I am really enjoying zucchini season and today’s recipe is a fabulous way to use zucchini in a pasta dinner! This is a super simple recipe where the zucchini is either sliced or shredded, or even shaved/ribboned and lightly cooked in oil along with garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes. A creamy sauce is made with a combination of ricotta cheese, parmesan, lemon and pepper. Ricotta is pretty thick so enough of the water that the pasta was cooked in is added to thin it out a bit and create a lusciously creamy sauce! This final component of this dish is fresh basil, which, when combined with the zucchini and the lemon makes this dish a beautiful expression of summer in a bowl!
Feel free to slice of shred the zucchini! I like it both ways!
Lemon Ricotta Zucchini Pasta
A quick and easy, summery lemon ricotta and zucchini pasta with plenty of fresh basil!
ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta (gluten-free for gluten-free)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium zucchini, sliced, shaved or shredded
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 cup (8 ounces) ricotta
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese) grated
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons basil, torn
directions
- Start cooking the pasta as directed on the package.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over medium, heat, add the zucchini and cook until just tender, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about a minute, before turning off the heat.
- Mix the ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
- Drain the pasta reserving 1-2 cups of cooking water.
- Mix enough of the cooking water into the ricotta mixture to form a sauce before adding the cooked pasta and zucchini and tossing to coat evenly.
- Mix in the basil and enjoy!
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Excellent ! I did sub out the zucchini with shrimp; cooking it in the garlic as per your recipe.
Will be in my recipe rotation. Fresh and fast.
Can you substitute mascarpone for the ricotta?
Yes you can! Enjoy!
Kevin! I finally found you again and I am so happy! We moved from NC to TN about a year ago, a hard drive crashed and I lost you in the craziness. Of course, I couldn’t remember “Closet Cooking”. I only remembered your first name, so I’ve been searching for cooking Kevin’s and I found you yesterday! I have two absolute go-to recipe folks. When I prepare your recipes and Martha Stewart recipes, I know they will be exactly as described, the ingredients are perfectly proportioned and they always turn out! Tonight I’m fixing your lemon ricotta zucchini Pasta, adding chicken for my carnivore hubby. I will be fixing more of your yummys in the future.
Can you add chicken breast to this? How do you think I should season it?
Chicken is amazing in this! I would go with a simple salt and pepper seasoning, maybe with some oregano or Italian seasoning. Enjoy!
I was once told I could use small curd Cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Is this true?
You can in this recipe! Enjoy!
Delicious – thank you – can I save leftovers in the fridge and heat for lunch the next day?
This is a delicious dish. I added shrimp and juice of 1 small lemon, but next time I will substitute cottage cheese for ricotta since hubby doesn’t like the grittiness of ricotta.
This turned out really… Not good honestly. Couldn’t eat it. So gritty and bland.. 🙁
This was absolutely delicious! So summery and light. The pasta water helped make the sauce super smooth. I added a liberal amount of seasoned salt and it turned out beautifully.