Warm Zucchini Noodles with fried halloumi and burst tomatoes is a delicious, low-carb, and healthy alternative to a traditional pasta dish. It's quick and easy to make, naturally gluten-free, and a great way to get in extra veggies!
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Some time ago I dutifully went out and bought myself a spiralizer, because it seemed like I could hardly maintain any credibility as a vegetarian / nutritionist / food blogger without one. So I ordered the thing online and waited for it to arrive, all the while picturing myself serenely sitting down to bowl after bowl of zucchini noodles with a variety of maximally-healthy toppings.
Well. It came, I spiralized, and whomp whomp whooooomp. Turns out that a bowl of cold zucchini noodles is not the same as a bowl of warm, soul-satisfying, stick-to-yer-ribs god-honest pasta.
But then one day I had a lightbulb moment and decided to warm the zucchini noodles up, and you know what? It was a total game changer.
Paired with fried halloumi cheese - a satisfying source of protein and fat - and saucy burst tomatoes, these Warm Zucchini Noodles are one of my favourite quick and easy weeknight dinners, especially when I'm cooking for one.
What's in this Warm Zucchini Noodle Salad?
Just three superstar ingredients, my friends, plus a little support from oil, salt, and spices.
- Zucchini - duh, you can't make a zucchini noodle salad without zucchini.
- Halloumi cheese - more on this later.
- Cherry tomatoes - we're gonna burst these suckers stovetop to maximize their flavour
Equipment:
You're going to need a spiralizer or some other tool to make the zucchini noodles. This is the spiralizer I have, and it works well enough, but it's definitely a tool I'd consider upgrading at some point.
No spiralizer? Worry not, friends, there's more than one way to shred a zucchini. You can use a julienne peeler, a mandoline with a julienne blade, or even a plain old vegetable peeler to get ribbons of zucchini instead.
How do I make this warm zucchini noodle dish?
It's simple, my friends, and I'll talk you thought it step by step.
Step 1: Prepare your ingredients. Spiralize your zucchini, slice your tomatoes, and cube your halloumi.
Step 2: Get your pan ready. Even though this recipe makes a single serving, you're gonna want to pull out a nice big pan. Zucchini noodles take up a lot of space!
First, get your pan nice and hot. Add a bit of olive oil, and then the tomatoes. Let them cook, undisturbed, for a few minutes until they get a bit of colour on one side and start to burst and spew liquid all over the place.
Step 3: Throw in the halloumi, and let it get a bit golden.
Step 4: Now the zucchini noodles go in and everything gets a good toss until the zucchini is heated through.
Step 5: Slide everything into a bowl, season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and dinner is done!
Pro tips / recipe notes:
I'm assuming that most of you are more interested in a quick and easy dinner than making an instagram-worthy meal, so I've included real life instructions here. This is how I usually do it, but be warned that the zucchini noodles pick up colour from the tomatoes and the whole dish ends up looking kinda brown. (Photo here for reference)
If you want your zucchini noodles to look beautiful, you'll need to cook them first, then put them into a bowl and do the tomatoes and halloumi and add them on top.
I can't find halloumi!
If you live in the US I've heard that Trader Joe's is a good place to find halloumi, and if not that check at a Greek or Mediterranean specialty food store.
If you STILL can't find halloumi... bummer, dude. You can replace the halloumi with cubes of tofu, chickpeas, or crumbled feta or goat's cheese added at the end.
Can I make this recipe vegan?
Yup, by swapping out halloumi for tofu or chickpeas, as stated above.
Can I make this recipe in advance?
Not this time. You can spiralize the zucchini, slice the tomatoes, and cube the halloumi in advance if you want, but this is definitely not a make-ahead or freezer friendly meal.
Hey Nutrition Lady, what's the deal with Halloumi?
Halloumi is a semi-firm unripened brined cheese from Cyprus made from a mixture of goat, and sheep, and cows milk. It has a high melting point so it can be pan fried or grilled and does not melt or fall apart.
Fried halloumi is basically proof that there is a higher being, and is fantastic as a topping on salads, with pasta, or just eaten hot out of the pan.
Halloumi is a great complement to the zucchini noodles in this dish as it adds fat and protein to the dish, making it a whole heck of a lot more satiating than zucchini noodles alone.
And if you're going to eat an entire zucchini and a bunch of tomatoes and call it dinner, why not add a little cheese on top, ammiright?
Other quick and easy dishes you might enjoy:
Pan-Fried Broccoli with Sesame Egg Ribbons
Vegetarian Sheet Pan Gnocchi Bake
Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps with Spicy Sesame Tempeh
Cold Rice Noodle Salad
Beluga Lentil Salad with Halloumi Croutons
Baked Halloumi with Vegetable Ratatouille
Warm Zucchini Noodle Salad with Fried Halloumi and Burst Tomatoes
Equipment
- Spiralizer
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ pint container of cherry tomatoes halved
- 3.5 oz halloumi cubed
- 1 medium zucchini spiralized
- generous pinch of red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the tomato halves to the pan, shaking to distribute everything. Cook until they are beginning to soften and break down a bit, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the halloumi cubes to the pan with the tomatoes, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are just beginning to turn golden.
