Zucchini Linguine at Home

We’ve had quite a few over 80 degree weather days here in Nashville lately and it makes my heart SO happy! I’m a summer girl and if I didn’t love living close to family so much, I would do my dependable to convince Mr. Britnell to move to a part of the country that’s warm year round.

One of my regular parts of summer is the massive amount of veggies that we have exploding out of our garden. I always manage to plant WAY too much zucchini. In my defense, I have a hard time justify killing any seedlings. They say to plant a few seeds only in case some don’t work out. But when they all DO work out, I only let them grow which results in mountains of zucchini that we almost can’t even give away fast enough.

So, we end up eating a LOT of zucchini noodles throughout the summer months. Can’t say that I’m complaining about it at all.

This dish is a combination of 2 of my regular summer elements: Zucchini noodles AND fresh mint. If you don’t have mint growing in your yard, go plant some NOW. It requires ZERO effort to keep alive, it grows back on its own, year after year, and obviously, it’s AMAZE! Only be careful because it grows like a WEED and will take over if you’re not careful.

I got the inspiration for this method from one of my all time regular chefs: Jamie Oliver. My lovely mother-in-law brought his newest cookbook back for me from England and Worth keeping it so much. All of the recipes are made with 5 ingredients so they’re all simple and unfussy (LOVE!). I tweaked this one a bit and am excited to share it with you!

This Zucchini Linguine recipe is ridiculously unfussy and comes together in simply 15 minutes! Simply cook your pasta, spiralize and heat up your zucchini noodles, and then toss it ALL together with some lemon juice and zest, mint, and parmesan.

The simplicity of this dish is part of what makes it Deeply good. And I know that mint in your pasta might sound a little strange BUT IT HOLDS UP. It’s refreshing and so ridiculously flavorful! Simply give it a chance:)

How to Make Zucchini Noodles

If you’ve never made zucchini noodles, it’s QUITE straightforward. Jamie’s cookbook recommends thinly slices the zucchini into quite thin strips which surely works. If it’s something you think you’ll do regularly then I recommend getting yourself a spiralizer. You can get a simple handheld one like THIS ONE. I have THIS spiralizer called the “Inspiralizer” and I kind of love it.

I’ve also heard great things about THIS spiralizer which has great reviews on Amazon!

If using a spiralizer, you simple load the zucchini onto the spiralizer and you’ve got zucchini noodles in about 60 seconds. UNFUSSY! I recommend using some scissors to cut the noodles a bit. Otherwise, you end up with a piece of zucchini pasta that’s 10 feet long. LOL. I aim to make the zucchini pasta about the same length as normal pasta.

How to Cook Zucchini Noodles

Cooking the zucchini noodles is simply as unfussy as making them!

Simply heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a drying pan to medium heat. Add in your zucchini noodles and cook according to how done you want your zucchini:

3-5 minutes gets your zucchini noodles heat all the way through BUT leaves them with a nice crunch left to them. It’s almost like eating raw zucchini that has been heated up. This is my preferred way to eat zucchini pasta.

5-8 minutes gets your zucchini noodles a little soft and only cooked through so that there’s a tiny bit of a crunch left.

8-11 minutes gets your zucchini noodles quite a bit softer but still to the point that they hold together nicely. I know a lot of people that like their zucchini pasta cooked like this. I suggest experimenting with it a bit:)

I’m not a huge fan of fully replacing pasta with vegetable noodles but I do love to do a 50/50 combo of zucchini noodles and pasta. I am Italian after all, so I’m not sure that I can ever fully give up pasta:)

If you’re looking for more zucchini noodle recipes, you should CERTAINLY try my Zucchini Noodle Ramen. DEEPLY GOOD! I need to make it again soon. I’m also a BIG fan of Butternut Squash Noodles!