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If you haven’t heard of zoodles yet, you must be living under a rock, because these bad boys seem to be everywhere these days. Zoodles are the magical delicacy known more formally as zucchini noodles. I know they sound weird, but I promise they’re a delicious answer to your late-night carb cravings. Versatile and easy to make, zucchini noodles are a great alternative to regular noodles or pasta. And it doesn’t stop there. You can make noodles out of plenty of different vegetables, including carrots and yellow squash. Zoodles are my favorite, though—partly because of the taste, partly because of the catchy name.

I like to use zoodles as a salad topping with a squeeze of lemon juice and some red pepper flakes, or as main dish with some tofu and peanut dressing. But I recently subbed them in as an accompaniment to equally yummy and healthy baked eggplant parmesan. Eggplant parm is one of those classic dishes that gets my mouth watering. But it is greasy and always leaves me feeling uncomfortably full after I eat it. In my version of the dish, I baked the eggplant without smothering it in a heavy batter while keeping it gooey and savory with layers of mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

There are a number of ways to turn a regular zucchini into crunchy noodles. The easiest is with a spiralizer, which I purchased at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. But if you don’t have access to one of those, a cheese grater or even a vegetable peeler will work fine. Enjoy your oodles and oodles of zoodles!

Ingredients:

One large eggplant, cut into thin rounds
One large zucchini, washed
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
Marinara sauce
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a deep baking dish, layer marinara sauce, eggplant rounds, and mozzarella cheese. Add more sauce and cheese to your liking, stacking the eggplant rounds until they reach the top of the dish.
3. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until cheese has melted and eggplant rounds have softened.
4. While eggplant bakes, heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat.
5. Spiralize, grate, or peel zucchini into thin noodles, and drain excess water.
6. Stir-fry noodles with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste for 2 to 3 minutes, until zoodles are cooked, but still crunchy. Set aside.
7. Add a hearty layer of parmesan cheese to the eggplant and bake for 5 more minutes until cheese is golden brown.
8. Sit a few minutes before serving to cool. Top zoodles with marinara sauce and dig in!