Quick Summer Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes
During the heat of summer, try this quick and easy pasta recipe. Made with fresh zucchini (courgette), cherry tomatoes and basil from your garden or from the local farmers market. Either way, this recipe is a delicious meal. Prepared in about 30 minutes, it is simple, flavorful, and healthy.
Summer days are getting hotter and our food cravings change. We all enjoy quick meals that are light, fresh, and flavorful. They feature lots of healthy fruits and vegetables fresh from gardens, local farm stands, or farmers markets.
Inspiration For A Summer Pasta
I often reminisce about our summers spent at our cottage in Maine. We had a wonderful garden even though the growing season was short. There was nothing we enjoyed more than a meal based on fresh picked vegetables.
There was always vine ripe tomatoes picked fresh from our garden starting in July. We also had lots of sweet corn, crisp cucumbers, and zucchini from the farmers markets. Each summer, we knew our enjoyment only lasted until the first frosts.
Recently, a thoughtful friend brought me some lovely baby zucchini. Zucchini, known as courgettes in other parts of the world, grow quickly. They can become large and seedy rapidly. If you’re lucky enough to have some small ones like I was given, you should try this quick recipe. It reminds me of our summers in Maine.
Variations And Substitutions
This healthy recipe is a plant-based dish. It can be made with any regular or gluten-free pasta shape you like. Yellow squash has a similar taste and texture and would make a nice addition for added color. If you don’t care for squash, eggplant would be terrific. I like to use grape or cherry tomatoes for pasta dishes. You can buy these tomatoes on the vine. They are usually very flavorful. They are also intensely sweet.
How to Prepare Summer Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes
The preparation couldn’t be more simple. Flavorful cherry tomatoes, small tender zucchini, and freshly picked basil are sautéed with onions, garlic, and olive oil.
The vegetables are tossed with the pasta and finished with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Its brightness enhances the taste. All the wonderful flavors mingle together, creating a delicious light and healthy sauce.
This fresh tasting pasta dish is prepared with just a few simple ingredients. What I like is that it can be on the kitchen table in under 30 minutes.
Pasta with Zucchini, Tomatoes and Basil
Serves 2, adjust the recipe accordingly
Ingredients
- 4 oz. pasta of your choice per person
- 2 – 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 – 3 small zucchini, no larger than 1 1/2 inches thick
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 – 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 12 or more cherry tomatoes
- juice and zest from 1/2 a lemon, depending on taste
- a few basil leaves, torn
- grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
Cooking Directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil then add the pasta and cook until al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium high. Season the sliced zucchini with salt and pepper. Sauté until the zucchini become slightly golden for optimal flavor. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan and sauté until they blister and burst. Return the zucchini to the pan.
- When the pasta is al dente, drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
- Add the pasta to the zucchini, tomatoes, and basil. Add a squeeze of lemon and the lemon zest.
- Add some of the reserved starchy pasta water. Toss, then taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Serve the pasta with grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese.
Further Instructions
I doubt that you will have any leftover pasta. If you do, it can be kept refrigerated for 3 or 4 days. You can briefly reheat the pasta in a skillet on the stove. Avoid reheating in the microwave because the tomatoes can pop. The leftovers would also be good at room temperature.
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When I think back to our summers in New England, we eagerly anticipated our first vine-ripened tomatoes. We picked them from our garden in July. They would have been great in this quick recipe as it capture the true taste of summer.
Dear Readers, do you change food preferences by the season? Do you cook lighter meals during the heat of summer?
Do you have a favorite meal that you like to eat when the weather is hot?
I would love to know if there is a vegetable that you just can’t get enough of during the summer?
Delicious and just perfect for summer. I love these kind of simple but always tasty pasta dishes.
Wow! I think you must be reading my mind. I just spent the last hour gathering zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and basil from the garden along with several other things like the loads and loads of peppers coming out this time of year. I was just wondering what to do with the zucchini that would be different and something my grandson and son-in-law would also eat. Ta-da! And there you are. They both love pasta so I’ve got supper all planned out for tonight. Thank you so much!
Karen, I agree with cooking light throughout the summer months. Lots of fruits and vegetables. We tend to eat more fish this time of year, which cooks quickly. The oven is used, but sparingly. Anything to beat the heat. This recipe looks yummy and isn’t time-consuming. Thanks.
I love recipes like this for the summer. Zuchinni is a favourite vegetable of mine.
I love recipes like this, simple and perfect for summer!
I make this all the time, it is so delicious!
