Oh…my….gosh.
Alert the grocery store because there is going to be an avocado shortage in my town. Well, more than usual that is.
[And yes, I said ‘store’. As in singular…We’re small town folk.]
You can whip up this pasta dish in under 15 minutes flat! I know I will be making it again and again, especially for those dinners when we are strapped for time…or just plain old tired after a long day.
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
15-Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta
Yield
3 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Creamy, thick, and rich with lots of garlic flavour and a hint of lemon, this is one of my favourite pasta dishes. The avocado works wonderfully in this recipe to create a sauce so creamy and thick you will think there is cream hiding in there.
Ingredients
- 9 ounces (255 g) uncooked pasta
- 1 medium garlic clove
- 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, plus more for serving
- 1 to 2 tablespoons (5 to 10mL) fresh lemon juice, to taste
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
- 1 ripe medium avocado, pitted
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) water
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Lemon zest, for serving
Directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. For a lighter option, serve the avocado sauce with zucchini noodles.
- While the pasta cooks, make the sauce: In a food processor, combine the garlic and basil and pulse to mince. Add the lemon juice, oil, avocado, and 1 tablespoon water and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit more oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain the pasta and place it back in the pot. Add all of the avocado sauce and stir until combined. You can gently rewarm the pasta if it has cooled slightly, or simply serve it at room temperature.
- Top with pepper, lemon zest, and fresh basil leaves, if desired.
Tip:
- Because avocados oxidize quickly after you slice them, this sauce is best served immediately.
- Make it grain-free: Serve this avocado sauce with spiralized or julienned zucchini or on a bed of spaghetti squash.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
I used some fun pasta to increase the nutrition factor- first, 1 serving (3oz) of spelt pasta.
Spelt pasta has a great nutritional profile with 12 grams of protein and 3 grams of fibre per serving.
I also used one 3oz serving of Kamut pasta.
Kamut pasta has 13 grams of protein and 8 grams of fibre per serving. Niiiiice.
They both taste AMAZING and are very easy on the digestive system. I purchased both of them in the natural food section of Loblaws/Superstore. Regular white spaghetti has only 1.7 grams of fibre and 4 grams of protein per serving. Eric and I actually prefer the nutty flavour of the ancient grains over the white pasta so it is an easy switch.
If you don’t have a scale or pasta measuring device, one serving of pasta (3oz) is about the diameter of a quarter!
PS- That picture above took me 6 tries to get in focus! lol
A couple of the out of focus ones…
Whoops!
Oh the joys of amateur photography. ;)
While the pasta is cooking away, prepare the ‘cream’ sauce in a food processor. I use and love my Cuisinart 14 Cup Food Processor and Cuisinart Mini Prep 3 Cup Processor, which is great for smaller jobs. I used 3 cloves of garlic and it was quite garlicky, so if you are not a big fan of garlic I would suggest using 1-2 cloves.
I love that avocado can be used as a substitute for cream in this recipe. The healthy fats in avocado make our skin glow and hair shine as an added bonus. :)
Strain and rinse the cooked pasta.
Add the sauce and mix well.
Garnish with lemon zest and freshly ground black pepper.
I fell in love.
So did Eric.
We are now married to this pasta.
And I’m actually going through withdrawal just looking at these pictures.
Looking for other pasta recipes that I enjoy? Try these recipes below:
* Lightened Up Sundried Tomato Pasta
In other news, it’s Monday and I woke up in a haze today. That is, until I watched this video below! It made my entire day, so I thought I would spread the joy. Animals are just the most fascinating and intelligent creatures and I’m always blown away by stories like this.
I can’t decide what I like more about the video:
1) It has a date of ‘1999’, but it is clearly circa 1980’s, 2) the old married couple that I want to adopt, 3) The crow scaring the cat (minute 3:44), 4) The cat scaring the crow (minute 5:00), 5) The crow squawking at the cat to ‘get off the road’ (minute 4:40), or 6) Is that ALAN THICKE from Growing Pains?!
It kills me, it really does.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I had an overripe avocado that I had been dying to get rid of and I’m glad I used this recipe. I added mushrooms and tomatoes, so delicious!
This was absolutely amazing!!! Months ago, my husband swore that he would never be able to “eat vegan”. Things changed (mainly health) and we are now in week 2 of “eating vegan”. Every recipe that we’ve tried of yours has been amazing! I looked over at him at the dinner table last night and he has the plate up to his face….licking every last drop of this amazing avocado sauce!!
