This Pasta with Creamy Zucchini Sauce may well become your new favourite zucchini recipe. Quick, easy, economical and a great way to use zucchinis to make a luscious pasta dinner!
Real Pasta with Creamy Zucchini Sauce – NOT “Zoodles”!
If you landed here expecting one of those low carb zucchini pasta “zoodle” recipes, you’re going to be sorely disappointed because this is about as far as you can get from a health food trend.
It’s real spaghetti all the way, in all its carb loaded glory, and the zucchini pasta sauce is swimming in cream.
Low carb? Absolutely not. Low fat? Nope.
100% delicious? YES!
What you need for Creamy Zucchini Pasta Sauce
This recipe is a wonderful way to turn 4 zucchinis into dinner. Here’s what you need.
Zucchinis – called courgettes in some parts of the world. 600g/1.2lb or so – bit more or less works fine;
Pasta – this can actually be made with any pasta at all, short or long. But it does work particularly well with long pasta because the shredded zucchini “clings” to it. For the photos and video, I used bucatini, the spaghetti that’s hollow inside, just for something different. Loved the extra thick pasta strands, not so fond of the strange sensation of sucking on a straw when I’m slurping up the pasta – but I think that’s me being immature? 😂
Garlic and onion – essential flavour base for this simple pasta sauce;
Parmesan – adds umami (savoury flavour) into this otherwise very simple pasta sauce. Best to use freshly grated if you can because it melts into the sauce better, but store bought grated works fine too. Don’t have parmesan? Use any cheese you have! Don’t have cheese? Add a sprinkle of chicken or vegetable stock powder;
Cream – because this is a creamy sauce! Evaporated milk is an excellent substitute. Coconut milk would work but I think would taste odd over pasta (I could be wrong);
Chicken or vegetable broth/stock – as above with parmesan, adds flavour into this sauce. Without it, it does lack a bit of flavour; and
Corn isn’t essential, but it does add cheerful little pops of colour and bursts of sweetness into this pasta dish. I’ve just used canned here but fresh corn would go down a treat.
How to make Pasta with Creamy Zucchini Sauce
Grating the zucchini is ideal to make a lovely creamy sauce that clings to the pasta. When you grate it, you might feel somewhat alarmed (or perhaps virtuous) at the enormous mound of zucchini. But don’t fret! It shrinks a LOT when cooked.
Key Step – tossing pasta with sauce
The creamy zucchini sauce will seem somewhat thin because the water coming out of the zucchini dilutes the cream. But don’t be concerned – once the pasta is added, the recipe calls for you to (enthusiastically) toss the pasta in the sauce for around 2 minutes on the stove which reduces the sauce and makes it cling to the pasta rather than pooling in the skillet.
The photo on the left is just when the pasta is added – you see how the sauce is just pooled in the skillet – then on the right is after 2 minutes of tossing. See how there’s no sauce left in the skillet? It’s all on the pasta!
Who ever would’ve thought you could make something so amazing from just a few drab looking zucchinis??
Being that this is loaded with zucchinis, you can totally justify not adding a side salad to your meal. But something fresh and crunchy wouldn’t go astray – try one of these:
And if you’re cooking to impress, add a side of Garlic Bread or Cheesy Garlic Bread. Carb overload? Totally. But sometimes, you’ve just gotta live a little! 😉 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Pasta with Creamy Zucchini Sauce
Ingredients
- 50g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 onion , finely sliced (brown, white, yellow)
- 600g / 1.2 lb zucchini (courgette), grated using standard box grater
- 1/2 tsp EACH salt and pepper
- 1 cup thickened/heavy cream
- 3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock/broth , low sodium
- 3/4 cup parmesan , finely grated using microplane (Note 1 for store bought)
- 1 cup corn (canned, drained, about 2/3 of a can, OR fresh)
- 300g/ 10oz spaghetti, fettucini or other long strand pasta (I used bucatini)
Finishing & serving
- Parmesan
- Extra finishing options: Handful of fresh basil (stir in at end), sprinkle of bacon or pangrattato
Instructions
Cook Pasta:
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil with 1 tablespoon of salt.
- Cook pasta per packet directions MINUS 2 minutes (yes, 2 whole minutes!) – pasta should be a bit too firm in the middle.
