapted from The Pretty Dish Cookbook
- Category: main
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: pesto, zoodles, zucchini noodles, roasted peppers
Alright my friends, have a lovely weekend! I will catch up next week when the Superfood Meal plan challenge starts.
For now, I’m off to Napa for a conference and to celebrate the Kiwi’s 36th bday!! Wow, we’re old, but in a fresh kind of way.
Favorite type of pesto? Hook me up!
Cheers!
Hi, I’m Lindsay! Gluten Free Nutrition Specialist, food photographer and author of 
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You and Jessica are the best 🙂
★★★★★
no YOU ARE! <3
Wow, I love how easy this recipe looks! The vegan option for the pesto sounds heavenly with the zucchini noodles. My mother also sautes her zucchini noodles in a little olive oil with onions and garlic. It tastes so heavenly and I prefer zoodles cooked this way over raw!
That sounds divine! Love that simple sauté Cassie!
Ps like mother like daughter right? ?
I think my family would love this pesto… maybe even enough to get them to eat the zoodles!
★★★★★
Looks amazing! Love the flavors.
★★★★★
Bro. I love that you’re on the zoodle train and that you’ve gotten ME back on the zoodle train. Love this pesto add. I wanna put an egg all over this!
Yum! Zoodles are so much fun!
★★★★★
That sauce is amazing!! Poblanos have so much flavor!
★★★★★
totally agree! so much flavor!
Holy wow! These look and sound so awesome!
★★★★★
I’ve got a pesto pasta recipe coming up….hopefully next week, although I’ve been saying that for three weeks now. Oops. Anyway, I love your spin on it with zoodles and poblano peppers. Mine involves goat cheese. 🙂
Pesto is one of my favorite dishes in the entire world, but I’ve never done it on zoodles. I’m kind of eyeing your cookbook for a birthday request, but now this one looks amazing too.
Always in the mood for pesto!!
I would like to cook this one to impress my wife!
★★★★★
she will most definitely be impressed! 😉
This really looks very tasty
Looks delicious and attractive, thank you for sharing the recipe I will learn to do it
The pesto is totally delicious! My really wanted leftovers (to bring in to work for lunch) so we doubled everything. I’m not sure that only 2 zucchini would have been enough for us two adults to eat.It shrank a good deal while cooking. I cooked up some pork chorizo and sprinkled a couple spoonfuls on top when everything was served and it turned out great.
Thank you for the yummy recipe!
★★★★★
Oh I love it! great idea with the chorizo. I bet that tasted AMAZING!!!
That looks amazing! Our zoodles always come out a little soggy. Any helpful tips?
So here’s my trick! Slightly bake your zoodles. Place on baking sheet at 400F for 10 minutes. Let me know if you try it!
Awesome! We will give that a try next time!
Looks amazing and delicious ! Love the flavors.
I ma so in love with all things poblano so am very excited about this recipe! And this cookbook too – I’ve been seeing it all over the place I think I need to buy it! And also buy a spiralizer 🙂
★★★★★
Yay! Yes, Jessica’s book is amazing!! Let me know if you buy it!
Oh my. Made these too and loved them.
Question. Can you make zoodles and freeze them so you don’t have to pull out your spiralizer every time or will that compromise the flavor
★★★★★
Good question! I would freeze the sauce separate then reheat when ready to use with noodles. But if you want to try making it and freezing it all together, go for it. Maybe reheat in oven vs microwave. Just a thought
This sounds tasty but my partner is not so keen on the flavour of nutritional yeast is there another substitute I could use for the parmesan please?