Welcome to your free online Nerano Pasta Course! This famous dish from the town of Nerano (near Naples) has a secret ingredient: fried zucchini! It’s a deliciously unique seasonal recipe you’ll definitely want to master!.
This course is part of our series of Free Online Italian Cooking Classes for Pasta, where we teach you to cook pasta like Italians do—from dough to dishes.
Video Class Overview
This lesson is filmed in stunning 4K for visual clarity, with subtitles available in English, French, Spanish, German, and other languages.
Each class is structured to walk you through the techniques used by Italian cooks—so you can see what matters (and what doesn’t) when making pasta the traditional way.
Ingredients and How to Make Nerano Pasta
The full ingredient list and step-by-step instructions are below. We’ve formatted the recipe for easy saving or printing. Be sure to watch the video first—it covers essential technique tips!
We use the most traditional measurements and techniques, so you can recreate this recipe exactly as it would be made in Italy—no shortcuts, no substitutions unless noted.
Nerano Pasta Course: Free Online Masterclass
Equipment
- 1 large pan or deep fryer for frying the zucchini
Ingredients
- 21 oz zucchini cut into 2 mm slices
- 12 zucchini flowers optional
- 4.5 oz butter
- 2 oz provolone "del Monaco" or caciocavallo
- 3.5 oz parmigiano
- 10 leaves fresh basil
- black pepper to taste
- fine salt to taste
- oil for frying the zucchini sunflower or peanut
- 11 oz spaghetti
Instructions
Prepare the Ingredients
- Cut the zucchini into 2 mm thick medallions.
- Grate the provolone. Grate the parmigiano into a very fine powder.
- Remove the inside of the zucchini flowers (if using them) and slice the flowers.
Fry the Zucchini
- Fry the zucchini in batches at 320°F / 160°C until golden. Deep fryers are cheap and ideal for this job!21 oz zucchini, oil for frying the zucchini
- Set the fried zucchini aside on an absorbent towel and lightly salt them.
Cook the Pasta
- Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water according to package instructions for 'al dente' and in the meantime…11 oz spaghetti
Make the Creamy Cheese Sauce
- Add the butter to a large bowl and drizzle in a ladle of the hot pasta water to melt the butter. Butter (and this quantity) is critical in this recipe to provide the emulsion needed for melting the cheeses into a creamy sauce.4.5 oz butter
- Add the Parmigiano cheese to the butter and mix to blend.3.5 oz parmigiano
- Add the provolone cheese and whisk well.2 oz provolone
- Position the bowl with the cheese sauce over the boiling pasta to create a double boiler. Using the heat from the cooking pasta to melt the cheese…
- …Whisking continuously just until the cheese is melted and you have a creamy sauce that coats the back of your spoon. Salt to taste.fine salt
- Add the rest of the sauce ingredients: black pepper, the fried zucchini, zucchini flowers (if you have them) and basil.12 zucchini flowers, 10 leaves fresh basil, black pepper
- At this point the pasta should be ready. Add the cooked drained pasta to the sauce and mix it quickly (off the heat). Plate and serve!
- Buon Appetito!
Video
Equipment and Tools
You don’t need a professional kitchen to make great pasta—but the right tools can make it easier. For this recipe, we recommend:
- Deep fryer or deep pan – for frying the zucchini slices
- Thermometer – to control the temperature of the frying oil
- Slotted spoon – for removing the fried zucchini
Video Class Overview
How to Make Nerano Pasta
- 0:00 – Nerano Pasta Intro
- 0:24 – Ingredients for Nerano Pasta
- 1:01 – How to Fry the Zucchini
- 2:45 – How to Make the Cheesy Pasta Sauce for Nerano Pasta
Pro Tips for Making Nerano Pasta
Provolone del Monaco
The traditional recipes for this pasta call for “Provolone del Monaco” however this cheese can be difficult to find outside of Italy. You can reasonably substitute with a caciocavallo.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Burning the Zucchini
Zucchini slices are easy to burn when frying. Follow the video closely to cut them to the ideal thickness and fry them to perfection.