Sautéed Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes
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Transform your summer dinners with a simple, flavorful veggie sauté that’s far greater than the sum of its parts.
Crisp zucchini, burst cherry tomatoes, and, meltingly sweet red onions sautéed in olive oil, and finished off with fresh basil. It sounds simple—and it is—but it’s one of those magical dishes where the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. Pair it with grilled salmon, steak, or chicken and some orzo tossed with a bit of lemon and olive oil for a light and easy weeknight meal.
Table of Contents
“This recipe is so fresh and light, we really loved it and so simple to make.”
What You’ll Need To Make Sauteed Zucchini And Cherry Tomatoes
Step-By-Step Instructions
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion.
Cook, stirring frequently, until very soft and pale purple in color, 7 to 8 minutes. Do not brown.
Add the zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the zucchini are cooked but still crisp and the tomatoes have started to collapse, creating a little sauce. Stir in the fresh basil, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with more fresh basil, if desired.
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Sautéed Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes
Transform your summer dinners with a simple, flavorful veggie sauté that’s far greater than the sum of its parts.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 pound zucchini (2 to 3 medium), cut into ½-inch chunks
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (I usually buy NatureSweet Cherubs)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil, plus more for garnish if desired
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until very soft and pale purple in color, 7 to 8 minutes. Do not brown.
- Add the zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the zucchini are cooked but still crisp and the tomatoes have started to collapse, creating a little sauce. Stir in the fresh basil, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with more fresh basil, if desired.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 104
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 9g
- Sugar: 6g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 2g
- Sodium: 529mg
- Cholesterol: 0mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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This will be my go-to this summer for my zucchini and tomatoes! Really tasty-I added orange bell pepper because I needed to use it and it was so colorful and pretty. Thank you!
Hi Jenn!
Love all of your recipes. For this dish I need to serve a larger crowd and I need to use sheet pans. I’m planning on adding mushroom slices as well. I was wondering if I could broil all ingredients in oven for 10 minutes like how you do for your veggies in your “restaurant style salsa” recipe or should I just bake in oven? Either way what time/temp would you recommend. Thank you! Hope you’re having a good weekend! Sarah
Hi Sarah, so glad you like the recipes! If you’d like to cook the veggies on a sheet pan, I’d recommend using the roasting instructions from this recipe. That said, I wouldn’t recommend including the mushrooms in the oven as they will give off a lot of water. Instead, I’d sauté them and then add them to the other vegetables when you remove them from the oven. I hope that helps, and that everyone enjoys!
This is a wonderful dish and so simple to prepare. We loved the crunchiness of the zucchini and the lovely sauce created by burst tomatoes and caramelized onions. It is impressive how such rich, nuanced flavors result from such a simple list of ingredients. It will be a great choice for entertaining our vegan friends.
Thank you for this recipe. I wanted to use up some mushrooms and bean shoots so added them and it was utterly delicious!
Delicious! Used cubed tomato in place of cherry/grape ones. Served with fried shrimp and couscous for a quick, summer dinner.
This was absolutely delicious! I was not expecting so much flavor, but this is now my go-to zucchini recipe. The tomatoes, basil and red onion create a delightful sauce. I did add some grated parmesan to the finish.
Loved it! Easy too.
I traded some basil from my garden for some zucchini from my friend’s garden, and made this dish on a single burner during our kitchen remodel. My husband and I both loved it. I think it would be even better with small zucchini, but people never do give you small ones, do they? 😜
I’ve made this twice this week now with my garden zucchini. It is soooo delicious. My husband is not a big fan of zucchini because it can be so bland, but he really loved this recipe. Lots of flavor and so easy to prepare. Definitely a keeper
I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical that such a simple recipe could deliver great flavor but I shouldn’t doubt you – your recipes are always a hit. I’ll be making this over and over again this summer. A great side dish for just about anything.