Parmesan and Garlic Pasta with Zucchini – light, delicious, Summer recipe. I used regular spaghetti pasta, cooked sliced zucchini in olive oil and garlic and then combined cooked pasta with garlic zucchini and lots of shredded Parmesan cheese!
Zucchini has been on my mind lately, mainly because a huge zucchini has been sitting in my fridge for quite some time begging to be used and not wasted. The zucchini was really huge, similar in size to this jumbo zucchini (scroll down and you’ll see the zucchini on her head 🙂 ). I wanted to take some funny pictures with it too, but instead I’ve made this delicious Pasta with Parmesan and Garlic Zucchini:
Ingredients you need for this parmesan zucchini pasta
- olive oil
- 4 zucchinis or 1 very large zucchini, sliced
- garlic cloves, minced
- spaghetti (for gluten free version, use brown rice pasta spaghetti style)
- salt and pepper
- freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
How to make pasta with zucchini
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.
- Add sliced zucchini and minced garlic and saute uncovered for about 5-7 minutes, until zucchini softens and browns. Midway through cooking, season with salt.
- Note: Depending on the size of your skillet, you might have to cook zucchini in 2 separate batches to avoid overcrowding. Overcrowding will result in zucchini steaming in its own juices instead of nicely browning.Â
- Cook pasta according to pasta instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water (to stop pasta from cooking – this is especially important for gluten free pasta).
- Add cooked pasta into the skillet with zucchini and garlic, on low heat.
- Add freshly shredded Parmesan cheese into the skillet and stir pasta on low heat to melt the cheese.
- Season with just the right amount of salt and pepper, to taste.
Below are some step-by-step photos showing major steps to make this pasta with zucchini:
I’ve used gluten-free brown rice spaghetti pasta for this recipe, but, of course, you can use regular spaghetti, too. This pasta with zucchini was a very tasty (and healthy) Saturday dinner.
Related Pasta Recipes with Zucchini
- Parmesan Zucchini Tomato Chicken Spaghetti
- Thai Zucchini Noodles
- Chicken and Zucchini Basil Pesto Tortellini
Pasta with Parmesan and Garlic Zucchini - light, delicious, Summer recipe. I use regular spaghetti pasta, cook sliced zucchini in olive oil and garlic and then combined cooked pasta with garlic zucchini and lots of shredded Parmesan cheese!
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 zucchinis medium, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 8 ounces spaghetti (for gluten free version, use brown rice pasta spaghetti style)
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese , freshly shredded
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add sliced zucchini and minced garlic and saute for about 5-7 minutes, occasionally stirring, until zucchini softens and browns a bit, uncovered. Midway through cooking, season with salt.
Note: Depending on the size of your skillet, you might have to cook zucchini in 2 separate batches.
Cook pasta according to pasta instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water (to stop pasta from cooking).
Add cooked pasta into the skillet with zucchini and garlic, on low heat.
Add freshly shredded Parmesan cheese into the skillet and stir pasta on low heat to melt the cheese. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
Great recipe, easy to put together. Would be fantastic with red pepper flakes. I added tomatoes and basil at the end, which was nice.
As others have said, do not under any circumstance rinse your pasta! Besides, you need the heat from the pasta to melt the cheese on this one.
On the minor negative, I would never rinse pasta with cold water or ever rinse pasta for that matter unless it’s for the rare occasion I make our out of country visiting grandchildren’s favorite macaroni- mayo laden salad where the hot pasta needs to be cooled off quickly.
Other than that on the positive, a very tasty recipe indeed. My spouse particularly enjoyed it as it was reminisce of Jane Snow, a long time ago Akron Beacon food columnist and restaurant reviewer/critic who posted a pasta with garlic and zucchini recipe in her food section. Unfortunately I neglected to to put pen to paper so I could add the recipe to my scrap book folder to be made again at a later date.
But.. Now I have your lovely recipe that’s equally tasty and of which I have made sure to save. : )