One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta
An incredibly creamy, hearty pasta dish that you can make in just 20 minutes. Even the pasta gets cooked right in the pot!
Ever since I made that one pot pasta several weeks back, I’ve been on the hunt for more recipes like this – easy, effortless and sure to be a hit with the entire family. And this zucchini mushroom pasta is exactly that.
There is absolute no pre-cooking or sauteeing of any kind here. Simply throw everything into the pot, including the uncooked pasta and that is it.
The water will be completely soaked by the pasta and once the noodles are cooked through, you can toss in a little bit of heavy cream (or milk, if you’re watching your calories) for a thin, creamy pasta sauce. Easy peasy.
And don’t be too shocked when everyone just raves about how amazing this pasta is. Jason said this was the best pasta he’s ever had! I obviously didn’t tell him how easy it was. Hey, he did the dishes so it’s an even trade, right?
One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 zucchini, thinly sliced and quartered
- ⅔ cup peas
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 sprigs thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, combine spaghetti, mushrooms, zucchini, peas, garlic, thyme and 4 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked through and liquid has reduced, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in Parmesan and heavy cream.
- Serve immediately.
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made this last night and it was yum! Would have used less water and reduced the cooking time, as it was all a bit too tender by the end. Also would perhaps go a bit more herb-crazy next time…the sage was awesome, but some fresh parsley, some lemon, etc. would have made it even better. thanks Chungah for the awesome inspiration, I’m so excited!
Hi there 2 questions, if you use frozen peas do you thaw them first? and the nutritional information you have listed is that per serving or for the whole thing?
thank you and looking forward to making this.
Maryann, the peas do not have to be thawed prior to using. And yes, the nutritional information listed is per serving.
Made this tonight, and it was wonderful!! Thanks for the great recipe. 🙂
made this tonight (except instead of thyme i used basil and instead of peas, halved grape tomatoes) when i put it all in the pot, i didn’t believe there was enough water to cook the pasta so I added another 2 cups. once it was boiling, it was clear that there would have been enough water! oh well, lesson learned, it was a good dinner anyways 🙂
What kid of pot is this? I’m almost sure this question has been answered but I can’t find it :/.
This is a Le Creuset Dutch Oven.
I made the one pot Garlic Parm Pasta last night – my husband, who thinks he is the next top chef (quite annoying!!) – Loved it! This is the next one I try. Think I’ll serve up some simple chicken cutlets with it. Thank you for providing such really great, tasty, simple dishes!!
I made this tonight exactly as the recipe read. It was pretty bland but that was probably my fault because I wasn’t sure how much salt to use (I used just four twists of sea salt) We ended up just salting it on the table, each person to their own liking. My after picture looked just like yours! 🙂 it was delicious with the added salt at the table. I will make this again but will use more thyme, add some parsely, more garlic, more salt, and a tablespoon or two of capers-I think they will add a nice zing. Thanks for the recipe!!!! 🙂
i used about a table spoon and a half of chicken bouillon to give mine a tad extra flavor. It was absolutely perfect. I also tossed in some more spinach. It was awesome.
It was absolutely fantastic!
how much water do you put in the pot to begin?
The recipe calls for 4 1/2 cups water.
I just made this dish and loved it! I followed the recipe almost exactly, except I added extra garlic (the more the merrier I say!), and my kicker was a little lemon juice. I didn’t put it in with the bulk of the pasta, but squeezed a slice into my bowl to brighten it up a little and make the flavors pop. The acidity balanced well with the richness of the cream and cheese. I would highly recommend it! My mushrooms and peas were perfect, but the zucchini disintegrated. Next time I think I’ll add the zucchini a little later into the cooking process and/or try it with asparagus. It was so nice to cook it all in one pot! Thanks for the recipe! I can’t wait to try more of them!
I made this and it started out with what looked like not near enough water. It was nothing like your photo! So i added more water and it ended up needing to be strained and some of it burned and it was sticky and it was a big sad failure 🙁 the flavors were really good but i couldn’t get past that mushy noodles… Do you have any idea what i could have done wrong? I even strained the water in the beginning and remeasured thinking I had measured wrong but i hadn’t. Everything else came in the appropriate measurements except for the peas so I’m totally lost as to what went wrong but id love to try again, if i figure it out. :/
The addition of water than what the recipe called for may be the culprit here. Your heat source may have also been set too high.
