Olive Garden Capellini Primavera
Enjoy a classic Olive Garden dish at a fraction of the cost! This capellini primavera copycat recipe is every bite as delicious as the original, with tender pasta and a light, savory sauce that’s filled with veggies. Take it a step further with your favorite soup or salad and warm, garlicky breadsticks for a real restaurant experience at home.
🍝 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- Capellini primavera is deliciously light pasta dish that’s positively filled to the brim with tender vegetables. Broccoli florets, julienned carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, and crushed tomatoes. It’s hearty and satisfying, without weighing you down.
- If you’re trying to eat less meat for any reason, this is a great option for you! It’s completely vegetarian, right down to the vegetable broth we use in the sauce, and it still contains roughly 14 grams of protein per serving. You can pair it with a simple side salad or your favorite soup (I’m a sucker for a good potato soup!) to make your meal even more substantial.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- Capellini is ever so slightly thicker than angel hair pasta, but it’s not as thick as spaghetti. They’re all comparable, though! If you have trouble finding capellini at your grocery store, or if angel hair or spaghetti end up being more cost-effective, you can absolutely use one of those pastas instead!
- This recipe calls for julienned carrots, which may sound intimidating, but it’s just a fancy way of saying long, skinny carrot sticks. Essentially, you’re just chopping. Peel the carrots and cut away the end where the leaves are or were. After that, cut the carrot into thirds – you’ll end up with three chunky pieces of carrot that are each 2 or 3 inches long, depending on how long the carrot was before. Take one of the thirds and slice it vertically into 3-5 long, flat slivers. Lay each sliver down on its flat side and slice it vertically again. This time you should end up with 4-6 thin strips of carrot that look like matchsticks. Ta-da! Now you know how to julienne carrots!
- I recommend using unsalted butter and low-sodium vegetable broth to make the capellini primavera sauce. This isn’t an overwhelmingly salty dish by any means, but the amount of salt in regular salted butter and regular full-sodium vegetable broth can vary drastically from one brand to another. That means you could end up with a super salty pasta dish just because of the brands you chose. Using unsalted and low-sodium versions reduce that risk so you can control just how much salt you end up using.
🥘 More Delicious, Cheap Italian-ish Recipes
- Creamy Rotel Pasta with Ground Beef
- Alfredo Linguini with Homemade Alfredo Sauce
- Baked Ziti Pasta
- Cherry Tomato Salad
- Air Fryer Frozen Garlic Bread
- Tomato Florentine Soup
- Meatball Casserole
- Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Marinara
- The BEST Crockpot Angel Chicken
Olive Garden Capellini Primavera
Enjoy classic Olive Garden capellini primavera at a fraction of the cost when you make it right in your own kitchen!
- Large skillet
- large wooden spoon
- large pot
- colander
For the Primavera Sauce
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (1 of 2)
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion (approximately 1 medium yellow onion)
- ½ cup julienned carrots (approximately 1 large carrot)
- 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
- 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
- 1 ½ cups chopped zucchini (approximately 1 medium zucchini)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic (approximately 3 cloves garlic)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (2 of 2)
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- salt (to taste)
- freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil (drained)
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
For the Pasta
- 16 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 pound uncooked capellini (or uncooked angel hair pasta)
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- grated parmesan (to taste)
- chopped fresh basil (or chiffonaded fresh basil, to taste)
- garlic-buttered breadsticks
Add [wprm-ingredient text=”1 tablespoon unsalted butter” uid=”1″] and [wprm-ingredient text=”1 tablespoon olive oil” uid=”2″] to large skillet and place skillet on stovetop over medium-high heat. Heat skillet until butter is melted and oil is shimmery, swirling and tilting pan occasionally to distribute oil and butter across entire surface.
Reduce heat under skillet to medium. Add [wprm-ingredient text=”1 cup chopped yellow onion” uid=”3″] and [wprm-ingredient text=”½ cup julienned carrots” uid=”4″] to skillet and stir to incorporate. Sauté onions and carrots approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until aromatics have softened.
Once onions and carrots have softened, add [wprm-ingredient text=”2 cups chopped broccoli florets” uid=”5″], [wprm-ingredient text=”8 ounces sliced mushrooms” uid=”6″], [wprm-ingredient text=”1 ½ cups chopped zucchini” uid=”7″], and [wprm-ingredient text=”2 teaspoons minced garlic” uid=”8″] to skillet. Top vegetables with [wprm-ingredient text=”1 tablespoon olive oil” uid=”23″] and stir gently to incorporate, covering all vegetables in oil and remaining melted butter.
Season vegetables with [wprm-ingredient text=”1 tablespoon Italian seasoning” uid=”10″], [wprm-ingredient text=”salt” uid=”11″] to taste, and [wprm-ingredient text=”freshly cracked black pepper” uid=”12″] to taste. Stir gently to coat all vegetables. Sauté vegetables 5 minutes, uncovered, stirring often.
While vegetables sauté, fill large pot with [wprm-ingredient text=”16 cups water” uid=”18″] and place pot on stovetop over medium-high heat. Bring pot of water to rolling boil, then add [wprm-ingredient text=”1 tablespoon salt” uid=”19″] and stir to incorporate.
When water begins to boil again, add [wprm-ingredient text=”1 pound uncooked capellini” uid=”17″] to pot and cook according to package instructions. Reduce cook time on packaging 1 minute.
When pasta is al dente, pour pasta and water into colander and drain pasta well. Set aside.
Add [wprm-ingredient text=”¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil” uid=”9″], [wprm-ingredient text=”1 cup crushed tomatoes” uid=”13″], and [wprm-ingredient text=”1 ½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth” uid=”14″]. If desired, also add [wprm-ingredient text=”¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes” uid=”15″]. Gently stir all ingredients together until well incorporated, then increase heat under skillet slightly and bring liquid to gentle boil.
When liquid begins to boil, reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and cover skillet with lid. Simmer mixture 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.
Divide cooked pasta into desired portions and plate. Top plated pasta with preferred amount of primavera sauce, then garnish with [wprm-ingredient text=”grated parmesan” uid=”21″] and [wprm-ingredient text=”chopped fresh basil” uid=”22″] (optional). Serve warm with [wprm-ingredient text=”garlic-buttered breadsticks” uid=”24″] if desired.
- Unsalted butter and low-sodium vegetable broth are recommend so that you have more control over how much salt is in your dish. Feel free to use salted butter and regular vegetable broth if desired!
- Olive Oil: This recipe uses a total of 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Each tablespoon is used at different times in the recipe.
- To Julienne the Carrots: Peel the carrots, cut away the tops if needed, then slice each carrot horizontally into three chunky pieces approximately 2-3 inches long. Slice each piece lengthwise into 3-4 thin, flat slivers (depending on the thickness of the carrot). Lay each sliver down on its flat side, then slice each sliver lengthwise into thin matchsticks.
- To Chiffonade the Basil: Stack fresh basil leaves on top of each other. Tightly roll the stack of leaves lengthwise into a long, thin roll. Use a sharp paring knife or chef’s knife to cut the roll perpendicularly, creating long ribbons of basil once unrolled.
- Make it Gluten Free: Use gluten-free pasta, and make sure your spices, vegetable broth, and grated parmesan don’t contain any hidden gluten.
Estimated cost does not include any optional ingredients.
