![One-Pot Pasta With Ricotta and Lemon](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/12/20/autossell/OnePot-Pasta-textless/OnePot-Pasta-textless-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Zucchini Pasta
![Zucchini Pasta](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/04/05/dining/05COOKING-PENNEZUCCHINI/05COOKING-PENNEZUCCHINI-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- Salt and pepper
- ¼cup extra virgin olive oil
- 5 or 6medium zucchini, rinsed, trimmed and cut into ribbons or coins
- 1large onion, chopped
- 2 or 3sprigs thyme
- 2tomatoes, in wedges or roughly chopped, with their juice
- ½pound cut pasta, like ziti or penne
- Freshly grated Parmesan or freshly chopped parsley for garnish.
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper and adjust heat so onion and zucchini release their liquid without browning. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until very tender.
- Step 2
Add tomatoes and their liquid to zucchini and raise heat a bit so mixture bubbles. Cook pasta until it is nearly but not quite tender. If sauce threatens to dry out, add a little pasta cooking water.
- Step 3
Drain pasta and finish cooking it in sauce. Serve, garnished with parsley or Parmesan.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Added red pepper flakes, minced garlic and olives
I used my spiralizer to make ribbons of zucchini. For the garnish, I used freshly shredded parmesan, which was really great. Although this was quite tasty, it might be a bit bland. I plan to serve the leftovers with hot Italian sausage to give it some punch.
I threw a couple of handfuls of frozen, deveined, deshelled shrimp with the zuchs, and added a bit of lemon juice and white whine when I added the tomatoes. If I make this again I might add some garlic.
Yes, a bit too bland. Fresh ground pepper at serving time helped, but I like the suggestions of garlic and red pepper flakes. Before cooking the pasta I dunked the whole tomatoes into the near boiling water for a minute to split the skins then easily peeled them off before cutting them up to add to the zucchini and onion.
I felt the recipe might be bland if made exactly as written; my suspicion was confirmed when I read the comments. My intuitive desire to add bacon, garlic, crushed red pepper, a glug of white wine and parmigiano reggiano was not misguided, based on other cooks' comments/tips. I also added the zucchini at the very end (but before the pasta) so that it would remain toothsome, but still be cooked through. It was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about my adaptation of this dish.
I committed the ultimate summer veggie, healthy recipe sin. I sautéed bacon-organic, etc.-and used the bacon grease and red pepper flakes and fresh garlic to sauté everything. Added bacon and goat cheese to the finished product. Quite delicious. Mea culpa.
A bit of garlic - a large clove, nicely chopped - does wonders for the flavor. Doubling up on the fresh thyme is also an improvement. Great dish! And it pairs extremely well with grilled shrimp.
I fear that if I cook ribbonned (or even diced) zucchini for 20 minutes it'll turn to mush. I think maybe add it at the very end of the process?
This was a lovely, fresh summer pasta. Great way to use up produce from the veggie garden. I added garlic and chilli flakes at the sauté stage. I also added fresh basil at the end.
I didn’t have fresh tomatoes, so I used a can of diced tomatoes. Also used 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. This was delicious. Only had one zucchini, so I also used yellow squash.
Added lots of garlic, a can of tuna, white wine, lemon and red pepper flakes and then it was absolutely delicious. It needed that to get the extra flavor, but it was quite good!
Add a gorgeous big sweet red pepper, large cubed, in step 1. I have been making this since I was a bride except I do not ribbon the zucchini, rather if small I slice it and if larger I dice it. Great, quick dish, especially with small young zucchini. Actually, I have even occasionally added diced eggplant to this.
Haha! This is awesome.
While I won't go the bacon route (unless I end up cooking with no witnesses), adding goat cheese is a great idea. We've our own little milker, so it's a great way to incorporate our chevre.
You are right about the mush, but that contributes to the sauce. Try it as described first. I found it super easy and delicious .
Used fresh from my garden zucchini,tomatoes, and thyme. Would knock back the onion a little next time, but it's a lovely light summer dish.
Roast the tomatoes separately at 450, with thyme, pepper flakes, smashed garlic. Do the zucchini & onion in a pan with red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and yes let the zucchini and onion brown. Cook pasta. Add tomatoes to the pan with the zucchini after it is browned and delicious. Add some white wine, pasta water, and the cooked pasta, some lemon zest, chopped basil and parsley and it is delicious, but not quite the same recipe.
This is SO good with some fresh diced garlic stirred in toward the end. Thanks Mark!
I have made this recipe as is several times and now have just a couple of tweaks. I reduce the amount of zucchini to 4 medium and triple the tomatoes. It feels more balanced but doesn’t take away from the zucchini being the star of this show as intended.
Good. Easy. I think garlic added would be helpful.
Made this recipe with fresh oregano instead of thyme and added cooked italian sausage. Finished with pass around parmesan. Everyone went back for seconds.
We quite liked this. I only had a box of some fancy multicolored farfalle, so I used that. Added a couple cloves of minced garlic, a good sprinkle of red pepper flakes and one of dried basil, and a leftover hot Italian pork sausage, sliced thin. I'll make it again sometime.
combine with Lemony Pasta with Herbs and Zucchini. Add roasted pine nuts
Like other commenters, I also had the same instinct to add more ingredients to this base recipe. I added about 5 anchovy filets, and garlic and chili flakes at the sautée stage, and added a can of chickpeas for extra protein (when addingtomatoes). Did half the zucchini in the beginning as directed so they would get jammy and added the other half at the end with the tomatoes so they would remain bright. It was delicious and easy, and comments are full of other good ideas for additions and swaps.
Added peppers, some jalepenas, tiny cubed parmesan cheese instead of shredded, had dried thyme. Delicious! David suggested adding muscles---next month when I make it again
I added scallions and a little tomato paste. It was perfectly seasoned and delicious
I added garlic and red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit. I think it would be too bland without something added. If i want something lighter next time i’ll add lemon and garnish with fresh basil and parmesan. This is a very easy dish and there are a lot of options to add ingredient to change the flavor.
delicious and simple
Added lots of sprigs of thyme, marjoram and oregano to the sauce mix and it was so pleasing. It was the first time for me to use sprigs for the sautés, pulling them out just before adding the pasta. What a wonderful discovery!
added fresh oregano and a little basil into the sauce as well as some red wine while cooking
Added 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, a clove of garlic and some white wine. Very good flavor.
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