I picked the name just because it’s fun to say “Zucchini Fettuccine”. Go ahead, try it 3 times fast.
Get this: 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. I’m trying to sound fancy like a menu. Is it working?
Last week I had one of those days where I was just tired and worn out and when dinner time rolled around I didn’t feel like doing anything but calling for take-out. Since my husband was working late, I ate cereal with the kiddos and called it good. (See? Sometimes I eat cereal for dinner. I just want to make that known ;) But then 9pm rolled around and suddenly I realized my body needed food. Real food. Plus I had a hungry hubby on the way home who probably wanted something other than cereal. I wanted something warm and comforting- satisfying yet not heavy. I ran outside to my garden in my pj’s. I couldn’t see a thing, so I just reached down into the herbs and grabbed a handful of whatever I felt first. It happened to be basil and oregano. I had picked a couple of zucchini earlier in the day and I had a lemon on the counter and suddenly, this dish was born.
This isnow on my list of favorite summer meals, okay maybe my list of favorite meals ever. People are always asking me for quick weeknight dinner ideas. For those days when you don’t have a lot of time, but you don’t want to make something out of a box. This is a great one. The whole thing comes together in the amount of time it takes to boil the pasta. It’s casual enough for a quick family meal, and it’s sophisticated enough for company. Try it!
Oregano, Basil, olive oil, garlic, shredded
parmesan, zucchini, lemon, salt, pepper, and fettuccine.
oops, and red wine vinegar- forgot that!
Now this is a rustic dish, which means you really don’t need to measure everything, and no need to chop anything to look “pretty”. Just do it all roughly and toss together. Easy breezy!
Lemon-Herb Zucchini Fettuccine
recipe by Our Best Bites
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 lemons
2 T Red Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil
1/2 lb Fettuccine (that’s just 1/2 of a normal box like in the picture)
2 medium zucchini
1 C shredded parmesan cheese (about :)
5-6 cloves garlic
Fresh Basil (about 1/2 C)
Fresh Oregano (about 1/4 C) If you don’t have fresh oregano, just add a little dried.
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Prepare grill. You could also do this on the stove top in a skillet, or a grill pan.
Place chicken in a zip-lock 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 marinade 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.
Press, or finely mince garlic cloves. In a small sauce pan on the stove, place 1/4 C 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 spoonfull of salt
Remove chicken from bag and salt and pepper both sides. Place chicken, and zucchini on grill.
While chicky and zuchs are grilling and pasta is boiling, chop herbs and get out cheese. Zest both lemons and juice the one that hasn’t been juiced.
See, now you’re all ready. When everything is done cookin’ you can throw it together! Keep an eye on that garlic. You DON’T want it to get brown and crispy. It should still look nice and white. Give it a stir. If it starts really cooking, just take it off the heat and set aside.
When zuch and chicken are done take them off the grill and chop ‘em up.
Reserve about 1/2 C pasta water. Drain pasta and immediately place in a big bowl. Place chopped zuch and chicken on top. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, herbs, and garlic-olive oil mixture. Just pile it all in there. Then stick your face up real close and inhale. Ahhhh, heaven.
Now take some tongs and give everything a big toss. If you feel it needs more moisture, add a little of the pasta water, or a little more olive oil. This will make 4 generous servings.
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That sounds SO good! And good luck to Kate.
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.)
you guys must have the happiest husbands around. thanks for teaching me how to cut mangos! my new fav fruit!
Even the name of this dish sounds pretty! I wish I had a garden…
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!
Mmmm looks fabulous! Will you make this for me while you’re here??
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.
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.
Shaws- I’m glad you liked it! And yes, my husband is definitely my best customer ;)
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
this recipe looks so delicious! makes me want to stop baking for a while and do some FOOD cooking! mmmmMMMMM love zucchini!
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!
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!
Thanks to you, I now know what I'm making for dinner. Fresh zucchini from the garden with my favorite – pasta!
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!!
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?
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.
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!
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’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!
This dish was a big hit in my house- I’m thinking of trying it with shrimp and spinach fettucini next time!
This was so delicious! Perfect light pasta for summer!
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.
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!!!
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. ;)
Really yummy. I love lemon in anything. My kids said it was too lemony but how can something have too much lemon?
My husband – who grew up in an Italian home – was very impressed with this meal! That’s hard to do. Trust me.
Hey there, You’ve performed an incredible job. I’ll definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I’m confident they’ll be benefited from this website.
Loved this! Just ate it for dinner! My picky husband was very pleased with dinner tonight and that’s a miracle! His gourmet taste is Killin’ Me…but ever since I started cooking my way through Your Cookbook dinner time has been much more pleasant ;) Thanks!!
[...] image via ourbestbites.com [...]
I made this for dinner last night and it was delicious!! I had to cook everything in the skillet because we’re having snowstorms in Spring, but it still turned out really good. Also had to use dried herbs and lemon juice, not the fresh stuff the recipe called for. My kids (5, 3, and 16 mos) loved the chicken and hubs and I loved the whole thing. I can’t wait til summer when I can grill the chicken and zucchini and do the recipe the right way! Thanks for a great dinner! :)