If your garden is overflowing with zucchini, this recipe is for you! Made with simple summer ingredients, this creamy zucchini pasta is a delicious and nutritious meal that you can enjoy for lunch or dinner.
Whether you’re looking to add more fiber to your diet, trying to get your kids to eat more vegetables, need to use an abundance of zucchini, or simply want a new dinner idea, this creamy zucchini pasta recipe is a great way to do it.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Quick – Ready in 25 minutes, this zucchini pasta recipe is perfect for a weeknight meal.
- Easy – If you can boil pasta and sauté vegetables you can make this recipe.
- Creamy – The combination of zucchini and ricotta cheese makes a rich and creamy zucchini pasta sauce.
- Vegetarian – This veggie-filled recipe is something everyone can enjoy.
INGREDIENTS FOR CREAMY ZUCCHINI PASTA
- Pasta – You can use short-cut pasta such as fusilli, cavatappi, or penne, or long pasta such as spaghetti, linguine, or bucatini.
- Zucchini – You can use fresh or frozen zucchini for this recipe. Although I used green zucchini in my recipe, you could use yellow summer squash as well.
- Ricotta – To make the creamy zucchini pasta sauce and add some protein at the same time.
- Parmesan – To add a bit more protein, enhance the creaminess, and ensure the sauce is nice and cheesy.
- Shallot – To build the base of the sauce, a small onion will also work. If you don’t have an onion, you can use 1 teaspoon onion powder instead.
- Garlic – To add a depth of flavor. If you don’t have fresh garlic cloves, you can use 1 teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
- Lemon – A bit of lemon juice and lemon zest to add some brightness to the creamy zucchini sauce.
- Olive Oil – To add some healthy fats and cook the veggies.
- Salt and Pepper – To season the pasta.
- Fresh Basil – Although optional, finishing the pasta with some fresh basil helps to brighten the dish.
You can also top your pasta with red pepper flakes if you want to add a bit of heat.
Dietary Adaptions
To Make it Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free pasta noodles.
To Make it Dairy-Free: Swap the ricotta for non-dairy ricotta cheese or full-fat coconut milk, and swap the parmesan for half the amount of nutritional yeast.
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HOW TO MAKE PASTA WITH CREAMY ZUCCHINI SAUCE
- Boil the pasta. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to al dente, then drain, and set aside.
- Cook the zucchini. Sauté the zucchini in a pan with olive oil, onion, and garlic until tender.
- Blend the sauce. Add the cooked zucchini mixture, ricotta cheese, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth.
- Mix the pasta and sauce. Return the drained pasta to the pot, cover it with the creamy zucchini pasta sauce, add parmesan cheese, and lemon zest, and toss until well combined.
- Season to taste. Top the fresh basil leaves and additional parmesan cheese as desired.
- Serve and enjoy!
You can find the detailed instructions in the recipe card below.
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Red’s Nutrition Tip
I made my recipe with whole milk ricotta cheese, however, if you wanted to reduce the calorie content slightly you could use skim milk ricotta cheese instead. Regardless of which you option choose, you’ll still create a rich, creamy, and veggie-filled pasta sauce.
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WHAT TO SERVE WITH ZUCCHINI PASTA
