The perfect recipe if you have lots of zucchini to use up, this pasta with zucchini combines a silky smooth zucchini pesto as well as oven roasted zucchini. A beautiful medley of flavors and textures, it all comes together seamlessly to create an irresistible summer pasta dish.
You may already enjoy my mom's delicious spaghetti with zucchini recipe, and now I've taken this pasta dish to the next level by adding more zucchini to it! Pasta with zucchini 2 ways is the recipe you want to make when you have an abundance of fresh garden zucchini on hand.
Have you tried making a zucchini pesto? The result is a creamy, fragrant sauce for stirring into your pasta. But this recipe doesn't stop there. I also added thinly sliced oven roasted zucchini to this pasta. The result is the perfect combination of textures and flavors, all in one plate!
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Ingredient List
- Grated cheese: Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano or a combination of both grated cheeses work well.
- Pasta: I used elicoidali, but any medium-length pasta will do (rigatoni; gemelli; farfalle etc.) as well as spaghetti.
The following are step by step instructions with images to guide you through this recipe. Please scroll to the end of this post for the detailed printable recipe card.
How to make Pasta with Zucchini 2 Ways
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and grease with olive oil. Thinly slice 3 zucchini into rounds and place, without overlapping, on the baking sheets. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and salt.
- Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare the zucchini pesto by dicing the remaining zucchini. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the diced onion, sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in the diced zucchini, and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is soft, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer the zucchini-onion mixture to a blender or food processor. Add the garlic, basil, grated cheese and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Pour the pesto back into the skillet.
- Add pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain and add to the skillet with the zucchini pesto. Toss to coat the pasta. Add a ladle or two of pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce, if needed.
- Stir in the roasted zucchini slices, reserving a few slices to top the pasta when serving. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and a few extra basil leaves, if desired.
- Ladle the pasta into bowls and top with the reserved roasted zucchini. Serve with extra grated cheese at the table.
Pasta with Zucchini Recipe FAQs
If you're in a hurry and don't feel like oven roasting zucchini slices, this pasta dish is definitely delicious with only the zucchini pesto.
If you have a large zucchini crop and are wondering what to do with it, you may freeze zucchini pesto for up to 3 months.
Use medium-length pasta shapes such as elicoidali; rigatoni; penne; farfalle or gemelli. Long pasta such as spaghetti or linguine also work well.
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Pasta with Zucchini 2 Ways (pesto and roasted)
Ingredients
- 6 medium zucchini about 1.25 kg
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- ¼ cup Parmigiano cheese plus extra for serving
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 9 tbsps. olive oil divided
- 500 grams pasta medium length pasta, or see pasta suggestions below in Notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and grease each pan with 1 tbsp. olive oil. Thinly slice 3 zucchini into rounds and place, without overlapping, on the baking sheets. Drizzle each pan with an additional tbsp. of olive oil and ½ tsp. salt.
- Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Dice the remaining zucchini for the pesto.
- Heat 4 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onion, sauté for 3 minutes.
- Stir in the diced zucchini, and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is soft, about 20 minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and add the garlic, basil leaves, and grated cheese. Process until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Pour the pesto back into the skillet.
- Add pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain and add to the skillet with the zucchini pesto. Toss to coat the pasta. Stir in a ladle of pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce as needed.
- Stir in the roasted zucchini slices, reserving a few slices to top the pasta when serving. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and a few extra basil leaves, if desired.
- Ladle the pasta into bowls and top with the reserved roasted zucchini. Serve with extra grated cheese at the table.
Bartoloneo Termini
My mother's family was from Marsala Sicily. We often would have zucchini with pasta that was much more to it although zucchini was the main ingredient besides pasta. She would cut the zucchini in quarter inch rounds. Saute them in olive oil in olive oil. Then in the same pan she would raise the heat and add a very thin piece of beef. Like the beef one would make brasciole. She would brown the beef on both sides very quickly and remove. Next in the pan went sliced mushrooms which when they released their water with deglaze the bottom of the skillet. To that she would add lots of chopped garlic and some halved Black olivesOr possibly some capers.She wouldTurn it off. Of course all was salt and peppered. She would add the zucchini back to the skillet as well as the beef that had been chopped coarsely with a knife. Meanwhile she would toast some bread crumbs and a small Skillet with some olive oil and chopped garlic, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Also in a mortar and pestle she had pulverized some garlic with a little bit of lemon rind, basil, salt and olive oil. The steaming cooked posture was added to this skillet with the zucchini, mushrooms, olives, and chopped beef it's a little bit of pasta water as the water evaporated she would add the contents of the mortar and pestal. Probably another splash of olive oil and some chopped parsley. When the pasta water evaporated enough to make a nice tight but not dry dressing for the pasta and vegetables it was done. Shard sprinkled with the toasted seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Absolutely delicious.
Nadia
Hello Bartolone0, that sounds abssolutely delicious and I love any type of pasta topped with crispy breadcrumbs. Thank you for sharing your mom's recipe with me and my readers!