OMG, cooked this tonight and it was a big hit. I used chicken broth and I grated fresh parmesan cheese (the pre-shredded kind has added preservatives and I find it does not melt as smoothly as freshly grated). I cooked some organic chicken breast in the oven with my basic seasoning blend of kosher salt, freshly grounded black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I added the shredded chicken to the pasta just before adding the milk and cheese. I will make this again and again. The flavors meld well together. I didn’t have any fresh thyme, I used 1 tsp of dried and it was perfect. Thanks for this awesome recipe!!!
I made this for dinner on Friday night and it was delish! I especially love that we have a ton of leftovers too. I subbed in half and half for the heavy cream since it tends to kill my stomach a little less, and it turned out yummy and maybe even kind of healthy tasting? 🙂 Thanks for the awesome, easy to prepare recipe!
So many responses ! This recipe seems amazing, can’t wait to try it. Prefer appalling or thin spaghetti. Being that it cooks in 5 minutes or less….how would I start the cooking process before adding pasta. And would the volume of pasta produced change the out come? Leftovers are never an issue when it co.ed to pasta…lol
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise on how this will turn out using thin spaghetti as the volume of pasta can change the outcome in a one pot meal like this. Please use your best judgment to make the appropriate substitutions.
Thanks for responding, sorry for errors…..cappalini …..leftovers are never an issue when it comes to pasta. Let you know how it goes.
I used thin spaghetti and cooked it for the 8 minutes. It still soaked up all the water and was fine. If you wanted it more al dente then I might reduce the water slightly with the cooking time? But using thin spaghetti wasn’t an issue for me.
I have made this dish a few times now, and the family loves it! Tonight, I decided to use some mini shells instead of the regular pasta, and it was great! Everyone loved it, and the shells were a fun little twist. I love how versatile this recipe is, and it’s very fun to try different things. Thank you for posting this recipe, it is now officially in my ‘favorite recipe book’!
Hi, I have just made this, and had to throw it away, which is not good for a family on a tight budget, I used rice pasta, as we are gluten intolerant, the pasta clumped up and made the water like glue, I added more water to try and get it right, but to no avail, it tasted very gluey, and had to go into the bin, I thought I had better let readers know, so they don’t make the same mistake. xx
Mary, I’m sorry that this didn’t turn out for you. However, if you read through the comments here, you will see that others have had the same results when making this substitution.
This was an epic fail for me. I don’t know what I did wrong! I used organic spaghetti. It turned out so mushy. Anyone else have this problem?
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. But I understand that failures and mishaps can happen. With a little bit more information, we can troubleshoot what went wrong to have a successful turnaround next time.
So I must ask – did you follow the recipe exactly as written without any substitutions?
Just made this….so good and super easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this for dinner tonight. SO GOOD. I did have to drain it a little bit but that didn’t affect it at all. I’m in my early 20s trying to learn how to be more domestic (haha) and I’ve started making dinner once a week to help my mom out and get better at cooking. This was so easy and certainly damn delicious. Thanks!!
Just made it for lunch and wish I could say how good it was but nobody from my family liked it. Reminded me of old days making pasta dishes from packages (i think it was called Sidekicks) Too starchy, bland and don’t want to mention how long its going to take me clean the pot. I think there is a reason why pasta should be cooked in large amount of liquid on its own and drained!!! Lesson learned.
I’m sorry that this didn’t turn out the way you had imagined but I only share recipes that have been thoroughly tested. And as you can see from the many reviews and comments here, all of my readers have had successful results as well. However, I understand that mishaps and failures can still happen.
That being said, did you follow the recipe exactly as is? Also, if your pot is dirty, then I imagine something went terribly wrong as that shouldn’t be happening. If substitutions were made or if your heat source was not set appropriately, that may be the reason for the failed outcome.
I also understand that you prefer to cook pasta in a large pot of water but one pot meals are huge time-savers and actually quite tasty (if not tastier) when cooked correctly.