This homemade Zucchini Pasta Sauce is a light and flavorful pasta sauce recipe that’s good for you, too! Toss this fresh pasta sauce with your favorite pasta shape, layer it in a lasagna or even enjoy it as a creamy, comforting soup!
Zucchini Pasta Sauce Recipe
Got zucchini? Maybe you got a little too eager planting the garden this year? Or you’re just looking for a delicious, nutritious pasta sauce recipe? Step aside for this Zucchini Pasta Sauce because it’s a winner.
You could use this pasta sauce recipe with any shape of pasta! Toss it with some nutty, fresh grated parmesan cheese and you’ll have a nutritious, comfort food dinner that’s ready to go in less then 30.
How Do You Make Zucchini Pasta Sauce?
Making this pasta sauce recipe is so easy, even if you don’t have zucchini hanging around from your garden you’ll be buying tons of it to start making this sauce!
Start by cooking down diced zucchini (a rough, large dice will do since it’s all going to be blended) with onion in a skillet with olive oil
This step does take about 10 minutes to soften the zucchini and onion and to achieve a nice, deep flavor. After about 10 minutes, the zucchini and onions will look like this…
Once the vegetables have cooked down, you can add heavy cream, chicken broth, fresh thyme and a dried bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for 15 minutes.
Lastly, it’s time to blend! After removing the bay leaf and thyme stems, grab an immersion blender, tilt the skillet and start blending the sauce until smooth and creamy.
After blending, test the zucchini pasta sauce for seasoning and adjust if needed.
This pasta sauce recipe will make more than enough for a pound of pasta, you’ll most likely have some extra. Add your favorite pasta shape to the sauce, toss and serve!
How Much Zucchini Do I Need To Make Zucchini Pasta Sauce?
Another thing that we love about this pasta sauce recipe is that it uses a ton of fresh zucchini! You’ll need about 2 pounds to make this Zucchini Pasta Sauce.
Since zucchini comes in all different sizes, we find that measuring out 2 pounds of any shape and size works best!
How Long Does This Pasta Sauce Last In The Refrigerator?
Store any leftover pasta sauce in a container in the refrigerator and it’ll last you at least a week. Even though this pasta sauce has cream in it, it does also freeze nicely.
Let it defrost in the refrigerator over night and then reheat on the stove top over low heat, whisking to bring the sauce back together.
If the frozen, defrosted sauce breaks a bit upon reheating, you can add a touch more cream to bring it back together.
Can I Make This Pasta Sauce Vegetarian?
Absolutely! Just swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth, it’s as easy as that! This pasta sauce recipe is very adaptable, you can add or swap out a lot of the ingredients!
Try using different herbs like basil or oregano. Toss the pasta and sauce with a little diced tomato for added flavor, or even add a protein like Italian sausage or shredded chicken!
Looking For More Pasta Recipes?
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Zucchini Pasta Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeThis Zucchini Pasta Sauce can be tossed over any shape pasta! You can also use it to serve with ravioli or layer in a lasagna recipe. A comforting pasta sauce recipe that’s good for you, too!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 pounds zucchini, cut into a large dice
- 1 large onion, cut into a large dice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper to taste (start with at least 1 teaspoon)
- 1 –2 tablespoons chopped garlic (we like closer to 2)
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme (you can also add the thyme stems right into the sauce for a lighter flavor and then remove the stems before blending)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- Garnish more parmesan cheese and fresh black pepper if desired.
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and butter to a large sauce pan. Once the butter has melted, add the diced zucchini, onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook the vegetables, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until softened.
- Pour in the chicken broth, cream and then add the bay leaf and thyme. Stir and simmer the sauce over low heat, uncovered for 20 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf and thyme stems from the sauce and then puree with a stick blender until smooth. Tilt the skillet so that the sauce doesn’t splatter, or alternately, you can let the sauce cool and then transfer to a blender.
- Stir in the fresh parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings if needed.
Recipe Notes
This pasta sauce will make more than enough for a whole pound of pasta. Add the sauce to your cooked pasta a little at a time and toss for desired consistency. Store extra sauce in a covered container for up to a week.
Frozen sauce can be defrosted and reheated on the stove top, whisking to bring the sauce back together and also adding a splash more cream if needed.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
What an awesome sauce, love it!! We are huge zucchini fans here so we’ve got to try this one!
Thanks Matt-The kids even like it, which is a huge plus! Hats off to Paul @Family Kitchen Ravioli for sharing the recipe with me.
Are the chopped zucchini supposed to be peeled and seeded?
@Monica – I peeled the zucchini, then roasted it. I didn’t seed it but you could if you’d like. You could also roast it with the peels on, totally up to you!
This looks amazing! I’m going to try it this weekend, and hopefully that will mean another vegetable that she likes.
Oops, I meant another vegetable that my kid likes!
This looks delicious but I was wondering if the broth, thyme and bay leaf were accidently mentioned in the ingredients as they aren’t included in the instructions?
Vicki, I updated this recipe just now. This was a very old recipe of mine and when I changed recipe cards some of the older ones didn’t update well. Thank you for letting me know!
The zucchini tasted so good we at it as a side. The ingredients include garlic instructions don’t indicate the garlic. I didn’t use cheese and used half and half cause that’s what I had on hand. Was delish and easy – thanks!!!