Pasta with Melted Zucchini Sauce Recipe - Pamela Salzman (2024)

This pasta recipe is the ultimate summer dish! My entire family goes crazy for it. I accidentally overcooked some zucchini once and saw that it turned a bit mushy, almost like a sauce and immediately thought it would be delicious over pasta. And it was!! I taught this recipe in a class early last summer and received rave reviews from my students too! After I filmed the class, I saw a similar recipe on Smitten Kitchen for “zucchini butter spaghetti.” It is a pure coincidence and I came up with this recipe on my own. My recipe uses quite a bit more zucchini, less butter and cheese, and the addition of shallot and lemon which I think makes the dish!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• It’s easy and quick;
• You can use the sauce over any kind of pasta, spaghetti squash, shirataki noodles, etc.
• It uses a full 2 pounds of zucchini in case your garden is overflowing and can even handle a bit more!
• It’s very flexible – omit the cheese, use plant butter or plant cream cheese; add seafood if you like or white beans; I used basil when I photographed it, but mint is also fantastic.

Pasta with Melted Zucchini Sauce Ingredients

• Olive oil: Use an unrefined olive oil for best flavor
• Shallot: is milder than regular onion and they come in handy when you only need a small amount of onion in a recipe.
• Garlic: Zucchini is bland and needs a little umph! Just be sure to lightly saute and do not brown otherwise it will taste bitter.
• Crushed red pepper: is one of my secret ingredients in pasta and is best friends with garlic. A little goes a long way. Feel free to add more to make this a spicy sauce.
• Zucchini: is a summer/fall vegetable, so I love adding it to recipes during this time of year. No need to peel. Feel free to use summer squash in place of zucchini or a combination.
• Pasta: I prefer using a short pasta here such as rigatoni, conchiglie, casarecce, or something similar to catch the sauce. Use what you’ve got or what you like.
• Lemon: you’ll need the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Remember to zest before you juice. If you don’t like too much lemon, cut the amount in half to start.
• Parmesan cheese: Look for Parmigiano-reggiano for best flavor. Costco sells an amazing one that comes in a large block. It’s so easy to grate with a microplane. You can also use Pecorino Romano, which is a sheep’s milk cheese. Omit if you are dairy-free.
• Fresh basil: is one of my favorite herbs to use in the summer and in pasta! I like to store fresh basil in a jar of water (like a bouquet of flowers) by a window on the counter. If you don’t have basil, use mint or parsley.
• Butter: I like to use unsalted butter for a creamy mouth feel. You can also use a plant butter, such as miyoko’s, almond milk cream cheese (like Kite Hill), or mascarpone.

How to Make Pasta with Melted Zucchini Sauce

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a palmful of kosher salt.
2. Warm the oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot/onion and saute until tender and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add zucchini, salt and pepper and raise the heat to medium-high. If you’re using a cast iron pan, you can go up to high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the moisture has been released from the zucchini and has evaporated (there’s no liquid on the bottom of the skillet.) Cover, lower heat to low, and continue to cook until the zucchini is incredibly soft, about 15 minutes. You can do this ahead and let it sit off the heat until you’re ready to proceed with the rest of the recipe.
3. While the zucchini is cooking, add the pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook until al dente. Remove 2 cups of pasta cooking water before draining pasta and set aside.
4. Drain the pasta and transfer to the skillet with the zucchini. Add the lemon juice, zest, grated cheese, basil, butter or cream cheese, and ½ cup pasta water. Stir wellto combine. Add more pasta water as needed. Serve with additional grated cheese on the side.

Tips for Making Pasta with Melted Zucchini Sauce

• Read the notes at the bottom of the recipe for how to perfectly cook gluten-free pasta. There’s actually a trick!
• Save pasta water before draining the pasta. This is super important for reheating pasta and thinning out the sauce.
• I also save extra pasta water in a jar if I have leftover pasta. It comes in handy when you reheat leftover pasta.
• You can make the zucchini sauce a day ahead and reheat.
• Don’t peel the zucchini or squeeze it. Just shred it and use it as is.
• Taste the sauce for seasoning before adding the pasta.

Substitutions for Pasta with Melted Zucchini Sauce

• Zucchini – use summer squash
• Pasta – look for gluten-free pasta if necessary or spaghetti squash or your favorite pasta alternative
• Parmesan cheese – pecorino, feta or goat cheese, vegan parmesan, nutritional yeast, or omit.
• Butter – use plant butter, such as miyoko’s, mascarpone, or almond milk cream cheese
• Fresh basil – fresh mint or parsley
• This dish would be great with seafood added.
• Anchovies add a delicious salty, umami flavor. Add with the garlic in step 2.
• You can stir in baby spinach leaves in step 4, if desired.

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