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This quick and delicious pasta with zucchini and tomatoes can be ready in 20 minutes. Tossed with baby spinach and fluffy lemon ricotta, this nutritious but comforting weeknight option makes for a bright summer pasta dish!
Table of Contents
I don’t typically think of pasta dishes as a summer thing, but a nice lemon ricotta pasta just brings the right flavors for it. Add to that some zucchini and cherry tomatoes—even better if they’re from your own garden—and I don’t think it gets much more summery than that!
If you love a nice light pasta that’s ideal for a hot summer day, be sure to give my summer harvest cheese ravioli with lemon butter a shot. You’ll also love my Instant Pot pasta primavera and this simple and hasty pasta aglio e olio.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s fast—While the veggies and pasta cook, you can prep your lemon ricotta mixture and have this pasta on the table in 30 minutes—or even less!
- Use up your harvest—This is a great way to use up your abundance of zucchini. And if you grow your own cherry tomatoes, you can never have too many cherry tomato recipes up your sleeve.
- Have it as a side or a main—This flavorful pasta can be eaten as a meal or served as a nice side to a protein.
Ingredients
A full ingredient list with exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
- Parmesan cheese—While the ricotta brings the creaminess to the dish, the parmesan is what offers up the cheesy flavor. So be sure to get a nice quality parmesan hunk from the cheese counter at your grocery store.
- Pasta—I like using long noodles for this one, but short pasta will also work. The pasta shape pictured here is mafaldine—super fun and tasty!
- Garlic—I highly recommend grating the garlic to a paste with a microplane rather than using minced. It coats the veggies wonderfully during the sauté without burning or browning to a bitter flavor.
Pro Tip
For smaller bites of spinach, you can either tear the spinach leaves into smaller pieces or slice them into ribbons, chiffonade style, prior to adding them to the pan.
Recipe Variations & Modifications
- Protein—Adding a protein to this pasta would be great! Shredded rotisserie chicken or ground sausage are fantastic additions, as is some nice sautéed shrimp or even some salmon.
- Veggies—Other veggies that would go wonderfully in this dish are mushrooms, corn, summer squash, roasted red pepper, or broccoli. If you want to make some swaps, the flexibility is there!
- Cheese—Pecorino Romano or Asiago would work very well in place of Parmesan in this recipe.
How to Make It
Step 1. Start by heating up water for your noodles. Once it’s boiling, salt it generously and cook your pasta as per the packages instructions. Once it’s ready, carefully scoop up about 1 cup of the pasta water and set it aside; drain the rest of the water from the pasta.
Step 2. Then heat olive oil in a large deep sauté pan. When the oil is hot, add the garlic paste, zucchini, and tomatoes. Hit it with a bit of salt and simmer over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have softened (about 8-10 minutes).
Step 3. While the veggies sauté, make the ricotta mixture. Just mix the ricotta, lemon juice, lemon zest, parmesan cheese, and some salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl. When mixed, set it aside.
Step 4. Once the veggies in the sauté pan are tender, remove it from the heat. Stir in the baby spinach, then cover with a lid and let it sit. The spinach will warm up and wilt down as it sits with the hot veggies, and even more so once you stir in the hot pasta.
Step 5. When the pasta is ready, add it to the veggies along with the ricotta mixture and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. Give it a good mix with tongs, tossing the pasta to coat it with the ricotta and veggies. Add more of the reserved pasta water as needed, if necessary.
Step 6. Give the pasta a taste and finish it off with a bit more salt if needed; give it a few cranks of black pepper. If you like spicy, crushed red pepper flakes do the trick. Serve immediately.
How to Serve Pasta With Zucchini & Tomatoes
This creamy but light pasta dish can be eaten as a meal on its own, but it also makes a great side to a protein. I’d suggest serving it with something simple, like chicken cutlets or a nice crispy baked Alaska pollock. You could also serve it with an easy side salad with lemon juice or a Caesar salad with homemade Caesar dressing.
Storage & Reheating
- This pasta can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- To reheat, just pop the pasta onto a microwave-safe plate and reheat it in the microwave in 25 second increments until it’s warmed through.
More Easy Pasta Dishes You’ll Love…
If you try this Lemon Ricotta Pasta With Zucchini & Tomatoes, please pop back in and leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Lemon Ricotta Pasta With Zucchini and Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb pasta
- 2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil, more if necessary
- 2 cups thinly sliced zucchini
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 2 heaping cups of baby spinach
- 3 large garlic cloves, grated to a paste with a microplane
- Sea salt and cracked pepper
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 cup pasta water, When your pasta is about a minute away from being ready, carefully scoop up some pasta water with a ladle and place it into a bowl or measuring cup and set it aside. This helps to form a nice and creamy sauce with the cheeses.
Instructions
- Start by heating up water for your pasta. Once it’s boiling, salt it generously and cook your pasta as per the packages instructions. (While it cooks, you can move on to cooking your veggies.) When the pasta is ready, carefully scoop up about 1 cup of the pasta water and set it aside; drain the rest of the water from the pasta and set the cooked pasta aside.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large deep sauté pan. When the oil is hot, add the garlic paste, zucchini, and tomatoes. Hit it with a bit of salt and sauté over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have softened (about 8-10 minutes).
- While the veggies sauté, make your ricotta mixture. Stir the ricotta, lemon juice, lemon zest, parmesan cheese, and some salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl, then set it aside.
- Once the veggies are tender, remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the baby spinach and cover the pan with a lid; let it sit. The spinach will warm up and wilt as it sits with the hot veggies, and even more so once you stir in the hot pasta.
- When the pasta is ready, add it to the pan with the veggies along with the ricotta mixture and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. Give it a good mix with tongs, tossing the pasta to coat it with the ricotta and veggies. Add more of the reserved pasta water as needed, if necessary.
- Give the pasta a taste and finish it off with a bit more salt if needed; give it a few cranks of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil if you wish. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Yum. This would be fabulous with shrimp as well!
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Absolutely it would!
I made this lemon ricotta pasta with zucchini and tomatoes from the garden. It came out great! the vegetables were a really nice addition.
This was delicious. It was super easy to make and tasted so fresh – absolutely perfect for summer.
This is my (and my very picky toddler’s) new favorite pasta! I am addicted! Thank you so much for sharing :)
Love the combination of flavors in this pasta recipe. Thanks for sharing.
This ricotta pasta was INCREDIBLE! Loved the creaminess and the addition of the veggies.