Summer Squash Pasta

This Summer Squash Pasta is perfect for a delicious, 30-minute weeknight meal! It’s one of my favorite summertime meals when I’m in a rush, but still want something satisfying and delicious. This pasta recipe is super simple with just a few key ingredients: squash, garlic, basil, crushed tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and pasta. It reminds me of the many rustic Italian dishes that celebrate of the quality of seasonal ingredients and simple preparations.

How to Make Summer Squash Pasta

There are just two steps to this squash pasta recipe:

1. Make the Sauce by sautéing some onion and squash until softened. Then, toss in the garlic and pour in a 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes. You can use tomato sauce if you prefer, but the small pieces in crushed tomatoes go well with the squash when cooked down together. Toss in a few leaves of basil and cook for about 5 minutes on medium-low. Sprinkle in some parmesan cheese and salt, and toss with the pasta (add a little pasta water to thin the sauce down, if needed).
2. Cook the pasta. Toss the pasta in to cook when you add in the garlic for the sauce. This way your pasta and sauce will be done at about the same time. After mixing the pasta into the sauce, you can garnish with parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, chili flakes, herbs, etc.

Tips for Making Simple Pasta Dishes

The real key to simple recipes is to use good ingredients. For this recipe in particular, use high-quality olive oil and crushed tomatoes. Mutti and Pomi are the best canned/boxed crushed tomatoes I’ve found–they’re sweet, robust, and aren’t as watered down as some other brands. It’s pure tomato goodness! If you happen to have canned tomatoes from your garden, even better. San Marzanos are an excellent choice as well – I think most of them come whole, but you can tear them into pieces for a rustic pasta look and great texture.

Don’t overcook the pasta. Nothing is worse than spending your time cooking a beautiful pasta sauce only to find you’ve overcooked the noodles. (Trust me I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit!). Check 1-2 minutes before the cooking time is up and do a taste test. It should have a nice bite in the middle, but not crunchy. And remember, the pasta will continue to cook slightly after being strained. In Italian “al dente” translates to “to the tooth”, meaning firm to the tooth or bite. To achieve this texture, I normally cook the pasta right at the minimum cooking time or even a minute before.

More Summer Pasta Dishes:

Rigatoni di Spago

Stuffed Eggplant in Tomato Sauce with Gnocchi

Garlic Scape Pasta with Creamy Parmesan Sauce

Print Recipe

Summer Squash Pasta

Pasta, Dinner – Italian

By Katelyn Bailey – Serves: 2

Prep Time: 5 minutes – Cooking Time: 15 minutes – Total Time: 20 minutes

This pasta recipe is great for busy days when you want something satisfying but just don't have the energy to cook a meal with a bunch of steps. Takes less then 30 minutes to prepare and is simply delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 cups summer squash, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (Yellow Crookneck, Zucchini, Pattypan, Zepher, Tromboncino, etc. will all work)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 14-15 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 basil leaves, chiffonade cut
• 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 box of pasta (you can double all the ingredients if you wish to make a full box.)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1

Start a large pot of water to boil; heavily salt once boiling.

2

In a large pan over medium heat, drizzle in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and toss in the onion. Cook this down for 2-3 minutes and toss in the squash for another 3-5 minutes.

3

Once the vegetables are soft, toss in the garlic and cook for 1 minute (you can add some chili flakes here if you like a little heat). At this time, you can also toss the pasta in the boiling water to begin cooking.

4

Pour in the crusted tomatoes and basil and cook for another 5-10, until the pasta is done.

5

Mix in the parmesan cheese before tossing in the pasta. Thin down with a little pasta water if needed.

6

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Nutrition

• 683 Calories
• 108.8g Carbohydrates
• 10mg Cholesterol
• 19.3g Fat
• 12.5g Fiber
• 25.4g Protein
• 4.1g Saturated fat
• 816mg Sodium
• 18.8g Sugar

Notes

Use any sort of summer squash you have on hand.