- Scoop out a big mug of pasta cook water, set aside (for sauce loosening, just in case), then drain.
Creamy zucchini sauce:
- Melt butter in a large skillet or pot over medium high heat.
- Garlic and onion: Add garlic and onion, cook for 1 1/2 minutes until onion is slightly golden.
- Cook Zucchini: Add zucchini, cook for 1 minute. Then add salt and pepper, then stir for 2 minutes until it reduces in volume by about 1/2.
- Add liquids: Stir in cream, chicken stock, parmesan and corn. Bring to simmer, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 3 minutes. It will still seem watery because water comes out of the zucchini – don't worry, it cooks down in the next step.
- Toss! Add pasta, then use two wooden spoons to toss well for 2 minutes, or until sauce reduces and is coating the pasta instead of pooling in the skillet. If it gets too thick, add a splash of reserved pasta cooking water. Pasta will finish cooking in this step.
- Serve: Remove from stove, serve immediately, garnished with extra parmesan.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Yesterday. Poor Geoff – he just wants to enjoy his Chili Mac and Cheese in peace, without Dozer staring at him with rivers of drool down his chest!!
(For those who are new here, Geoff is the local who lives at the Bayview dog beach. He looks after the park like its his own backyard. We are very lucky to have him as part of our community!)
We have been doing Meatless Monday for a few years now. (it was a U.S. thing during the war years) I cannot say enough about how amazing and delicious this recipe is ! Fabulous taste. Comes together nicely. And it is corn and zucchini season here. I served it with your Cheese, Garlic and Herb Quick Bread. Very very good. Great pairing. Love your recipes.
Almost made with Angel Hair pasta – maybe next time. Ended up using Linguini. Easy, tasty recipe, one that’s going into the repeat folder.
Forgot to rate it!
Does this store well in the fridge?
This is delicious. Made it with Linguine from Aldi (Armando brand). Easily halved the recipe for 2 people. Make it!!
I had a vegetarian friend coming over and I didn’t know what to cook as we never eat vegetarian meals. We had this, used fresh corn, and it was perfect! The next day I reheated and added some chopped rotisserie chicken and it reheated perfectly and the chicken addition for a non-vegetarian meal worked great. Great recipe.
Another great recipe, thanks a lot Nagi! Meat and cheese lover, ma husband and two under-ten kids almost finished 500g pasta! 😂
Such a lovely simple but delicious meal. I was looking to use up an extra cream left over from Christmas and it made a really nice first meal of the new year! I added a little bit of Creole seasoning because my partner wanted more complex flavours and I can imagine it would make a perfect base for any flavour profile you might like.
I made this tonight- really lovely and it went down a treat with adults and kids alike. I substituted yoghurt for cream and added some chicken for extra protein. Thank you!
Had this again for dinner tonight, Nagi. Extra yummy! I love using my own home grown squash and my neighbor’s corn. Thank you for this recipe.
A crisper drawer of zucchini and a husband who despises them. He went for seconds and gave this a 5 star rating. His comment: First zucchini dish I’ve liked! Thank you for this beautiful dish!!
Dinner last night. Absolutely delish. Might be dinner tonight, too….
I thought it was just me! Not a fan of bucatini either. I like the idea of it, but have regretted both times I’ve cooked with it. An oddly distracting sensation.
Amazing recipe- I have lots of zucchini to use up and this was perfect. I used canned coconut milk instead of cream and it turned out amazing! I did cook it down a bit longer since the coconut milk is a bit more watery than cream. Thanks so much 🙂
Well I happened to have zucchini so went recipe searching and RTE is always my first stop-found this made this and now raving about this. Husband kept telling me throughout the meal how delicious it was-and he wasn’t at all surprised it came from Nagi.
Hi Nagi,
I made this for dinner last Friday and warmed up the leftovers today. Absolutely delicious, just like other recipes I have tried from you. Thank you.
I found this very bland and quite a weird texture. Hoping I can use up the leftovers by adding more onion, garlic, herbs, bacon and eggs to make a frittata.
Great recipe . I only used evaporated milk & was creamy. Will make again.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so good 👍 thanks!
Is it possible to make extra zucchini sauce and freeze? Will the texture still work?
I make this with frozen all the time! I just let it boil down a little bit extra before adding the pasta