Zoodles and a homemade meat sauce cook together in this low-carb, paleo, and whole30 slow cooker or pressure cooker recipe. With only a few main ingredients it’s a good low-carb alternative to spaghetti.
Updated 2019 with Instant Pot instructions
This is very similar to my Slow Cooker Slawghetti recipe. Actually, it’s pretty much the same recipe except I swapped out the broccoli slaw for zoodles. Do you have a inspiralizer? It’s probably the most popular zoodle-maker (vegetable noodle) out there at the moment.
Low-carb, paleo, and whole30 but I promise you, this one is definitely not bland. As you can see, I prefer to leave the skin on the zucchini after I give it a good washing. The zoodles will release some liquid while they cook but it’s not so much that you need to strain it. You can if you want to but I never take the time to do that for this recipe. In general, there are 3 base ingredients to this recipe:
- 1 1/2 lbs (approx 3-4 medium size) zucchini
- 1 lb ground meat
- 28 ounces diced tomatoes
Outside of that, this is one of those recipes that you can get creative with. You can use many different types of vegetables: onion, bell pepper, mushroom, etc.

Added onion & mushroom
I used ground beef and I added mushroom and onion. Seriously, use whatever ground meat you like whether it be ground pork, beef, chicken, or turkey. It doesn’t necessarily have to be ground meat either. If you happen to have 1 lb of chicken breast or steak, chop it up and throw it in there. Unless you’re using a very lean meat, I suggest you brown the meat and drain the grease before adding in the remaining ingredients. When using the slow cooker, no, the zoodles do not get mushy! But they will be soft. If you want them al dente, add the zoodles the last 30 minutes of cook time.

Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Zoodles with Meat Sauce (Low-Carb, Paleo, Whole30)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs (approx 3-4 medium) zucchini, zoodled
- 1 lb ground meat
- 28 ounces diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp oil (for IP)
Instructions
Slow Cooker
Optional: brown ground meat and drain the grease before adding to the slow cooker.
- Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
- Cook HIGH 1-2 hours or LOW 2-4
Instant Pot
- Set Instant Pot to the high saute setting. Once hot, add oil.
- Add ground meat and cook until browned, 3-5 minutes, crumbling the meat as it cooks. You might need to do this in batches. Drain fat if needed.
- Stir in remaining ingredients EXCEPT zucchini zoodles.
- Close and seal vent. Select high pressure and set time for 8 minutes. Quick-release pressure when cook time is completed.
- Stir in zucchini zoodles and cook on WARM until soft to your liking.
Why don’t the zoodles turn mushy when you slow cook them in this recipe? For one, they don’t cook that long. The most recent time I made this, the zoodles sat on the WARM setting for about 30 minutes after cooking completed and they were still nice & firm. I imagine if you let it cook all day, they would get mushy so this is not a true set-it-and-forget-it recipe in that sense. For the electric pressure cooker, you add them the last 30 minutes of cook time. Even then, they might cook to your liking before that. How soft you like your zoodles is up to you.
Need an Italian seasoning? Use my homemade blend:

PIN FOR LATER
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When using the pressure cooker should you add water? Or is there enough liquid from the tomatoes?
No water just the 28 ounces of diced tomatoes:-)
Wife made this and it was delicious and hearty, but not too heavy. This will be on regular rotation in our house! Thanks FSCQ
Doing Whole30 and trying this recipe today! Looks great!
Can u give me the carb, fat & protein count? Tia ☺
Recipe updated:-) Enjoy!
Still don’t see updated info about carb, fat etc
Nutritional information is located in the recipe box underneath the instructions.
Could you use spaghetti squash instead?
No. Here is the link to my spaghetti squash & meat sauce recipe – https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/slow-cooker-spaghetti-squash-meat-sauce/. Enjoy!
Hi there! I’ve bought all of my ingredients to make this for dinner tonight. I was wondering if you have any of the nutrition information? Like how many carbs per serving? Or protein or fat?
So I’ve made this twice. The recipe, I thought, has too much garlic. Go with one clove unless you are crazy for it. I also didn’t us all the Italian seasoning, but mixed in season salt, onion powder and basil. The boyfriend and his daughter adore it! I recommend making it with marinara sauce with a unique flavor like caramelized onion. Very good also with homemade garlic bread!
Saw this on Instagram and can’t wait to try it out this week.
Let me know how it turns out. I hope you enjoy it!