Spaghetti alla Nerano (veganised)

Few pasta dishes capture the beauty of simplicity quite like Spaghetti alla Nerano — a beloved recipe born on the sun-kissed Amalfi Coast. Traditionally made with fried courgettes and creamy cheese, it’s a celebration of humble ingredients transformed through patience, love, and good olive oil.

Today, we’re giving this classic a plant-based twist, staying true to its spirit while keeping it light, vibrant, and cruelty-free. Thinly sliced courgettes are slowly cooked until sweet and golden, then tossed with spaghetti, silky vegan cream, and plant-based cheese to recreate that dreamy, delicate Nerano sauce. A hint of garlic lifts the flavour, and a bright whisper of lemon brings it all to life.

Optional zucchini flowers add elegance, while a touch of vegan milk and breadcrumbs offers a rustic finishing touch… but even in its simplest form, this dish sings of Italian sunshine, summer gardens, and meals shared with good company.

Buon appetito — and let’s make magic with courgettes. 🌿🍋🍝

Spaghetti alla Nerano (veganised)

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Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 100g per person pasta (I chose spaghetti)
• 2 courgettes per person
• 1 garlic clove
• Plant-based cooking cream
• salt & pepper
• Plant-based grated cheese
• Lemon zest and lemon juice
• Zucchini flowers, plant-based milk, breadcrumbs (all optional)

Instructions

1. Thinly slice the courgettes with a mandolin or knife, and choose how you prefer to cook them - either fried or baked with salt, pepper and a whole garlic clove to delicately infuse the flavour, until golden. I chose to bake them to avoid the fats.
2. Meanwhile cook the pasta, leaving undercooked by 1 or 2 minutes
3. Keep some baked courgettes slices on the side and blend the rest in a tall jar, loosening the consistency with the help of some hot pasta water, add seasoning, grated cheese-alternative, lemon juice and a dash of cooking cream, until the you get a thick sauce, and transfer to a pan.
4. Once the pasta is almost cooked through, add it to the sauce in the pan, sauté the pasta until it absorbs the courgettes cream and loosen it with some pasta water if necessary, the released starch will help bind the sauce and pasta together. Add grated lemon rind to enhance the citrus flavour.
5. Plate immediately, top with the baked zucchini slices kept aside and enjoy!

Notes

I had some fresh zucchini flowers which I cleaned, then dipped in soya milk to be able to cover them in seasoned breadcrumbs and baked them in the air fryer for just a few minutes until golden and crunchy, adding them to the plate as a crunchy element.