Zucchini pesto with cooked zucchini for hot or cold pasta, a quick and easy zucchini recipe, perfect for quick and economical first courses, also excellent for creating flavorful bruschette recipes.
A few days ago I needed to prepare a quick dressing for cold pasta; I had a few zucchinis in the fridge and, feeling inspired, I used them to make a pesto with cooked zucchini. To prepare the zucchini and basil pesto, I chose to cook the zucchinis instead of using them raw, both because my family doesn’t like them raw very much and because lightly cooking them makes them creamier.

I seasoned the pasta with this very aromatic pesto and I also added some salmon, but I used the leftover pesto to top tasty bruschette.

I cooked the zucchinis for a few minutes in the microwave, but you can also steam them or blanch them on the stovetop for 4 minutes in boiling water and drain them well.

Let’s go to the kitchen — I’ll tell you how to make zucchini pesto with cooked zucchini. If you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).

If you like this recipe and are looking for more inspiration, take a look at:

Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very inexpensive
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: for 21 oz (600 g) of pasta
Cooking methods: Microwave
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Fall

Ingredients

25 oz zucchini (about 5 cups sliced (approx. 700 g / 1.5 lb))
3 oz robiola (about 1/3 cup (80 g))
2 oz Parmigiano Reggiano (about 2/3 cup grated (60 g))
to taste basil (10 large leaves)
1 pinch garlic
to taste salt
to taste extra virgin olive oil
1 oz pine nuts (about 3 tbsp (30 g))

Tools

1 Bowl
Microwave or a pot
Blender

Steps

Rinse the zucchinis, trim the ends and cook them. I placed them in a bowl, covered them with a plate and cooked them in the microwave at 900W for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam them for the same time or blanch them for 4 minutes in boiling water and drain well.
Let them cool slightly and place them in the blender container together with the robiola, the Parmigiano, the basil, a pinch of garlic and the pine nuts. Pour in a good drizzle of oil, season with salt and blend until you obtain a smooth cream.
Our zucchini pesto is ready — you can use it on pasta, pizza, bruschette and really on everything!!
You can store the pesto in the fridge for 24 hours covered with plastic wrap, but when eaten immediately it keeps its color and tastes much better. Alternatively, you can freeze it and thaw it at room temperature when needed.
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