Pasta Primavera

Try my light, lemony pasta primavera recipe for a vegetable-forward meal the whole family will love! Don’t forget to serve it with grated parmesan cheese and chopped basil for even more flavor.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings servings

Calories 480kcal

Author John Kanell

Ingredients

10 ounces penne pasta (284g)
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ small red onion sliced (94g)
1 small red bell pepper seeded and sliced (162g)
1 small yellow bell pepper seeded and sliced (147g)
1 small yellow squash halved and sliced (169g)
1 small zucchini halved and sliced (185g)
12 stalks asparagus chopped (131g)
4 cloves garlic minced
2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes halved (174g)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup grated parmesan cheese for serving (40g)
¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves for serving

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving ½ cup pasta water. Return pasta to pot.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and asparagus and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the squash, zucchini, and garlic and cook just until they start to turn tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Remove from the heat.
To the pot with the drained cooked pasta, add the cooked vegetables, tomatoes, reserved pasta water, lemon juice, and butter. Stir gently until the butter melts. Serve immediately with parmesan and basil.

Video

Notes

Don’t overcook the pasta. Mushy pasta is never ideal, so cook the pasta until it is al dente, meaning it is tender with a bit of bite. Al dente pasta will continue cooking once tossed in sauce.
Salt the pasta cooking water generously. This adds flavor to the pasta that you can’t make up for if cooked without salt. Generally, I use 1 tablespoon of salt per 12 cups of water.
Don’t overcook the fresh vegetables. Veggies should be cooked until they are crisp-tender and still brightly colored, not mushy.
To save time, cook the vegetables while the pasta cooks. This way, everything is hot at the same time, and the vegetables don’t soften too much by having to be reheated.
Grate fresh parmesan cheese from a block. The stuff that comes in a tub just can’t compare with the taste of freshly grated parmesan. A microplane or the small holes of a box grater work well for grated parmesan cheese at home.

Nutrition