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This pasta with veggies and fresh basil pesto is easy to make and works great for packed lunches or prepped weekday dinners!
Summer veggies of zucchini, yellow squash and ripe cherry tomatoes are roasted together until the cherry tomatoes burst and the squash become soft and caramelized on the edges.
Top the roasted veggies with a pile of cooked pasta and homemade pesto sauce for an absolutely delicious meal!
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Vegetables that go with Pesto
Homemade Pesto
Making the Recipe
Recipe Tips and FAQs
Pesto Pasta with Veggies
Vegetables that go with Pesto
In the recipe, we use zucchini, yellow squash and cherry tomatoes. But you can change it up with what you have on hand or what's in season!
Ideas to try as a veggie swap:
- Eggplant
- Bell peppers
- Broccolini
- Mushrooms
Got more ideas for this veggie-packed pesto pasta? Let me know below in the comments!
Pesto has a cheesy, garlicky, basil-infused flavor that honestly goes well with most veggies, so I don't think you can go wrong with what veggies you choose!
Homemade Pesto
Is there any dip better than pesto? Maybe hummus! But pesto is definitely a favorite of mine!
It's traditionally made with basil leaves, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, fresh garlic and a good quality olive oil.
Some folks love to toast their pine nuts before adding them to the blender or food processor, but either way - it's delish!
It's super easy to make - pulse or blend all the ingredients together except the olive oil. Once everything looks finely minced and combined, slowly add the olive oil as you blend it all together.
In this recipe, I did less olive oil than I typically would to keep it thick. Plus, there's extra oil in the casserole dish for roasting the veggies, but if you prefer your pesto thinner, add more oil!
Making the Recipe
It's super easy to make and doesn't require too many dishes!
- Roast the veggies in the casserole dish in the olive oil and salt.
- As the veggies roast, cook your pasta noodles! I love using rotini noodles so they hang onto the pesto sauce well.
- Make the homemade pesto as the veggies and pasta cook. It'll smell aaaamazing!
- Pile the pasta on top of the roasted veggies and the fresh pesto on top of the pasta. Stir it all together and bon appetit!
Recipe Tips and FAQs
Can I use store-bought pesto?
Definitely! The recipe makes about 1 cup of pesto, so as long as you substitute 1 cup of store-bought pesto, you should be good to go!
What if my squash are smaller and don't get the full amount as you used in the recipe?
No problem! If you have to use smaller squash, you'll need to use a few to get enough veggies. But if you still have about half the amounts listed, you can still follow the recipe as is. The roasting time will just be about 20 minutes shorter.
Pesto Pasta with Veggies
This one dish basil pesto pasta meal is easy to make in a casserole dish and full of roasted yellow squash, zucchini and tomatoes.
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 8 people
Author: Monica Nedeff
Ingredients
Pasta and Veggies
- 1 lb rotini pasta
- 2.5 cups quartered zucchini (from 1 large zucchini)
- 4 cups quartered yellow squash (from 1 large yellow squash)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
Pesto
- 4 cups basil leaves (packed)
- ⅔ cup parmesan cheese (grated)
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 4 small garlic cloves
- ½ cup olive oil
Instructions
For the Pasta and Veggies
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the olive oil and salt to a 9x5 casserole dish along with the quartered zucchini, yellow squash and cherry tomatoes. Toss the veggies to coat them and roast them in the oven for 45 minutes.
As the veggies roast, cook the pasta according to package instructions and reserve ½ cup of pasta water.
For the Pesto
For the pesto add the basil leaves, parmesan cheese, pine nuts and garlic cloves to a food processor or blender. Pulse or blend until everything is finely minced.
Pour the olive oil in as you continue to blend or pulse the pesto to combine everything together.
Assemble the Dish
Once the veggies are done roasting, add the cooked pasta on top along with the fresh pesto.
Stir everything together and add a splash of reserved pasta water if necessary to thin the pesto.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves and extra parmesan and enjoy!
Notes
- If you're using store-bought pesto instead of homemade, use 1 cup of store-bought pesto.
- If you can only get small squashes, use 2 instead of 1. If you still don't get the full amount of veggies as listed, just reduce the roasting time. Half the amount of veggies will take about 25 minutes to roast.
- If you want more protein, add chicken or chickpeas for a vegan option.
Nutrition
Calories: 513kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 288mg | Potassium: 607mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1187IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 3mg
(Nutrition values are calculated by third-party software and an estimate that can vary based on product brands and cooking methods.)
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: pesto pasta with veggies, vegetarian pesto pasta, healthy pesto pasta recipe
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Alexa
Made dish exactly as directed.
Wonderful, fresh taste. You feel good about life after you eat it.Reply
Monica Nedeff
So happy to hear it! Thanks for the comment and rating, Alexa!
Reply
