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Super Green Pasta Sauce

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By: MadelinePosted: 08/16/2021Updated: 08/23/2021

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Use summer produce to make this Super Green Pasta Sauce. Make this vibrant basil cream sauce in just 30 minutes.

Three quarter view of super green pasta sauce on pasta in a serving bowl  with lemons in the background

Make this bright green pasta sauce for an easy summer dinner

If your garden is bursting with summer produce like zucchini and fresh basil, this recipe is for you! I was looking for a delicious recipe to use up my fresh basil that wasn’t just homemade pesto sauce.

So I put some of my favorite green things in a blender with a bit of heavy cream and parmesan cheese for flavor and ended up with a silky smooth and flavorful sauce. Toss this delicious basil cream sauce with your noodle of choice, serve with extra parm and lemon zest and dig in!

Above view of basil cream sauce in a pan

Kitchen Tools

  • Cutting board and sharp knife
  • Saute pan
  • Large pot for boiling pasta
  • Blender
  • Measuring spoons and measuring cups
  • Liquid measuring cup
Above view of ingredients for super green pasta sauce

Ingredients

  • Pasta
  • Garlic
  • Shallot
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Zucchini
  • Spinach
  • Fresh basil
  • Heavy cream
  • Grated parmesan cheese
  • Lemon

What type of pasta should I use?

I like to use pasta shapes that really soak up this delicious basil cream sauce with ridges. I used mafaldine pasta, but here are some other ones that would be great:

  • Radiatori
  • Campanelle
  • Cavatapi
  • Gamelle
Step by step assembly of green pasta sauce recipe

How to make super green pasta sauce

Step 1: Boil pasta and saute green veggies

To begin, boil pasta in a large pot of heavily salted water. While that cooks, sauté garlic and shallots in olive oil until soft. Add the chopped zucchini to the pan and sauté again.

Next, add the spinach to the pan and cook until just wilted. Season the veggies with salt.

Step 2: blend Basil cream sauce

Reserve, 3/4 cup of pasta water from the boiling pasta. Add the warm sauteed veggies to a blender with the pasta water, fresh basil, parmesan cheese and heavy cream. Blend until a smooth and creamy sauce remains.

Step 3: Toss pasta sauce with cooked noodles and garnish

Finally, place warm cooked pasta in a bowl or large pan. Pour warm green pasta sauce on top of the noodles and toss to coat.

Serve immediately with extra parmesan cheese and lemon zest.

Above view of super green pasta sauce on mafaldine noodles in a serving bowl

Storage and reheating

Once prepared, allow the pasta to cool completely before transferring to an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat on the stovetop at a low temperature.

You can add a bit more milk and parmesan cheese to the sauce as you reheat it to make the sauce creamy again. This sauce is best enjoyed immediately, but will be good in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Check out these other delicious Vegetarian Pasta Dishes!

  • Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce
  • Asparagus Lemon Garlic Pasta
  • Mushroom Alfredo Pasta
  • Baked Feta and Broccoli Pasta

You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!

Image for pinning super green pasta sauce recipe on pinterest
Above view of super green pasta sauce on mafaldine noodles in a serving bowl
Recipe

Super Green Pasta Sauce

★★★★★ 5 from 21 reviews

Make a green pasta sauce with zucchini, spinach and fresh basil.

Recipe By: Madeline
Prep: 5 minutesCook: 15 minutesTotal: 20 minutes
Print Pin it Rate recipe Save recipe
Servings: 2 large or 4 small servings 1x

Ingredients

  • 8oz pasta of choice – I used mafaldine
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 shallot
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 zucchini
  • 4 large handfuls of spinach
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup basil leaves
  • 3/4 cup pasta water – reserved from cooked pasta
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + more for topping
  • Zest from 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil.Chop zucchini into cubes, slice shallot and garlic cloves into thin slices. When the water is boiling, place the pasta in the pot to boil.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic to the pan. Suate until the garlic and shallot are soft and fragrant – about 3 minutes.
  3. Add the cubed zucchini to the pan and saute until soft about 4 minutes. Add the spinach to the pan and saute until it is just soft and wilted. Add the salt to the pan and toss again.
  4. Reserve 3/4 cup of the pasta water from the pot. Drain the pasta and set aside. Place warm sauteed veggies in a blender with the pasta water, basil, heavy cream and parmesan cheese.
  5. Blend until a smooth and creamy sauce remains. Toss the warm noodles in the warm creamy sauce. Serve with extra parmesan cheese and lemon zest.
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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Super Green Pasta Sauce?

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About Madeline

Hi, I'm Madeline! I am so excited to share my healthy and approachable recipes with you. Here you will find simple, comforting recipes that the whole family will enjoy. Turn on your favorite playlist or podcast and let's get cooking!

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Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Lindsay Glasspoole says

    Posted on 8/18 at 8:56 pm

    Okay I wasn’t sure about this. I’ve made green pesto sauces before and they’ve been average. But this was so delicious! I love that its not pesto based and gives me a chance to use up zucchini’s from the garden. My kids even helped make it and we called it dinosaur pasta. Will for sure be making this again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 8/19 at 10:08 am

      YAY!! okay the official name needs to be changed to dinosaur pasta

      Reply
    • Laura Lee says

      Posted on 8/29 at 2:14 pm

      This was super yummy. We tossed it with spinach ricotta ravioli and served with grilled chicken tenders and roasted cherry tomatoes. Beautiful and delicious.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Madeline says

        Posted on 8/30 at 8:03 pm

        yay!! thank you!

        Reply
  2. Carolyne says

    Posted on 8/23 at 7:40 pm

    This sauce was delicious! It was so nice to have a basil pasta sauce without nuts as I have an allergy. I will definitely make again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 8/27 at 5:42 pm

      awesome! thank you!

