Want to make an amazing pasta dish full of all your favorite vegetables? Let us show you how to incorporate different veggies into a pasta dish.
Sometimes you don't need to be fancy in the kitchen. If you got some good ingredients you can turn out an easy to make meal that will be tasty.
Got some good pasta? What about some fresh in season vegetables? Then you have a delicious meal ready to happen.
That is what I did with the pasta you see in the photo above. I cooked my yellow and red cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, and garlic first. Then mixed it all in with the cooked pasta while it was still hot and added in the spinach. Topped with cheese and it was so good that I didn't miss having a heavy sauce.
Let me show you some great vegetables that you can pair with your favorite pasta that you can top with your favorite sauce if you like too.
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🚜 Vegetables to Use in Pasta
I am going to give you a list of potential vegetables that would pair well in any pasta dish. Then I am going to go into detail on how to cook some of those vegetables for a pasta dish.
- Carrots
- Peppers
- Onions
- Garlic
- Corn
- Baby Spinach
- Baby Kale
- Shallots
- Tomatoes
- Micro Greens
🍅 Tomatoes
🏆 Favorite option
Cherry or grape tomatoes are the best for pasta. It's so easier to make a simple burst tomato sauce with them. You just add them to a pan and smash them with them a spatula. I throw them at the same time I am cooking any vegetables for my pasta. To give your pasta more color pick out a container that has multiple different colors in it. After all we do eat with our eyes!
If you have a Trader Joe's near you, look for their mini San Marzano type tomatoes that they have in the produce department. They would be fantastic in pasta.
This is also a great way to use tomatoes that are getting wrinkly that wouldn't be so good in a salad or just eating them on their own.
RECIPE - Linguine with Fresh Cherry Tomatoes & Cream
👶 Baby Spinach or Other Baby Greens
🏆 Easiest option
Whenever you are finished with a pasta dish, stir in some baby greens while the pasta is pipping hot. Give it a stir and they will be ready to eat. Doesn't get any easier. Here are some baby greens to look out for:
- Spinach
- Swiss Chard
- Arugula
- Kale
- Bok Choy
- Tatsoi
Usually swiss chard and tatsoi are a part of a mix. Organic Girl Greens has a baby bok choy container you can find at some stores along with their other baby salad greens. I do spinach all the time but it's fun when I have the opportunity to use some of the other baby greens.
🥕 Carrots
For carrots I like to either:
- Peel off thin strips with a vegetable peeler
- Shred the carrot with a box grater
It depends on how long you are going to cook the vegetables. If you are just throwing them in at the last minute then thin strips are better as they will cook really fast. If I am going to shred them I want to cook them a little. I am not against contrasting textures but I think raw crunchy carrots and soft pasta don't go that well together.
Just like tomatoes, carrots come in a variety of colors so the more you have the prettier your finished dish will be. Each color carrots has a different flavor profile. To me, the red ones are the best. Be aware that purple or black carrots could bled some color that might affect your finished dish.
🌽 Corn
In the summer time there is nothing better than fresh corn on the cob. What I like to do is remove it from the cob first, and then cook it in some butter until the corn is caramelized a bit. That will really bring out the sweetness.
Then I mix in some cooked orzo. If you haven't had orzo it's like a rice shaped pasta. It goes perfectly well with corn.. Any vegetable that you would use to make fried rice goes great with orzo.
Frozen corn or frozen peas work as well as quick cooking veggies that add color to your pasta.
🧅 Onions or Garlic
Both of these would be best if sautéed in a pan first before adding to the finished pasta.
Roasted garlic or fermented black garlic are both great for stirrig into sauces for pasta when you are cooking them. Don't forget about shallots too. I like their small size as I often find myself not completely using up an entire large onion from the grocery store.
🌱 Micro Greens
The last one is super fun and something you just add when you are serving the pasta and that is micro greens. These small, recently sprout greens have become super popular. I can't go to a farmer's market anymore without finding someone selling them. Since they grow to maturity super fast, you can start a business quite fast.
I have found many different types of greens over the years. Any of these would be great for topping pasta:
- Cilantro
- Basil
- Clover
- Radish
- Broccoli
- Sunflower Sprouts
- Peas Sprouts
I especially love the herbs ones like cilantro and basil. You don't need to chop them up just add them whole. Makes them super easy to use. BrightFresh has their micro cilantro that I have found at Sprouts stores. As for the basil. that was a one time farmers market find for me when I was in Louisiana.
If you enjoyed this post make sure you check out our entire series "What Vegetables Go Well In" to help you add more veggies to your favorite dishes.
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