"How To Use Up Extra Zucchini" Pasta Dinner | The Recipe ReDux

ByDeanna Segrave-Daly
32 Comments

This summer pasta dish is a delicious, nutritious and easy way to use up your extra zucchini.

his summer pasta dish is a delicious, nutritious and easy way to use up your extra zucchini. | Teaspoonofspice.com

Can you feel it? Zucchini love is in the air.

Hopefully, you are still loving it - the season started fairly early here in Philly - I got my first influx of summer squash a good month ago in my CSA share.

But if you are a bit overwhelmed by all the zukes or can't make another loaf of zucchini bread, I got a great family dinner recipe for you today.

And just in time for this month's Recipe ReDux theme:

Fresh from the Garden: The season of bountiful produce has arrived. Whether your produce comes from the farmers' market, a CSA share, or a plot of dirt out back, show how you are using fresh July fruits or veggies. And if you have gardening successes – or failures – please share! (<---we'll get to that at the end of the post.)

I just got back from several days at the beach sharing a house with my parents and sister's family where we all take turns cooking. Like my mom, my sister is a fantastic cook and I always get a new trick or recipe idea when spending time together.

This summer pasta dish is a delicious, nutritious and easy way to use up your extra zucchini. | Teaspoonofspice.com

My sister has made a version of this zucchini pasta for several beach vacations now and I love it because:

1) It's easy to make
2) It uses up a lot of zucchini
3) It gives you a hefty dose of veggies at dinner (zucchini is a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A, potassium and fiber -- for just 33 calories per medium zuke.)
4) It heats up well as leftovers.

[bctt tweet="Got #zucchini? Here's how to use up 4 zukes for dinner. #reciperedux via @tspbasil"]

This is typical Italian cooking - simple, in season ingredients that turn into super delicious meals. The zucchini here cooks down a lot so it has a very mild flavor - yet another bonus for kids - or adults - who may not be on the squash band wagon.

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

“How To Use Up Extra Zucchini” Pasta Dinner

  • Yield: 6-8 servings. 1x
Print Recipe

Description

This summer pasta dish is a delicious, nutritious and easy way to use up your extra zucchini.

Ingredients

Scale
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 large or 4 medium zucchini, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 12 ounces uncooked pasta like farfelle, penne or linguine
  • ⅔ cup reduced-fat milk
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan, Romano, Pecorino or Asiago cheese
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

Instructions

  1. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
  2. Add zucchini, black pepper and salt. Stir and cook for 30 minutes or until zucchini start to brown and gets soft (stirring occasionally.)
  3. Pour in milk and cook another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. While zucchini is cooking, prepare pasta according to package. Drain and mix pasta into zucchini sauce in saucepan. Remove from heat.
  5. Mix in cheese and red pepper flakes (if desired.) Serve immediately.

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us @tsp_basil @tspcurry — we can't wait to see what you've made!

Recipe note: You can also swap in summer squash if you have that on hand.
(If you STILL have zucchini after this recipe, check our Zucchini Recipe Roundup or more recent recipes we've posted like Tomato Zucchini Eggplant Gratin and Sweet Zucchini Jam. And checkout Cooking Light's Six Great Recipes For Zucchini - zucchini chips, anyone?)

As for those gardening successes or failures, this Dirty Harry line, which my husband often quotes, sums it up for me when it comes to growing anything:

I have killed mint. Yes, mint, to which anyone who has any type of green thumb says it grows like a weed.

Not on my watch.

I've even killed grass. (There's a long story behind that one but yes, I killed off a patch of my housemate's yard at one time, too.)

This is why I stick to the farmers' markets and CSA shares for my summer fruit and vegetable supply - happily paying those who know what they are doing in gardens and fields way more than me.

Zucchini Pasta Dinner | Teaspoonofspice.com

Any good zucchini recipes/cooking tips to share? Any good gardening stories? I'd love to hear! Feel free to share this with any zucchini lovers you know (or any other black thumbs that can relate....)


More Entrees

32 Comments

  1. I have a feeling this recipe will be pinned a lot- always trying to use up that zucchini and who doesn't love pasta!?

    1. Thanks Jess - it's definitely a staple in my house this time of year! (I'm still eating the leftovers 🙂

  2. I was just talking to my friend about the 'how to use up zucchini' recipes I was seeing. She sent some our way, so I will likely try a pasta version - thanks!

