My favorite thing this summer is zucchini noodles or zoodles for short. I just CANNOT get enough of them. I’m not sure why I waited so long to try them, but I’m so glad they’re a part of my food life now.
I use this fun little gadget to turn the zucchini into zoodles. It’s very simple to use, and even my 10 year old helps me make them.
Since I started eating healthier 2 years ago, one dish that I’ve really missed is Baked Spaghetti Casserole. True, I could use Dreamfield’s pasta, but I try to use as little processed foods as possible, plus using zucchini packs more of a nutritional punch.
Since I started making zoodles all the time, I got the idea to try to use those in place of regular noodles in the Baked Spaghetti Casserole. Well, I’m SO happy to report that they worked beautifully and I can now eat my new version of an old classic guilt free.
If you follow Trim Healthy Mama, this is an S dish. This dish is sugar-free, gluten-free and grain-free. But it tastes delicious, I promise!
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium skillet, over medium heat brown the ground beef, onion and green pepper until ground beef is no longer pink.
Meanwhile in a non-stick skillet, salt and sauté the zoodles over medium heat for 7 minutes, making sure to move them frequently so they don’t burn to the bottom of the pan. The salt will flavor them, but also remove some their liquid.
After the 7 minutes is up, place them on a clean plate. If you feel like they’re releasing a lot of liquid, make sure you squeeze them before you transfer them to the plate.
Once the beef is done cooking, add the spaghetti sauce to the pan and simmer on low. In a small bowl, whisk the 2 eggs and add the Parmesan cheese and butter. Stir to combine. Add the zoodles to the egg mixture and toss to coat them.
In another bowl combine the cottage cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, 2 c. of mozzarella cheese and the sour cream. Stir to combine.
Lightly grease a 9×13 pan. Place the zoodle/egg mixture in the bottom of the pan. Press down into the pan. Wash your hands and then place the cheese mixture on top of the zoodles.
Next, add the sauce and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.
Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. Let the casserole stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serve alongside a side salad, broccoli or green beans.
Baked Spaghetti "Zoodle" Casserole (THM: S, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free)
Yield 4-6 servings
Ingredients
- 1# ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
- (4) medium zucchini, made into noodles using this (or a similar) gadget
- 24 oz. no sugar added spaghetti sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
- 4 T. butter, melted and cooled
- 16 oz. 2 or 4 % cottage cheese
- 1 t. Italian seasoning
- 1/2 t. garlic powder
- 3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1/4 c. sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium skillet, over medium heat brown the ground beef, onion and green pepper until ground beef is no longer pink.
- Meanwhile in a non-stick skillet, salt and sauté the zoodles over medium heat for 7 minutes, making sure to move them frequently so they don't burn to the bottom of the pan. The salt will flavor them, but also remove some their liquid. After the 7 minutes is up, place them on a clean plate. If you feel like they're releasing a lot of liquid, make sure you squeeze them before you transfer them to the plate.
- Once the beef is done cooking, add the spaghetti sauce to the pan and simmer on low. In a small bowl, whisk the 2 eggs and add the Parmesan and butter. Stir to combine. Add the zoodles to the egg mixture and toss to coat them.In another bowl combine the cottage cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, 2 c. of mozzarella cheese and the sour cream. Stir to combine.
- Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Place the zoodle/egg mixture in the bottom of the pan. Press down into the pan. Wash your hands and then place the cheese mixture on top of the zoodles. Next, add the sauce and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.
- Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. Let the casserole stand for 5 minutes before serving.
The dish came out excellent, sloppy but excellent!
What a fantastic recipe! I made if for dinner last night and my husband said "You could make this once a week!" It was a hit!
So glad you both liked it!!
Glad you liked it!
Can you make this without the butter? Trying to shave out some of the calories in this dish, but other than that it sounds DELISH!
You need a bit of butter (or oil) to help coat the pasta or the parm won't stick. You could reduce to 2T., per serving that would be about 1 t.
Thanks 🙂 we are about to get snowmagedon here and I need a comfort food to get me through it. Quick question, do you have the stats on the calories/nutrition per serving?
to quote my mother in law: "this is heavenly."
This looks yummy! Do you think it would freeze well?
Hi Darci! Love your website! I'm trying to print your recipes from a mobile device, but the printable version is not coming up correctly. It still has the extra information that would normally be located on your page (sidebar) Do you have any advice?
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You could copy and laste it into Word (or Open Office Doc) amd print from there.
Love this recipe! Am going camping in a few weeks and am wondering if you think this can be made in a crockpot? (Won’t have access to an oven) ….
Yes absolutely!
If I make this a day ahead, will it re-heat well?
Yes