Super Green Pasta Sauce
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Use summer produce to make this Super Green Pasta Sauce. Make this vibrant basil cream sauce in just 30 minutes.
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!
Kitchen Tools
- Cutting board and sharp knife
- Saute pan
- Large pot for boiling pasta
- Blender
- Measuring spoons and measuring cups
- Liquid measuring cup
Ingredients
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
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.
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!
Super Green Pasta Sauce
Make a green pasta sauce with zucchini, spinach and fresh basil.
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Lindsay Glasspoole says
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!
★★★★★
Madeline says
YAY!! okay the official name needs to be changed to dinosaur pasta
Laura Lee says
This was super yummy. We tossed it with spinach ricotta ravioli and served with grilled chicken tenders and roasted cherry tomatoes. Beautiful and delicious.
★★★★★
Madeline says
yay!! thank you!
Carolyne says
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!
★★★★★
Madeline says
awesome! thank you!
Andrea says
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.
★★★★
Madeline says
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 🙂
Amy says
This is so good!! I didn’t even know I was eating some many vegetables!!! I loved it!
★★★★★
Chelsea Simmons says
This is incredible. A regular repeat for our family — my husband (who is VERY particular) calls it a must have!
★★★★★
Madeline says
amazing! thank you!
Claire Schafer says
Delicious! Can’t believe how many veggies went into it and still tasted like a decadent pasta dish.
★★★★★
Madeline says
So glad you loved it! The hidden veggies are the best.
Dawn says
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!
★★★★★
Madeline says
Thank you so much!
Hannah says
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.
★★★★★
Madeline says
Pesto is the best sometimes! And so glad you tried it vegan and loved it!
Nora Helfont says
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!
★★★★★
Madeline says
So glad this one works for yall! That sounds amazing. And love that the 3 year old loves pesto 🙂
Alexandra Santiago says
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.
★★★★★
Madeline says
thanks so much Alexandra! so glad you loved it
Ali says
I made this today and it’s SO delicious!! Will definitely make again. Thank you!
★★★★★
Madeline says
so glad!! thank you!
Annette says
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!
★★★★★
Heather says
So delicious and easy! Will definitely make this again and again.
★★★★★
Madeline says
wonderful! Thank you!
Rinna says
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!
★★★★★
Madeline says
yay!! that was my goal! heavy on the veggie and still heavy on flavor 🙂
Sophie says
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!
★★★★★
Madeline says
that sounds great! glad it helped you sneak some veggies in!
Emma says
So good! Great way to sneak in veggies!
★★★★★
Brittany F says
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!!
★★★★★
Madeline says
oh yay!! so glad to know that sub works!!
Michelle Rasmussen says
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.
★★★★★
Madeline says
love it! so glad it could fit your needs! thanks Michelle!
Cassidy says
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!
★★★★★
Jess g says
Amazing!
★★★★★
Madeline says
Yay! Thanks!
Sherry says
One of my favorite recipes on the site! Love to serve this with a crispy chicken cutlet & burrata and the lemon zest ties it all together!
★★★★★
Madeline says
Thanks, Sherry!