This zucchini fettuccine recipe was born from the garden. It’s the meal you make when you’ve got both herbs and zucchini ready to be used! Garlic-infused olive oil coats warm pasta with flecks of lemon zest and fresh herbs. Grilled Zucchini and lemon-chicken top it off with savory Parmesan cheese running throughout. It’s casual and rustic enough for a weeknight family meal, and fancy enough for company. It’s one I make over and over again in the summer months!
Using Herbs in Zucchini Fettuccini
Saute Garlic & Cook Veggies
I start by sautéing crushed garlic in olive oil. After it’s softened (but not crispy) I turn off the heat and toss in half my herbs. I feel like this infuses more flavor into the oil!
You’ll toss some zucchini on the grill to get some pretty char marks on there.
And also grill up a couple chicken breasts.
Toss the pasta together
When those are done cooking, you’ll toss them in the pan with the sauted garlic, add the rest of your herbs, cooked pasta, parmesan cheese and fresh lemon juice.
Toss it all together and serve it with a chunk of crusty bread and it’s the perfect summer meal! This is definitely a rustic dish, meaning you can absolutely adjust and make things to taste. Add more lemon, more cheese, drizzle with oil at the end, switch up the herbs, include more veggies, etc.
Lemon-Herb Zucchini Fettuccine
- Yield: 4 generous servings
Description
Garlic-infused olive oil coats warm pasta with flecks of lemon zest and fresh herbs. Grilled Zucchini and lemon-chicken top it off with savory Parmesan cheese running throughout.
Ingredients
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 lemons
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound fettuccine (that’s just 1/2 of a normal box)
2 medium zucchini
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (about)
5–6 cloves garlic
Fresh basil (about 1/2 cup)
*Fresh oregano (about 1/4 cup) If you don’t have fresh oregano, just add a little dried.
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Instructions
Prepare grill. You could also do this on the stove top in a skillet, or a grill pan.
Place chicken in a zip-top bag with the juice of one lemon, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and a couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Smoosh around and set bag aside while you get your other things ready. (If you’ve got time to spare, let the chicken marinate for 30 minutes, if you don’t, just take what you can get. I did mine for 15 min and it was great.)
Put the pot on the stove to boil water for the pasta. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, slice the zucchini in half length-wise. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Press, or finely mince garlic cloves. In a small sauce pan on the stove, place 1/4 cup olive oil and add garlic. Turn burner onto low-med heat. It shouldn’t be popping and frying, it should just slowly warm, infusing the oil with the garlic and removing that zing fresh garlic has.
When water boils, add pasta and a spoonful of salt.
Remove chicken from bag and salt and pepper both sides. Place chicken, and zucchini on grill.
While chicken and zucchini are grilling and pasta is boiling, chop herbs and get out cheese. Zest both lemons and juice the one that hasn’t been juiced.
Keep an eye on garlic. It should still look nice and white, not brown or crispy. Give it a stir. If it starts really cooking, just take it off the heat and set aside.
When zucchini and chicken are done, take them off the grill and chop them up.
Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water. Drain pasta and immediately place in a big bowl. Place chopped zucchini and chicken on top. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, herbs, and garlic-olive oil mixture and toss together. If you feel it needs more moisture, add a little of the pasta water, or a little more olive oil.
Notes
*feel free to mix and match any herbs you have on hand
Questions & Reviews
I absolutely love this recipe, mainly because of the chicken and pasta combination, but throw in the zucchini and my family will definitely get their serving of veggies! Also, my youngest is allergic to any and all dairy so this meal (minus the extra Parm on top) is a happy camper. Let me tell ya that learning how to tweak recipes and go dairy-free is a tough job. Thanks for making my job a little easier with this delicious meal.
P.S. I think I’ve shared this on facebook a few times because I love it so much…and now there are a few more OBB lovers around too. 😉
I love this recipe and I use it often. I use broccoli rather than zucchini just because I have it in the house and my kids eat it up. I also use spaghetti noodles for the same reason. The mix of herbs makes this delish!!!! Thank you so much!!!
We just had this for dinner and it was SO good! Some of the kids weren’t going for the zucchini, but that was ok; I ate all of theirs; it was so good! Everyone loved the pasta and chicken though. It was gone fast and everyone was wanting more. I didn’t realize I was out of fettucini so I used penne.
This was so delicious! Perfect light pasta for summer!
