Pasta with zucchini sauce is a flavorful one pan meal and the perfect way to use up that extra summer zucchini! Spaghetti is tossed in a rich cream sauce that's filled with shredded zucchini and carrots.
Recipe summary
Flavor/texture: Tender spaghetti is tossed in a creamy alfredo sauce filled with shredded zucchini and carrots.
Ready in: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people
Similar to: Creamy Pasta Primavera, Corn Zucchini Chowder
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Spaghetti - Can be substituted with any other long pasta, like fettuccine or linguine. I prefer using long pasta because the shredded vegetables tend to cling to it. However, any medium sized pasta, like farfalle or penne, would also work.
- Vegetables - Zucchini and carrot can be shredded using the large side of a box grater or the grating disc of a food processor. Zucchini can be substituted with yellow summer squash.
- Sauce - A flavorful alfredo sauce is made with butter, onion, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, broth (chicken or vegetable), heavy cream, and parmesan cheese. Heavy cream is necessary to create a thick, rich, and creamy sauce. Do not substitute with milk.
How to make pasta with zucchini sauce
- Cook onions in melted butter until edges begin to brown. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add veggies, seasoning, pasta, and broth.
- Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until pasta is al dente.
- Remove lid, add heavy cream and parmesan, and stir until melted. Remove from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes to let sauce thicken before serving.
Tips and tricks
Measure liquid and pasta accurately - Since the pasta is cooked in the same pan as the rest of the ingredients, the exact amount of liquid needed to cook the pasta needs to be added to the pan - no more, no less.
What if I add extra liquid or pasta? - Too much liquid will leave you with a watery sauce. Too little liquid and your ingredients can dry out and stick to the bottom of the pan.
Vegetables add moisture - This particular recipe uses less broth than my other skillet meals because of the addition of zucchini and carrots. When the vegetables begin to cook, they release moisture. This liquid (along with the broth) is what cooks your dried pasta. Do not omit or reduce the zucchini, their moisture was taken into account when the recipe was written.
Frequently asked questions
You'll need a 12 inch sauté pan (not a skillet) for this recipe. A sauté pan has tall, vertical sides, like shown in the photos. A skillet has a smaller surface area and sides that flare up at an angle.
Thin sauce can happen if not enough pasta is added to soak up the liquid, or if too much broth or veggies were added.
After cooking your pasta, take a look in the pan. If there's a lot of excess broth, drain some out before continuing on. If your sauce looks thin after it's done cooking, allow it to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. This releases steam (moisture) from the pan and allows the pasta to continue soaking up liquid, thickening your sauce.
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📖 Recipe
Pasta with Zucchini Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 small onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound (453 g) zucchini, grated
- 2 carrots, grated
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 12 ounces (340 g) vegetable broth
- 8 ounces (226 g) spaghetti, uncooked
- 4 ounces (113 g) heavy cream
- ½ cup (56 g) parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Instructions
- In a sauté pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until edges begin to brown. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Add zucchini, carrots, salt, and red pepper flakes, stirring to combine. Add broth and spaghetti. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook according to pasta's package directions for al dente pasta. *Halfway through cooking, remove lid and stir to better incorporate pasta.
- If pasta begins to look dry, add a splash of water to the pan. If pasta sauce looks very liquidy, leave lid off for second half of cooking and turn heat to medium/medium-low.
- Remove lid and add heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Stir until melted.
- Remove from heat and allow to set for 5 minutes to allow sauce to thicken before serving.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- *To prevent a thin sauce: Pasta needs the exact amount of liquid (from broth and from grated vegetables) to cook correctly without leaving extra liquid in the pan. Pasta, broth, and vegetables need to be accurately measured.
- How much broth do I need?: 12 ounces of broth = 1.5 liquid US cups
- How many zucchini do I need?: One pound of zucchini can range from one very large zucchini to four small zucchini.
- To make vegetarian: Replace parmesan cheese with any hard Italian cheese made with vegetable rennet.
This was great! I used a mandolin for the zucchini and then cut them into strips, and I used a veggie peeler to cut the carrots into strips. The was A+! I followed the instructions with no variations and it's a keeper! We can't eat the zucchini as fast as it's growing so I need as many recipes with zucchini as possible. Thank you for sharing! Be well --Jen
I never leave recipe reviews but I just randomly found this and spur of the moment tried it. It was SO good. I will be saving it for a regular family meal.
I originally was looking for how long to roast zuchinni and yellow squash in the oven. Since I had already prepped the zuchinni for that, I made this recipe without the shredded zucchini and then added in the oven roasted zucchini at the end with the cream and parmesan (roasted veggies also had cubed yellow squash, broccoli and onion).
I used angel hair and didn't measure anything very accurately honestly. I accidently put more broth and had to boil some away toward the end. But it probably made up for not having the liquid from the zucchini because the pasta and sauce came out perfect.