Pasta primavera is a simple pasta dish overloaded with flavourful and crunchy bites of vegetables. This is one of the simplest pasta dishes you can make for yourself and your family.
Pasta Primavera is a delicious and colorful pasta dish that typically features a variety of fresh vegetables sautรฉed and tossed with pasta. If you are a pasta fan, this is one of the dishes to add to your quick recipes list.
This is not creamy and heavy cheese-loaded pasta. The beauty of this dish is its simplicity and light flavor that doesn't make it heavy for the tummy too. You can easily veganize this by eliminating Parmesan or substituing with vegan cheese.
Pasta Primavera Ingredients
Pasta - penne pasta (can also take spaghetti, fusilli, ziti, bowties, or fettuccine pasta)
Veggies - bell peppers, onions, broccoli, zucchini, squash, cherry tomatoes, etc
Garlic / garlic powder - fresh garlic adds a lot of freshness and flavor to the pasta. If you are sauteing the veggies on stove top then add fresh garlic. But if air frying or roasting the veggies in the oven, I would prefer garlic powder.
Seasoning - Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt to taste.
Olive oil - extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan Cheese or Vegan parmesan cheese - depending on diet preference
Parsley - flat or curly parsley - to garnish
Instructions to make pasta primavera -
Cook the pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Reserve ยผ cup pasta water and drain the rest and keep aside.
Pan Fry Veggies -
In a large skillet or pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and chopped onions, sautรฉing until softened and fragrant. Add sliced zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper, and broccoli florets to the skillet. Sautรฉ the vegetables until they are tender-crisp, about 5-7 minutes. Add seasoning and stir well to combine. Toss in the halved cherry tomatoes and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until they soften slightly.
Air fry the veggies
Preheat the air fryer at 400 F (200C) for 3 minutes.
Place the sliced veggies in a mixing bowl and add the seasonings mentioned in the ingredients list. Drizzle some olive oil and toss to coat them all well.
Transfer the seasoned veggies to the air fryer basket and air fry for 10 minutes at 400 F or until it's cooked tender. Once done remove the veggies to a mixing bowl or pan.
Toss Pasta and Veggies -
Add the cooked pasta to the roasted veggies, tossing everything together to combine. If needed, you can drizzle a bit more olive oil or some reserved pasta water to prevent sticking. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese, fresh parsley finely chopped over the pasta and vegetables. Toss gently to coat everything evenly. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
You can definitely customize the pasta with the veggies or pasta variety and the seasonings you will be adding to it.
Tips to make the best pasta primavera
- Don't overcook pasta. Cook till al dente.
- Add salt generously to the pasta water while cooking pasta.
- Reserve some pasta water to add further while adding them to veggies. This will help in adding flavour and uniform coating of the seasong to the pasta.
- Don't overcook the veggies. If sauteing in a pan, then avoid making them soggy. Theit texture must have that crisp.
- If air frying, shake the veggies once after 6 minutes. Keep an eye on it and shake at 3 minutes interval after that.
- Add any other veggies available to you as well.
Storage & Reheat
You can refrigerate the pasta in an air tight container for upto 4 - 5 days. To reheat, just transfer the content to a microwave safe dish and reheat for 1 minute, giving a stir at 30 seconds for uniform heating.
What can I serve with pasta primavera?
My go-to list to pair up with this simple pasta are -
Zucchini Soup
Similar Recipes
Pasta Primavera Recipe
Pasta Primavera
Equipment
- 1 Air Fryer or Oven
- 1 Colander
Ingredients
- 2 cups penne pasta
- 1 ltr water to boil pasta
- 1 tbsp salt for boiling pasta
Veggies
- 1 red onion
- 1 cup sliced bell peppers red, yellow, green, etc
- 1 small zucchini sliced
- 1 small squash sliced
- 1 small head broccoli 12 - 15 florets
- 10 - 12 cherry tomatoes halved
- flat parsley or curly parsley to garnish
- ยผ cup Parmesan cheese grated
For air frying/ sauteing veggies
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 - 5 tbsp for sauting on stove top
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ยฝ - 1 tsp salt to taste
- ยฝ tsp black pepper powder
- ยฝ - 1 tsp red pepper flakes as per taste
- ยฝ lemon for juice (optional)
Instructions
- In a sauce pan bring water to boil, adding salt to it.
- Add pasta and cook till they are cooked al dente.
- Reserve ยผ - ยฝ cup pasta water for furter use (if required).
Air Fry the Veggies
- Preheat the air fryer at 400 F for 3 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl add the sliced veggies.
- Add seasoning with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Toss to mix them nicely.
- Then transfer the veggies to the preheated air fryer basket.
- Air fry at 400 F for 10 minutes, shaking in intervals.
- Once the veggies are cooked to desired doneness, remove them to a large mixing bowl.
- To the bowl of roasted veggies, add pasta followed by 2 - 3 tbsp pasta water or olive oil, drizzle of fresh lemon juice.
- Toss to mix everything well.
- Taste and adjust seasings if required.
- In the end add grated Parmesan cheese and parsley finely chopped.
- Again toss and mix everything well.
- Pasta primavera is ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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