Delicious Thai Zucchini Noodles - fettuccine pasta with a homemade, spicy Thai sauce, topped with toasted sesame seeds. The sauce is made with honey, Thai red curry paste, and soy sauce (or use Tamari sauce). Asian comfort food!
I love making Asian-style noodles at home, such as these Asian Noodles with Mushrooms and Snow Peas or this Asian Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce. All these recipes are so easy to make and are so good, I make them all the time to add variety to the dinner menu at home. These fettuccine noodles with pan-fried zucchini in Asian sauce is no exception.
There is so much flavor in this simple recipe! If you're looking for an unusual way to use up your zucchinis - use them in this Asian-inspired dish.
Recipe notes
- Thai dishes are usually made with rice noodles, so in this recipe I used gluten free brown rice fettuccine which worked perfectly!
- You can use soy sauce or gluten free Tamari sauce - whichever you like. Either one works great in this recipe.
- Make sure to toast sesame seeds briefly in the oven, just until they become just a little bit brown. Toasted sesame seeds are so flavorful!
- This is a meatless recipe, but you can add rotisserie chicken, salmon, or other types of fish.
Ingredients you need to make Thai zucchini noodles
- fettuccine pasta (for gluten free, use gluten free brown rice fettuccine)
- olive oil
- zucchini
- soy sauce or gluten free Tamari sauce
- honey
- chicken stock
- Thai red curry paste
- green onions
- toasted sesame seeds
How to make Thai zucchini noodles
Start by slicing 2 medium size zucchinis and cooking them in olive oil until soft and slightly browned:
Then, make a basic Thai sauce, completely from scratch, using just a few simple ingredients: soy sauce, honey, chicken stock, red curry paste, and green onions! The only ingredient you would probably have to specially shop for is red curry paste (I personally always have it in my fridge - I use it a lot in Asian-style dishes):
Finally, combine cooked and drained fettuccine pasta with cooked zucchini and the homemade Thai sauce. Then, top the pasta with toasted sesame seeds. That's it! Your Thai zucchini noodles are ready!
Thai Zucchini Noodles
Ingredients
- 8 oz pasta preferably Fettuccine (for gluten free, use gluten free brown rice fettuccine)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 zucchini , sliced
- salt
- ¼ cup soy sauce or gluten free Tamari sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon red curry paste (Thai)
- 5 green onions , chopped
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds , toasted
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente, drain, set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add sliced zucchini, sprinkle with salt, and cook for about 1 or 2 minutes,flipping a couple of times. Zucchini should not get too soft. Remove zucchini from the skillet to the plate.
- Add soy sauce, honey, chicken stock, and red curry paste, to the same empty skillet. Heat up and mix everything to combine. Add chopped green onions to the sauce, and mix. Then, immediately, remove from heat.
- Add the cooked fettuccine to the skillet with the sauce and stir to coat. Add cooked zucchini, mix. Top with toasted sesame seeds.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
You need to answer the questions your followers ask. I have the same questions and would love to see the answers.
Honey listed twice? confusing, please clarify.
Hi! How essential is the Thai red curry paste? I'm having trouble finding it. Trader's Joe's has a Thai style red curry sauce. I wonder if that'll work. Thoughts on omitting or swapping?
Try using Thia Kitchen Red Curry Paste.... and as.for.her 2 things of honey I used the smaller portion to put on mine after as I'm ot big on super spice or just omit it
Yes, Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste is a great choice - that's what I used!
Hi. I'm planning to try this but I see honey listed twice in the ingredients...first 1/4 cup and then 2 T but you only mention honey once in the instructions. I'm thinking of using only the 2T but just wanted to let you know since it is a bit confusing.
I loved this recipe! We added some ginger and garlic to the sauce and baby corn to the pasta. Served it with Sriracha. Thanks for an easy vegan weeknight recipe!
Could you clarify the amount of honey to be used? Thank you!
Heidi, I see where the confusion is coming from. When I listed honey twice (¼ cup honey and 2 tablespoons honey) what I meant is that you add 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of honey into the sauce all at once. I hope it clarifies the confusion. The total amount of honey to be used in this recipe is 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons and it is all added AT ONCE into the sauce.
Can you use udon noodles instead of fettuccine?
Absolutely!
I make zucchini noodles out of my zucchini and use less of the pasta. The recipe as written makes too much for 2 of us, but with less pasta it works great. Love this sauce.
So glad you liked this recipe! Great idea to make zucchini noodles out of zucchini and use them for this recipe.
Can you confirm the amount of honey in this recipe.
It’s listed twice. Do I need a 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp or is that an error?
Thanks
You need to use 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of honey - it's not an error. Enjoy the recipe!
Looks delicious. However, I am vegan. Is it possible to substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth? Would it be as tastey?
Majority of the flavor comes from soy sauce, honey, and Thai red curry paste, so if you use vegetable broth, you won't lose much flavor at all. 🙂
What can you use in place of red curry paste
Red curry paste makes this pasta really flavorful, I can't really think of anything else that can create the same flavor.
Hey there, planning on trying this tonight. Looks really good! Two questions...chicken broth instead of chicken stock should be fine right? Also, I found sesame seeds at the store but they don't say they are toasted? I found them in the Asian section.
Yes, chicken broth and chicken stock both work. My sesame seeds come untoasted, too, I toast them in the oven at 350 F for about 5 minutes or until they just turn a little bit brown. They are much tastier when toasted!
Omg! I made this the other night and it was to die for!! And i was so shocked at how quick it was to make. I added mushrooms in mine and shredded rotisserie chicken. So so good. Im making it again tomorrow night because it went so quickly. I think i want to try adding a bit of ginger in this time. Do you think it would go well in this recipe? Thanks for sharing. Definitely on one of my top favorite recipes now!
Thank you, Anna, so glad you liked it! Adding chicken and mushrooms sounds delicious! I think ginger will work great here!
Which brand of curry paste do you use for this recipe?
Not sure what brand she used here. But i used the Thai Kitchen brand its in a small glass jar.
This was so easy and SO delicious! Even my kiddos loved it
Thank you, Jennifer!
Hi there, what do you think about adding mushrooms?
Mushrooms would be great here!
That is a very good and extremely fast recipe, especially when you use those asian noodles that are just soaked in hot water. Thank you!
Thank you!
As written, has way too much salt from soy sauce. Recommend using 1/2 as muxh and possible subsituting fish sauce for some of it. When using fish sauce, make sure to add it only a minute or two before removing from heat, or it will lose flavor. (Less time cooking, and it still smells bad.)
Also consider rice noodles. This is a fine basic Thai-ish recipd otherwise. But consider lemon grass, lime, galangal, and/or thai basil as ways to spice it up.
Thank you for your feedback and your tips! Using rice noodles is a great idea, as well as spicing up the dish with lime and Thai basil!