Zucchini Ribbon Pasta with {light!} Creamy Lemon-Basil Sauce

I created this Zucchini Ribbon Pasta recipe years ago to be a healthy one, but it’s honestly really delicious whether you’re counting calories or not. One of my favorite meal hacks over the years has been to mix veggies with their more calorie/carb-dense counterparts to enjoy the best of both worlds. In this case, I’m combining delicious regular pasta with zucchini ribbon noodles (cauliflower rice and regular rice is another great combo if you’re trying to lighten up your meals!). You how you can still have really delicious, filling food- even pasta and cream sauce,  and stick to a healthy diet.  There are a few great tricks in here, so pay attention folks.  Let’s get cookin’.

Ingredients Needed

This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.

• Fettucine – Or other pasta of choice.
• Zucchini – Here’s one of the secrets to this recipe.  It’s a trick I sometimes use on my kids.  Shhhh… Slice a zucchini in thin slices vertically.  I used a mandoline to make it quick and easy. If you don’t have a mandoline, you can use a vegetable peeler.  You want them about 1/8 inch thick.
• Olive oil
• Grape tomatoes – Or any other variety of sweet, bite-sized tomato.
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Fresh garlic cloves
• Chicken broth
• Cream cheese – Now for the secret to our sinfully creamy sauce. I almost never use fat-free cream cheese.  I don’t recommend it for baking, and I don’t really like it in dips, but the one place it does work really well is when it’s melted into a sauce, like this.  We just need the creaminess, and fat-free cream cheese has significantly less calories than even the reduced fat kind.  Obviously feel free to use any of the three, but know that fat-free works great.
• Fresh basil leaves – If you don’t have basil growing, find it in the produce section near the tomatoes (not refrigerated like other herbs).
• Lemon juice – Freshly squeezed!

How to Make Zucchini Ribbon Pasta with Light Creamy Lemon-Basil Sauce

1. Get some water boiling. Use a mandoline or vegetable peeler to cut your zicchini in long slices/sheets, then cut them vertically to create ribbons. Set those aside.
2. Add pasta to the boiling water.
3. While the pasta is cooking, you’ll sauté some little tomatoes quickly, just until they are just barely starting to burst. At this point they’ve released some sweetness and it’s caramelized in the pan to develop a whole new depth of flavor. Scoop those little guys out of the pan and set them aside. 
4. Chop up a few cloves of garlic and give them a quick saute in your same pan.  Once those are golden, add a little chicken broth.  As the chicken broth simmers, you can scrape all of the little browned bits off the bottom of the pan- they add tons of flavor here. You’ll mix a little of that hot broth with some softened cream cheese, then add that back to the pan to create the creamy sauce.
5. Add chopped basil and lemon juice, then taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as desired.
6. When your pasta is just about done, pop your zucchini ribbons in the pot so they’re cooking with the pasta. These only need about 2 minutes, then drain the zucchini and pasta and combine with the sauce. Gently toss with the tomatoes or simply add them to the top of each serving. Garnish with basil if desired.