This pasta primavera recipe is light, fresh, and simple to make. Packed with colorful veggies, it's the perfect easy dinner for spring or summer night.
I love to make this pasta primavera recipe after a trip to the farmers market in early summer. I come home with bags full of produce. Some contain spring veggies like asparagus and peas that will only be available for a few more weeks. Others hold summer finds like zucchini, squash, and cherry tomatoes whose season is just starting. The moment when all these spring and summer vegetables collide is so brief that I feel like I have to celebrate it. So, I cook a pot of pasta, sauté the veggies, and toss them together to make this pasta primavera recipe.
Pasta Primavera Recipe Ingredients
While pasta primavera means “spring pasta” in Italian, the dish itself is actually American. The story goes that it originated at the New York restaurant Le Cirque in the 1970s, and in the years following, it started popping up on Italian restaurant menus all over the US. The original version featured spaghetti and a rich butter and cream sauce, but these days, the name “pasta primavera” is given to all sorts of veggie pastas.
Here’s what I use in my take:
- Pasta, of course! I like to use penne pasta because the noodles are a similar size to the chopped vegetables. It makes it easy to get a little of everything in each bite!
- Garlic and red onion – For savory depth of flavor.
- Yellow squash and zucchini – Feel free to use just one or the other if you can’t find both!
- Asparagus – For complexity and crunch.
- Cherry tomatoes – They become soft and bursty, lightly coating the pasta in their juices.
- Peas – I often use thawed frozen peas, though if you happen to have fresh shell peas, you could totally blanch them and toss them in.
- Pecorino cheese – It makes the pasta lightly creamy. Parmesan cheese would be great here too!
- Fresh lemon juice – I love its bright flavor with all the fresh vegetables.
- Red pepper flakes – They add a little heat.
- Fresh basil and tarragon – They bring so much flavor to this simple pasta dish. Technically, the tarragon is optional, but if you can find it, I highly recommend using it. It really takes this recipe over the top!
- And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Pasta Primavera
This pasta primavera has to be one of the simplest dinner recipes on Love & Lemons. It’s so easy to make! Here’s how it goes:
First, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. Drain it when it’s just al dente. It’ll cook a little more with the veggies on the stove, so you want to be careful not to overcook it now. Toss the pasta with a drizzle of oil to prevent sticking.
Next, sauté the veggies. I LOVE that all the vegetables cook in one pan in this recipe! Heat a glug of olive oil in a large skillet, and toss in the garlic, onion, zucchini, squash, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. It only takes a few minutes for the vegetables to soften.
Then, add the pasta, peas, cheese, and lemon juice. Toss until the cheese melts down and coats the pasta in a lightly creamy sauce. Stir in the fresh herbs, and season to taste.
Finally, garnish with more basil, and serve!
Pasta Primavera Serving Suggestions
This pasta primavera makes a fantastic meal on its own, though if you like, you could certainly pair it with a side dish or two. We love it with buttery slices of garlic bread and a side salad. Try serving it with any of these salad recipes:
- Simple Green Salad
- Italian Chopped Salad
- Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Zucchini Salad
- Bright Spring Salad
Enjoy!
More Favorite Pasta Recipes
If you love this pasta primavera recipe, try one of these fresh pasta recipes next:
- Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
- Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Peas
- Linguine with Lemon and Tomatoes
- Cauliflower Pasta
- Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Pesto Pasta
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta
- Or any of these 25 Easy Pasta Recipes!
Pasta Primavera
Ingredients
- 10 ounces penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 4 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 yellow squash, sliced into thin half-moons
- 1 zucchini, sliced into thin half-moons
- 1 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
- ¾ cup grated pecorino cheese
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Red pepper flakes
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
- ¼ cup fresh tarragon, optional
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package instructions, cooking until al dente. Drain and toss with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent sticking.
- Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, squash, zucchini, asparagus, tomatoes, onion, salt, and several grinds of pepper and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the pasta, peas, cheese, lemon juice, and a pinch of red pepper flakes and toss to combine. Stir in the basil and tarragon, if using.
- Season to taste, garnish with more basil, and serve.
Delicious. The herbs are an absolute must and really wake this dish up. Can’t wait to make again when summer produce is really rockin!
Hi Sara, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Adding pecorino to a pan where the contents are extremely hot will make the pecorino melt and just stick to the pan. I would leave the pasta off the heat for 5 mins after creaming it with some of the pasta water and then add the pecorino with perhaps some more reserved pasta water, emulsify and combine. You can also blend the pecorino with the pasta water and then add to ensure it properly emulsifies, before adding the veg. This ensures you have a sauce rather than just cheese stuck to hot pasta and vegetables and the pan.
Hi What’s the best way to reheat this dish?
Hi Mirna, I would reheat portions in the microwave with a little bit of water if the pasta dries out.
Super easy to make and I loved that it was packed with veggies! My kids didn’t eat it well because they don’t love squash, zucchini, onion, or asparagus…but I guess that means more leftovers for me! 🙂
Hi Erin, ha, so glad you enjoyed it!
Can this dish be premade in advance and reheated later for a large dinner party?
Hi Eileen, for a dinner party, I’d recommend making this pasta just before serving, though you could do all the chopping in advance to speed up the cooking process. Some other pastas that would be good for entertaining are these stuffed shells and this baked ziti. You can assemble both in advance and bake them off just before serving. Hope this helps!
So easy, fresh, fast and delicious! Can’t wait to eat it for lunch tomorrow and it has all my favorite veggies in it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Made this for dinner tonight. Absolutely loved it. Adding the red pepper flakes added a good pop at the end. I didn’t add any more salt at the end as the pecorino is salty enough on it’s own. Definitely a keeper.
This recipe was really easy to throw together. I had leftover grilled squash from the weekend; I cut them and added with the pasta. I also had finely diced red onion leftover and threw that into the saute (rather than cutting another onion). Using leftover ingredients made the dish even easier.
Great idea to use leftovers! So glad you loved the pasta.
Delicious! So fresh and healthy!
Hi Alison, I’m so glad you loved it!
I love that this pasta primavera is packed with fresh veggies! I used whole wheat pasta and doubled the zucchini, as I couldn’t find any summer squash. So flavorful! Since there are just two of us, we had leftovers, which we took for lunch the next day – perfect!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Did I have to buy a small basil plant because the store was out of the bulk basil? Yes. Do I regret it? No. This recipe was a better than my normal desk lunch (and looking forward to the leftovers). I cooked the red onion and zucchini longer because that’s what I do! Still delicious. Enjoy! I did.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it and I hope you find many many uses for your fresh basil!
It was very easy to follow the recipe and the zucchini sealed the deal. Effortlessly delicious and healthy. Absolute spring favourite. Thanks for sharing ?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious!! Perfect Spring dish; fresh, flavorful and so easy! Definite keeper!!
This recipe is so easy to follow. Most important, it is a healthilicious dish. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Yum, this was easy to make and tasted delicious!
Fresh vibrant flavors which were enhanced by the fresh basil and tarragon. Loved the greater proportion of veggies to pasta. Will definitely make this again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious! Made with vegan parmesan, this dish is so easy and so flavorful! Great way to eat veggies!
I’m so glad you loved it!
My husband and I LOVED this dish. It’s easy and flavorful!
Daphne Fillebrown
Boise ID
I’m so glad to hear!
The Pasta Primavera was easy, refreshing and delicious. Looking forward to taking to cookouts. Thank you!
This was the perfect MDW kickoff – I actually did it as a side dish and everyone loved it! I made it gluten free with the pasta – no one knew until I told them and it was so fresh and light. Will definitely make again!
Hi Shannon, I’m so glad it was a hit!