    1. Just like pumpkin rules in the fall, zucchini is king of the summer veggies! Let me know if you make it 🙂

  3. Yes! I love the name and the premise of this recipe. I can't wait to try it!

    1. Thanks Amy - I'm so digging your nut butter twist on zucchini bread 🙂

  4. How funny! What did you do to your neighbors grass.. I'm intrigued! I totally agree, sometimes as much as I wish we had the plentiful garden I need to leave it to the local markets to supply me with my goods- can't win em' all huh?! 🙂

    1. OK, you asked for it 🙂 My housemate owned the apartment I lived in that was attached to her house. She had a lovely backyard and a beautiful garden all around the property that her mom would help her tend. There was a small patch of grass that had died off so she had replaced it with grass seedlings which were starting to sprout.

      She heading out of town for a week so she hooked up a hose to a stake in the ground and asked me to turn it on every morning for an hour to water the patch.

      The first morning I turned it on and then went for a walk. Unfortunately, while I was gone, the stake somehow came out of the ground so the hose was now angled into the ground with a full blast stream of water pounding into the patch for basically an hour. I came back to discover a huge mud puddle (more like a hole) double the size of the original patch that clearly destroyed all the baby grass seedlngs.

      She was very cool about it - at that point we had been living together for years and were good friends thank goodness (otherwise I may have been looking for new lodging at that point!)

  5. Love how simple yet delicious this pasta dish is. Zucchini really is the ultimate summer veggie pick for me. As much as I love grilled zucchini, I NEED to switch it up! Thanks for the inspiration and I will be making this in the near future 🙂

    1. Thanks Alanna - and I haven't made grilled zucchini in awhile so thanks for the inspiration 🙂

  6. I'm always looking for ways to eat all the summer zucchini - love how easy and delciious this sounds.

  7. i dont know why but i bought too many zucchini last time..so this is definitely going to happen.

    1. Ha - you sound like me. I always seem to buy too much zucchini for some reason.

  8. Pasta recipes are always welcome in the summer at my house, they're quick, delicious, and can feed a bunch of hungry mouths. I love this one with zucchini since it's so abundant in July. Cute quote.

  9. I call this my CSA dinner and do a similar thing with all my CSA veggies. Last night I had summer squash, scallions, green beans, a chopped tomato, and basil. Next time I will add the milk like you do. I think it will make it a bit creamier! Does your family give you a hard time, like mine does, when you are cooking and taking photos for a blog post while on vacation?!

    1. CSA Pasta Dinner is a super catchy title. Of course I totally forgot to take photos of this while on vacation (well, it may have passed my mind but I was too lazy to bother) so I recreated it when I got home (happily 🙂
      I just loved your ReDux post this month - both recipe and all the photos of your sister's house and garden - paradise!

  10. yum! totally going to make this! & I've killed mint too. Glad to see I'm in good company

    1. Ha - black thumbs unite (maybe we should have a future ReDux theme dedicated to us 🙂

  11. Haha! We share similar gardening talents... however, I do have some mint (thank goodness, so I could make that yummy Sun Tea!)
    I stick to my produce aisle and Good Eggs for my produce 🙂
    Love this way to use up the zucchini that is always abundant and on sale!

  12. I don't think I can ever get enough of zucchini or pasta--- so this dish is my jam! I always buy more than I actually need for one recipe too. I can't wait to use leftovers for an easy weeknight meal like this!

  13. I'll eat zucchini with almost anything, but I especially love it with pasta. I'd never thought to put it in a creamy pasta sauce before though. Definitely on the to-do list.

    1. I was the same way until my sister taught me this recipe - let me know if you make it!

  14. Haha! I love the video at the end! I am totally with you. Partly because we live in an apartment and partly because I have never successfully grown anything, I support my local farmers for in season produce 🙂

    1. I personally think the bowties are the perfect pasta for this recipe - lmk if you make it!

  16. I've been eating zucchini NON stop!! Love that you added it to this simple dinner recipe.

  17. Ha! you're not alone with the mint. I accidentally planted peppermint instead of spearmint. When it died, I planted spearmint, and then it promptly died. #NoMojitosForMe

Comments are closed.