Best Summer Pasta Recipes

Summer is the height of tomato season, so pasta is a pretty obvious choice to showcase this star ingredient. But there’s more to seasonal pastas than just tomatoes. Grilled and roasted vegetables including corn, zucchini and eggplant deserve some attention when paired with noodles.

Vegetarian and vegan pasta dishes are always great solutions for quick weeknight meals. With so many veggies at their peak, you really can’t go wrong with shapes like spaghetti, orzo, fusilli and even gnocchi.

Summer Pasta Recipes

30-Minute Tomato Zucchini Orzo

Roasting the veggies side-by-side on a single sheet pan makes this 30-minute tomato zucchini orzo a simple recipe that just needs a few spoonfuls of pesto stirred in to finish it.

Sweet Corn Pesto Pasta

With wagon wheel noodles, roasted tomatoes, scallions and basil, you can serve this grilled sweet corn pesto pasta warm, at room temperature or chilled. Penne is also fantastic with this sauce.

Cherry Tomato Eggplant Pasta

This cherry tomato eggplant pasta is an easy, filling dinner that has lots of flavor with a kick of spice and heat. The pasta goes straight from a pot into the skillet with the veggies, chilies, garlic and olive oil.

Burst Tomato Pasta

With a couple pints of tomatoes, garlic and olive oil, you can whip up burst tomato pasta in 15 minutes. Try any noodle shape from fusilli to spaghetti.

Summer Pasta Salad Recipes

Roasted Tomato Garlic Pasta Salad

The vinaigrette for this roasted garlic and tomato pasta salad uses leftover tomato juices from the baking dish along with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Southwestern Pasta Salad

I toss this vegan Southwestern pasta salad in avocado lime dressing. It has a mix of grilled corn, black beans, tomatoes, radishes and scallions. Also, this pasta salad is quickly becoming one of my new favorites.

Roasted Vegetable Chickpea Pasta Salad

This roasted vegetable chickpea pasta salad is packed with zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes plus crispy chickpeas.

Roasted Tomato Zucchini Squash Pasta Salad

Because this roasted tomato zucchini squash pasta salad is loaded with arugula, green beans, red onions and white balsamic vinaigrette, it’s all about the veggies. 

Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta Pasta Salad

Give the tomatoes enough time to marinate with garlic and olive oil, so the flavors develop in this simple heirloom tomato bruschetta pasta salad with basil.

Gnocchi

Sheet Pan Cherry Tomato Gnocchi

Ready in 30 minutes, this sheet pan cherry tomato gnocchi is a quick and easy one-pan meal. I season it with a mix of dried spices. To finish, I sprinkle it with shaved Parmesan.