      Reply
  3. Andrea says

    Posted on 8/27 at 5:15 pm

    We wanted to give it 4.5/5 because we felt like the lemon zest didn’t quite fit. Husband said without hesitation a repeat recipe! Awesome and easy.

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 8/27 at 5:34 pm

      Hi Andrea, in the future i’d appreciate you leaving the 5 if you consider the recipe awesome. I am a small business owner and 4 star reviews are a bummer for my business. THanks for the review and I hope next time you and your husband can just leave the zest off 🙂

      Reply
  4. Amy says

    Posted on 8/27 at 5:41 pm

    This is so good!! I didn’t even know I was eating some many vegetables!!! I loved it!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  5. Chelsea Simmons says

    Posted on 8/27 at 7:09 pm

    This is incredible. A regular repeat for our family — my husband (who is VERY particular) calls it a must have!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 9/8 at 8:45 am

      amazing! thank you!

      Reply
  6. Claire Schafer says

    Posted on 9/17 at 5:20 pm

    Delicious! Can’t believe how many veggies went into it and still tasted like a decadent pasta dish.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 9/20 at 4:18 pm

      So glad you loved it! The hidden veggies are the best.

      Reply
  7. Dawn says

    Posted on 9/28 at 6:11 pm

    This recipe is even better than I already knew it would be when I first saw you share it on your stories. Definitely one i was most excited to try and can’t wait to make it again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 9/29 at 3:53 pm

      Thank you so much!

      Reply
  8. Hannah says

    Posted on 10/8 at 2:25 pm

    This recipe is awesome! I much prefer pesto sauce to red sauce, and this recipe allows me to have a saucier consistency while still having the pesto flavor! I subbed almond milk and vegan parmesan to make it vegan. Amazing depth of flavor.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 10/8 at 3:56 pm

      Pesto is the best sometimes! And so glad you tried it vegan and loved it!

      Reply
  9. Nora Helfont says

    Posted on 11/30 at 1:51 pm

    My 3 year old loves pesto (“green sauce”) but we needed a nut free option for school this year. Enter this VERY green pasta sauce. So easy to make and so good! We are currently enjoying it with the giant fusilli pasta from Trader Joe’s. Chef’s kiss. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 12/1 at 11:31 am

      So glad this one works for yall! That sounds amazing. And love that the 3 year old loves pesto 🙂

      Reply
  10. Alexandra Santiago says

    Posted on 1/20 at 10:29 pm

    So good! I needed a change to my usual chicken dinner and ran across this. Nice fresh, veggie packed dish that was definitely comfort food too. Saving the recipe to repeat again. Sautéed more zucchini and diced chicken – sauce was definitely saucy enough to cover my additions. Really tasty.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 1/21 at 4:19 pm

      thanks so much Alexandra! so glad you loved it

      Reply
  11. Ali says

    Posted on 1/21 at 5:41 pm

    I made this today and it’s SO delicious!! Will definitely make again. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 1/22 at 4:33 pm

      so glad!! thank you!

      Reply
  12. Annette says

    Posted on 1/26 at 1:44 pm

    This was so easy, and so delicious! Great way to pack more veggies into a pasta dish. I froze some as well and it was just as food reheated!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  13. Heather says

    Posted on 1/27 at 6:40 am

    So delicious and easy! Will definitely make this again and again.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 1/31 at 9:56 am

      wonderful! Thank you!

      Reply
  14. Rinna says

    Posted on 3/15 at 1:52 pm

    I love how many veggies you can sneak into this meal! I added some yellow squash and some extra cubed sauteed zucchini to add some additional texture to the dish. My husband loved it too, and we had no leftovers, which is saying something!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 3/15 at 2:31 pm

      yay!! that was my goal! heavy on the veggie and still heavy on flavor 🙂

      Reply
  15. Sophie says

    Posted on 5/1 at 8:08 pm

    I’ve been trying to add more veggies to my diet and recipes like this make it so much easier! I didn’t have spinach, but I used kale and zucchini and it was excellent, especially with some extra basil thrown in there!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 5/2 at 6:08 pm

      that sounds great! glad it helped you sneak some veggies in!

      Reply
  16. Emma says

    Posted on 8/23 at 8:21 am

    So good! Great way to sneak in veggies!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  17. Brittany F says

    Posted on 8/24 at 6:05 pm

    Loved this!! Super simple, I subbed coconut milk for the heavy cream because I had some open that I had to use. I also added red pepper flakes to the blender 🌶. Put it over pasta and added rotisserie chicken 👌🏼. Thank you!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 8/27 at 3:18 pm

      oh yay!! so glad to know that sub works!!

      Reply
  18. Michelle Rasmussen says

    Posted on 9/6 at 6:47 pm

    This recipe solved two problems for me: 1, using up veg hanging out in the fridge, and 2, great pasta sauce that isn’t tomato based. I have a lot of food intolerances, so I’m always modifying things. I am dairy free, so I used a plant based hard cheese and almond milk instead of cream. Still delicious! You can throw some plant based sour cream in there too for extra creaminess.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 9/8 at 10:04 pm

      love it! so glad it could fit your needs! thanks Michelle!

      Reply
  19. Cassidy says

    Posted on 1/2 at 1:13 pm

    I’m obsessed with zucchini and with this recipe! Subbed coconut milk for cream and did not use parmesan and it turned out perfect. After reading through the comments, next time I’ll throw in some red pepper flakes!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  20. Jess g says

    Posted on 1/30 at 8:52 pm

    Amazing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Madeline says

      Posted on 1/30 at 10:12 pm

      Yay! Thanks!

      Reply

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