This dish was a big hit in my house- I’m thinking of trying it with shrimp and spinach fettucini next time!
I’m a TERRIBLE cook, everything new I try turns out horribly. But I followed this recipe and it was sooooo delicious! It totally tasted like a dish from Olive Garden or something. I was so excited that something I made tasted so amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you so SO much for this delicious dish!! Had it not been for all of the ingredients I had out, my husband never would’ve believed I made it. When he stopped eating long enough to speak, his first words were “this tastes like a dish you’d order at an upscale restaurant!” Awesome, easy to make & a definite keeper in our home =)
I am linking to you guys on my menu every single week these days! I am so glad I found your site and can’t wait to make this!
Berretts-
The great thing about this dish is that it has pasta, chicken, and veggies all in one- so it makes a great one-dish meal! If you serve it in nice big pasta bowls with meal-sized portions, then it goes great with just a loaf of crusty french bread, or some garlic bread. Add a refreshing drink and you've got an easy, yet gourmet dinner! If you want to bulk it up a little, serve it with bread and a side salad, or a salad before the main course like you would see in a restaurant.
One of my husband's colleagues is bringing his partner down to dinner. I'm a little stressed since said partner is a world-traveller/photographer and I am feeling a bit intimidated in the food department.
I've decided to do this for dinner, but am at a lost for what would compliment it well as side dishes. Any suggestions? Dessert as well?
I tried this out last night because we were feeding the missionaries – I doubled it so I would have left overs & there was none left. This recipe is so good. I am definitely making it again & soon! The missionaries loved it!!
Thanks to you, I now know what I'm making for dinner. Fresh zucchini from the garden with my favorite – pasta!
I made this last week because I bought a HUGE zucchini from a farmer's market. It was sooo delicious! Thanks for yet another great recipe!
The link to your roasted corn tomato salad/salsa takes me to this recipe instead. This looks yummy, but I’d love to see the other recipe, too.
I just found your site. I can’t wait to try your recipes!
this recipe looks so delicious! makes me want to stop baking for a while and do some FOOD cooking! mmmmMMMMM love zucchini!
This was light and yummy. I love fresh basil and wish that I would have just sprinkled it on top of each plate because it got a little wilted when I put it in with the hot ingredients and lost some of it’s fresh flavor. Just a suggestion for those who try this in the future. I also took a veggie peeler and peeled some strips of cheese on top. Yum! Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! I made this for dinner last night. It was awesome. It was so quick and easy. I don’t have zuchinni’s in my pathetic garden, but I have a lot of basil. Yum! Great recipe.
yum! This will be a fun way to mix things up with all that zucchini I still have in my garden. Can’t wait to try it!
Made this last night and it was amazing! Husband loved it and put it at the top of his list…unfortunately, when i was making my shopping list, I just skimmed the ingredients, so I was totally way off…instead of fresh herbs and parmesan (yeah, i missed kind of a lot!), I just used the ol’ garlic bread mixture that I got from your website, and it turned out fantastic! Thanks for all the great recipes!
I made this tonight and it was SO GOOD! I loved that I could use up my zucchini, because we all know how run rampant this time of year!
This will be going on my list of favorites. Thanks a bunch.
Mmmmm..I made this last night Sara! I LOVE grilled zucchini. It has the best flavor. So I’ll let you know that I made this with FRESH pasta though. I thought it would soak in those amazing flavors better and it sure did! It was so yummy.
Shaws- I’m glad you liked it! And yes, my husband is definitely my best customer 😉
We tried this dish tonight and it was soooo good! I hope your husband pays you well for his meals…especially for cooking for him at 9 o’clock at night.
I can already tell Lemon-Herb Zucchini Fettuccine and I were MEANT for each other.
I’m wishing for a garden too – and a grill.
Mmmm looks fabulous! Will you make this for me while you’re here??
I have had a zuch sitting around my house for a week now with no idea what to do with it. But, now I know. Thanks! It looks delicious!
Even the name of this dish sounds pretty! I wish I had a garden…
you guys must have the happiest husbands around. thanks for teaching me how to cut mangos! my new fav fruit!
Sara, you are WAY too cool to be friends with me. “Oh, I just ran out to my garden and picked whatever herbs were there and came inside and produced a gourmet dinner in 10 minutes.” You are seriously too cool. I definitely want to try this (as soon as I can boil water again.)
That sounds SO good! And good luck to Kate.