Your Psta with Zucchini and tomatoes sounds delicious. I’ve got some lovely home grown tomatoes just going red too!
Your light pasta dish is always welcome during the hot summer months. I make something similar but my recipe is heartier with the addition of ricotta. All good though 🙂
Quick, easy and tasty- couldn’t want for more, Karen xx
Karen, this is a perfect summer garden dish. I live in the southeast and by July, the heat is brutal. Dishes like this one are delightful.
Hope all is well.
Velva
Mushrooms in winter (love growing them from bought cartons of mycelia myself!), asparagus and artichokes in spring (coming in end of this month) and certainly zucchini in summer – most of our supermarket ones are green and picked fairly small . . . . your way promises both taste and ease . . .
Hi Karen, your post did not appear on the jetpack app today. We love pasta and this recipe looks delicious. Yes, we prefer lighter meals in the heat of summer. Have a wonderful week!
Karen, I appeared anonymous. Pam everydayliving!
nothing nicer than fresh herbs and veg. out of your own garden! Before the possums and bugs, we had basil and tomatoes growing – they were so good.
sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/
So fresh with all the summer flavours!
A perfect summer meal Karen! I grow zucchini and pick them while very young too – they taste better and it means I don’t have tonnes of huge ones to deal with! I definitely change our meal plans by the season. Basil pesto is our summer favourite and requires no cooking (except for the pasta), and I can never get enough fresh runner beans. And when our tomatoes are really ripe we love ‘caprese’ salad with tofu instead of mozzarella. 😁
This recipe looks perfect for a summer evening meal. I eat all the fresh fruits and veggies I can get this time of year. Right now I’m picking a fair amount of blueberries and yellow cherry tomatoes which I eat both while outside working and inside. 🙂
This dish is summer in a nutshell! Gorgeous and nutritious. I bet you miss your wonderful garden, Florida must be too hot to grow anything but citrus. My friend in Arizona finds the same thing but her lemon and lime tree produces so much fruit she gives it away! The orange tree only does enough for their own consumption. I’ve got pasta on the menu for lunch, I think I’ll get JT to fire up the Big Green Egg and grill some veggies!
Karen — this is a beautiful way to honor the fresh vegetables of the season! Lovely recipe!
As to your questions: I definitely cook seasonally and my farmers market ensures that. We thought we would eat lighter in the summers when we moved to Tucson, but it’s just the opposite. Being inside most of the summer reminds us of the winters in New England… so we crave our comfort foods! One of our favorite summer meals is my friend Muriel’s Provençal Tarte aux Tomates. It is a wonderful way to use fresh tomatoes, which would be my favorite vegetable were it not a fruit! 🙂 My favorite summer vegetable would have to be corn. I cannot get enough when it is in season.
This looks so delicious, Karen! I really love a quick pasta dish like this, especially in warm weather.
This is recipe such a delicious way to enjoy summer’s bounty in the heat of August. It’s so fresh and full of flavor. To pick tomatoes, zucchini, and basil and have dinner made with them the same day is a simple blessing indeed!
Simple meals like this are the best. It looks delicious!
These kinds of simple meals are my favorite, Karen. Going to the farmers market is always so much fun especially this time of year when you feel like you’re running out of time to enjoy summer’s bounty. Can’t wait to try this recipe. It looks delicious! Hugs, CoCo
I wish I had a plateful in front of me right now! I could absolutely eat that everyday, all summer long. You just can’t go wrong with simple, fresh, flavorful ingredients, treated with respect.
My hubby would eat this every night of the week! Totally the flavours we enjoy 🙂
I love the idea of mixing zucchini into pasta. We always end up with a lot of zukes this time of the year, and this sounds like an easy (and tasty) way to use some of ’em!
This recipe sings summer to me. Delicious.
Amalia
xo
This is the type of pasta dish I can eat all summer long. You can’t beat the freshness of garden fresh vegetables!
Wonderful, Karen! I love zucchini and tomatoes.
It’s a gorgeous pasta! By funny coincidence we’re having this for lunch this afternoon! It’s a summertime stape in our house. 🙂
I remember your posts about your cabin in Maine. Zucchini is so versatile and can be used in so many ways. Your pasta dish looks delicious.
Sounds like a perfect pasta dish for summer–I love the combination of zucchini, tomaotes, and basil! 🙂
Truly a perfect summer dish and so versatile.
This pasta sounds like the perfect way to enjoy summer produce, simple, fresh, and full of flavour. Cant wait for our summer here
How perfect for the harvest!
Thanks for the recipe Karen. We enjoyed it!
Deb