- Add the spiralized zucchini and cook, stirring constantly, until they are warm and just barely soft. A sort of "al dente" is what you're looking for - this should only take 2 minutes or so.
- Remove from the heat, slide the whole mess into a bowl, and sprinkle with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
- Enjoy immediately!
Notes
- Nutrition values are an estimate only.
- I don't have a spiralizer! Worry not, friends, there's more than one way to shred a zucchini. You can use a julienne peeler, a mandoline with a julienne blade, or even a plain old vegetable peeler to get ribbons of zucchini instead.
- Can I make this recipe vegan? Yup, by swapping out halloumi for tofu or chickpeas.
- Can I make this recipe in advance? Not this time. You can spiralize the zucchini, slice the tomatoes, and cube the halloumi in advance if you want, but this is definitely not a make-ahead or freezer friendly meal.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published January 2, 2017. It was retested, rephotographed, and updated on September 4, 2018. Last updated July 28, 2020.
Heather says
I made this tonight for a light supper. I found a slightly less salty halloomi than a kind I'd tried a while back. We had it with a few nugget potatoes and carrots. The zucchini dish was so delicious I had to lick my plate!
Constance Barbeau says
I will certainly try your recipes. Incan purchase the zucchini noodles at my store which I did before .They also sell the squash spiral noodles.I really did not have a good recipe.
Claire says
I finally had to try this since you're always talking about halloumi. I'd never had it and finally made a special trip to Trader Joe's to see what all the buzz is about. Well, I must say this was delicious and exceeded my expectations given how few ingredients there are. I don't have a spiralizer so I used my mandoline. The thin slice works a LOT better than thick. The way the tomatoes and cheese make a little sauce...yum! I had a little cheese left over and pan fried it just so I could put it in the remaining sauce.
Leesa says
So fabulous! It was quick to make and healthy. I will make this often!
Katie Trant says
This is hands down one of my favourite simple meals to make. Glad you enjoyed it as well!
Rita says
This is just my style 😉
Margot says
This sounds delicious but the salt listed seems very high. 1232mg of salt seems really high. is is cheese and is there another cheese not as high in salt
Katie Trant says
Hey Margot! First of all, I want you to know that these nutrition label generators are notoriously flawed, which is why I add the disclaimer of "nutrition values are an estimate only" to every recipe post. I did go to the store and grab a package of Halloumi to cross reference, and it says there's 2.7g of "salt" per 100g. I can only assume they're including both sodium and potassium in that number. So yes, the cheese is quite high in salt, which isn't surprising since it's a brined cheese. I don't know of a lower-sodium cheese that has the same ability to be pan-fried, so if salt is a concern for you I'd recommend using tofu or chickpeas in place of the halloumi. Not the same thing, but less salt for sure.
Allana Polack says
Yum! Made this tonight with chickpeas and it was amazing! This is going to be one of go to recipes for zucchini and tomatoes bc its simple, quick, delicious, and oh so healthy!
Katie Trant says
Chickpeas is a great substitution for the halloumi. Just be sure to add a bit of salt!
Andrea says
I used to beg my dad to buy Zoodles (“tell all your friends - tell a whole bunch - ‘I just had a hippopotamus for lunch!’”). Just polished this off for dinner - what a great, simple, fast recipe. I’ll make this forever. Apparently the way to get me to eat an entire zucchini is to pair with fried cheese!
Katie Trant says
I think "I'll make this forever" is probably the best compliment a food blogger can get - thank you! And yes, pairing pretty much anything with fried cheese is amazing, but if it'll get me to eat an entire zucchini I'm in business!
Kathleen says
This is an Amazing recipe for Zucchini noodles and will make soon as I get to the Farmers Market in a couple of days for a restock of veggies. There are so many excellent salads you can make with the noodles cold adapting from your regular pasta salads and also using warm the variety is endless. I also make almost every other veggie into noodles and salads and recipes and some we aren't crazy about but almost all are super. The more I made and experimented the better. Pls more like this/
kellie@foodtoglow says
Yep, love zucchini noodles too - cold not so much unless I'm eating it with chopsticks and it's dressed with rice vinegar and sesame oil. I must confess to having a zoodles post (in the name of SEO) but I'm not into cutesy names either. Besides, in the UK it would be courgetti ;-). This looks like a nice single lady supper too xx
Katie Trant says
I actually avoided zoodles in the name of SEO (and because I hate the word) as it's way too powerful a keyword for me to rank for! "Zucchini Noodle Salad" was much more my speed!
Caroline says
This dish is going to be a staple for me going forward. So simple and so amazing; I love it! I used paneer, because that's what I had on hand, and it was great. Thank you for this recipe.
Katie Trant says
Oh, paneer is a great idea! I'll have to try that sometime 🙂
Jen says
This sounds like a recipe I would like to try as a side dish. However my son has a severe milk protein allergy so is there any substitutions you would recommend for the halloumi?
Jen says
Just realized my question was already answered under your notes - For a vegan version use a comparable amount of cubed tofu or chickpeas, and add a bit of salt to the recipe. Thanks I will try this.
Katie Trant says
Let me know how it works out for you with those substitutions - I hope you like it!