Pasta with zucchini, a tasty and quick first course to prepare (with photos and videos)

Here's how to make pasta with zucchini to perfection: a first course that can be prepared in many different ways, but which is always good!

Here is the recipe for pasta with zucchini, a tasty first course full of flavour , perfect to bring to the table on any occasion and ideal when you can't waste too much time cooking. In fact, this quick pasta is not only very simple to prepare , but it is also an excellent 'save dinner' solution.

Today we will see how to prepare it in two variants, a classic one and a pasta with a zucchini cream. Not only that, there will be many other recipe ideas to be able to choose your pasta with zucchini, simple and delicious. Finally, we will see some delicious variations to make it even tastier . Let's start the recipe for pasta with zucchini right away by following the photo steps or the video recipe !

• Classic recipe
• First course with zucchini pesto
• Variants
  • Risotto
  • With courgettes and bacon
  • With courgettes and shrimps
  • Light
  • With almond pesto and zucchini
• storage

How to make pasta with zucchini

1. How do you make pasta with zucchini? First of all, put the water on for the pasta, salt it and when it reaches the boil, dip the pasta, remembering to drain it al dente

2. Wash the courgettes, then cut them into rounds or strips.

3. Do the same with the shallot and brown it in a pan with a drizzle of oil, adding some cooking water to soften it.

4. Add the finely chopped zucchini, salt and pepper and cook until soft. It will take about 10/15 minutes , depending on the size you have given the vegetables.

5. When the pasta is cooked, drain it in the pan and stir in a drop of the cooking water and the grated cheese, so as to emulsify the sauce with the zucchini and bind it well to the pasta. Enjoy your meal!

How about trying all our quick first courses too?

Pasta with zucchini pesto

If you want a creamier dish, we recommend pasta with zucchini cream! To make the variant of the zucchini sauce, all you have to do is blend the vegetables cooked in a pan, so as to obtain a sort of pesto with which to season any form of pasta (tagliatelle, spaghetti, short or fresh pasta). There is no single recipe, but it's up to you to choose the ingredients and the doses to make it.

If you want to enjoy first courses with light zucchini, prepare a lighter sauce by blending the blanched zucchini with pepper, salt, a drizzle of oil and mint or parsley for flavouring.

If, on the other hand, you want to make it more delicious , add some cheese (Pecorino or Parmesan will be fine), some pine nuts and even a few fresh basil leaves. A really creamy variant is that of zucchini and Philadelphia pasta. All you need to do is add 140 g of spreadable cheese and a little cooking water to the blended zucchini cream and sauté everything in the pan with the already cooked and drained pasta.

If the consistency is the problem, add some cooking water to make it soft and creamy. This is a little “magic” trick that works every time. For other tips, we leave you the recipe for zucchini pesto and this dish will have no more secrets for you!

Pasta with zucchini: delicious variations

Finally, we want to suggest some delicious variations of this first course with zucchini. Which ones are we talking about? Of course, the version with zucchini and bacon cannot be missing, but neither is the one with shrimps and some light but always delicious versions.

Risotto pasta with zucchini

How to transform an easy and classic recipe into a gourmet dish? To your aid comes the risotto pasta with zucchini . We have decided to give it an extra touch by adding the sausage, but you can easily omit it.

• 360 g of short pasta
• 2 l of vegetable broth
• 2 courgettes
• 150 g of sausage

To prepare it, bring the broth to the boil and add the pasta, cooking it until completely absorbed. In this phase, a lot depends on the type of pasta , it may be that less liquid is enough and, precisely for this reason, we advise you to add the broth a little at a time, stirring often, just like for a classic risotto . While the pasta is cooking, immediately add the zucchini and sausage cut into small pieces and let it all cook together, mixing well.

Pasta with zucchini and bacon

For the land variant here is pasta with zucchini and bacon . Let's see together ingredients and preparation.