Holy Moly, this is freakin’ delicious! I made a few changes (sorry, can’t help myself!) used penne, lime instead of lemon and added a can of white beans and a couple tablespoons of pine nuts. topped it with some chopped fresh tomatoes from the garden. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you said the fresh basil is optional, but to me the basil was essential.
I want to make this for everyone who thinks that vegans just eat boring, bland salads!
I am so thankful for this recipe. It’s delicious! This sauce has become the perfect foundation to pack a 1/2 cup of chickpeas into and add italian seasoning, nutritional yeast, onion powder and almond milk. After reading Eat To Live, I’ve been avoiding oils as much as possible. So to bypass this I used the almond milk to get the right texture and only enough to get there (maybe 1/3 C). It’s sort of become a bit of a new creation, but the foundation is due incredible thanks as I would have never come up with this without it. Thank you thank you!
Sounds like a great recipe but a tip I learned from an italian chef is to never rinse pasta at all. The starchy delicious flavors are all dead when you rinse it. Instead, boil the pasta with some lightly salted water and a drizzle of oil to keep it from clumping. Then drain it and leave it aside, it will cool down without taking away the flavors.:)
I have since learned that tip too and I’ve been doing it most of the time! It’s a hard habit to break when you’ve grown up with parents rinsing the pasta. ;)
This pasta was ah-maz-ing! And I don’t even love avocado. Truth be told, I don’t like avocado unless it’s loaded with onion and jalapeno in guac. But this pasta sold me. I’m going to look at avocados in a whole new light. Thank you!
I had this avocado pasta last night with some sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, and toasted walnuts. Fantastic, easy recipe! My boyfriend and I loved it even more sprinkled with nooch.
Made this the other night w/some mushrooms, tomatoes, parm cheese and nutritional yeast. amazing recipe!
This was fabulous! Thank you so much for the recipe. I am certain this will be a much requested dinner at my house.
Hi! Thanks for sharing this. I made it the other night and really enjoyed it. Even my kids loved it. I think that says it all.
I just made this for dinner. It was awesome. I added steamed zucchini and some spicy ground Italian sausage to please my meat loving husband. This recipe is a summer keeper!
I saw this recipe on Pinterest and I wanted to try it asap. I went to buy the ingredients last night and made it this morning for brunch. It came out good, it just came out too salty because I accidently put in too much salt. For the next time, I will be careful. Above all, it was good and will make it again soon.
I finally got around to making this pasta sauce (minus the basil and garlic) and it was fantastic. I will definitely be making this again!
I also blogged about it (with photos) here:
http://onesmallvegan.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/creamy-avocado-pasta-faux-parmesan/
Hi Angela! This recipe was so delicious and satisfying. I didn’t have any basil (which I will make sure to have on hand next time to punch up the flavor) and I love to experiment with ingredients so I pureed some cooked kale with the mixture for added nutrition and added some steamed kale at the very end for some more texture. It was fantastic! Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
This was super delicious! I got all my kids to eat it, which is usually pretty darn tricky! I made with regular fettuccine noodles, and with lemon juice out of a container so I didn’t have the zest.. regardless, everyone loved it. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this recipe! It was delicious!
Going to make this for my mom for her birthday. I think she’ll love it.
I just made this sauce but added walnuts to it and served it over grated zucchini and yellow zucchini with chopped cherry tomatoes. Awesome raw salad.
Love that you can make this under 15 minutes. My family stays away from all gluten containomg foods so I don’t get to enjoy pasta at the dinner table anymore sadly. I’m going to make this for myself to enjoy!
have they tried brown rice pasta yet? I use it from time to time and it’s a decent sub in a pinch!
Angela, Have been thinking of trying this with spaghetti squash as a pasta sub. Have you tried it? Karen
Yes I have! In fact I have a post on this coming up in a couple weeks :)
Boyfriend out of the house, only avocado and lime in the fridge. Stumbled over this dish, ate a big portion. Nam nam. I especially loved the lemon giving a fresh kick in this creamy dish. Actually I added a bell pepper to the cream, since it did not want to sit alone in the fridge, and it worked well – lots of vitamins right there :) Greetings from Denmark.