Garlic Shrimp and Sausage Zoodle Recipe

Cason and I have jumped on the #newyearnewme bandwagon in 2016 and we’re trying to fix healthier meals! That basically means we’ve officially gone low carb. (Insert terrified face.) In case you didn’t know this about me, I’m addicted to pasta… like I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner hence why I need to cut back some. Pinterest keeps insisting that instead of spaghetti noodles I can spiralize a zucchini and it’ll taste the same. Who do they think they’re trying to play?! I was craving my mom’s garlic shrimp and parsley pasta and figured it was time to bite the bullet and give these zoodles a try. It was a hit! No lies. It doesn’t taste like a bed of angel hair pasta so you have to get over the difference in texture but other than that, it tasted delicious! I altered my mom’s recipe a little bit by using less olive oil and adding in some chicken sausage for extra protein. We always use Adel’s chicken and apple sausage because it’s so good! Obviously, I switched out the pasta for zucchini and the results were just as good but without the guilt!

Garlic Shrimp and Sausage Zoodles (recipe serves 2)

:: 3 medium-sized zucchini
:: 2 teaspoons of olive oil, divided
:: 8 ounces of shrimp, peeled and deveined
:: 2 links of Adel’s chicken and apple sausage
:: 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped, divided
:: salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
:: freshly chopped parsley
:: freshly squeezed lemon juice

Step 1 | Use a spiralizer to cut the zucchini into noodles.

Step 2 | In a large skillet over medium heat add 1 tsp of olive oil and half of the minced garlic, sauté for 1 minute. Add shrimp, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and sauté shrimp until they have turned pink (around 5 minutes), then set shrimp aside. Cook sausage according to package directions and set aside to add at the end.

Step 3 | Add the remaining olive oil and garlic to the skillet and sauté for 1 minute. Add zucchini noodles and a little salt and pepper to taste. Stir zoodles for 2 minutes and remove from heat. (Tip: don’t cook zoodles for more than 2 minutes or they can become watery. Once my zoodles were cooked, I even got a paper towel and absorbed some of the water so it didin’t get mixed into my final product.)

Step 4 | Toss together zucchini noodles, shrimp, sausage, parsley, and fresh lemon juice. Serve immediately!

Zoodles for the win!