• 320 g of pasta
• 2-3 zucchini
• 250 g of bacon
• white wine to taste
• Grated Grana Padano to taste
• 1 shallot
• EVO oil to taste
• Salt to taste
• black pepper to taste

Wash and cut the zucchini into rounds or pieces and cook them in a pan with the shallot and 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Then take the pancetta, cut it into strips or cubes and add the salami to the pan until it is crunchy , blending it with a drop of wine and not adding any other fat. Add the sauce to the freshly drained pasta, serve and sprinkle with black pepper and grated cheese. We are sure you will like it and, if you want, you can also try the recipe with speck !

Pasta with zucchini and shrimp

As for the fish variant, we suggest pasta with zucchini and shrimp !

• 400g pasta
• 4 zucchini
• 400 g of shrimp
• 40 g of pecorino
• 30 g of Parmesan
• fresh basil to taste
• 25 g of pine nuts
• 1 sprig of parsley
• Salt to taste
• pepper as needed
• 1/2 glass of white wine

Sauté the prawns in a pan by scalding them quickly with a drizzle of oil and a drop of white wine. Salt and pepper them and once cooked (a few minutes will be enough) let them rest, then add them to the sauce. The sauce is prepared in this way: after having washed the vegetables, a part of the courgettes will be grated, combined with the pine nuts, pecorino, parmesan, fresh basil and oil. Blend everything and put it to rest. The other part of the courgettes, on the other hand, must be cut into slices and sautéed in a pan with a drizzle of oil for a few minutes. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it al dente and sauté it in a pan with a ladle of cooking water, add the zucchini cream , the zucchini slices and the prawns before serving.

Light zucchini pasta with courgette flowers

Those looking for a light version can make wholemeal pasta with crunchy zucchini: wholemeal pasta with zucchini and courgette flowers.

• 320 g of wholemeal pasta
• 2 zucchini
• 8 courgette flowers
• 200 ml of vegetable cream
• 2 tablespoons of EVO oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• Salt to taste
• pepper as needed

While you cook the pasta in boiling salted water , wash the courgettes and flowers well. Then cut the ends of the courgettes and cut into slices or wedges a few millimeters thick. Heat some oil in a pan with the garlic and add the courgettes to cook for about 5-10 minutes over high heat, making sure they don't burn and season with salt and pepper. Once the pasta is cooked , drain it al dente in the pan with the courgettes, add the vegetable cream and a few tablespoons of the cooking water. Finally add the zucchini flowers cut into strips, stir everything over a low flame and serve.

If you want a light oriental-inspired version, prepare your wholemeal pasta by seasoning it with crispy zucchini sautéed in a pan and completed with a dressing based on soy sauce and fresh cherry tomatoes cut into slices and added raw. We advise you not to add too much salt when cooking the pasta as the soy sauce makes the sauce with the zucchini quite tasty.

Pasta with almond pesto and zucchini

Finally, for those with a sweet tooth for dried fruit, the dish we can only recommend is pasta with almond pesto and zucchini .

• 360 g of pasta
• 350 g of zucchini
• 80 g of Parmesan
• 40 g of peeled almonds
• 10 basil leaves
• ½ clove of garlic
• olive oil to taste
• Salt to taste
• pepper as needed
• 150ml of olive oil

Cook the pasta and, in the meantime, toast the almonds in a pan, then wash the vegetables and cut them into 4, removing the seeds. Boil the vegetables in boiling salted water for about 5 minutes then drain and leave to cool. At this point, put the boiled zucchini cut into cubes, the almonds, the fresh basil, the garlic, the Parmesan, a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper in the blender and blend until you get a smooth cream. Once the pasta is ready, drain it al dente and season it with your alternative cream made with almonds . Finish by decorating with chopped almonds to taste.

Not enough yet? Here are all the best recipes with zucchini !

storage

The quick pasta with zucchini, seasoned with all our proposals, must be eaten at the moment in order to fully enjoy the tastes and aromas of these first courses. If, on the other hand, you want to keep the sauces separately, you can keep the sautéed zucchini in the refrigerator for a maximum of 2-3 days , the same time also for the cream (both with pine nuts and the version with almonds). We advise against freezing in the freezer in any case.

Riproduzione riservata © - WT