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.
just made this – I added mushroom and tomato through mine (not blended) and it was delicious such a simple quick meal to make too thanks!
Wow! I just made this real quick and DAMN it’s good!~
Yum. Just made a version of this for myself tonight but used gnocchi instead. I also had lemon garlic portobello mushrooms marinating so I cooked two mid sized ones to eat on the side. De-lish!
I just finished eating this and WOW was it ever delish! I subbed in parsley for basil, and lightly sauteed my garlic with some onion as well. I am so impressed with how freaking yummy it is!
I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!!!
I’m late on commenting (about four years late it looks like) but I wanted to say THANK YOU for this recipe. I eat it at least once a week.
So glad to hear that Allison!
I found this recipe and it was called “teenage mutant ninja turtle pasta”, for those of you with kids who may not like green stuff haha. TRY with roasted red peppers or sundried tomatoes. Goes great with shrimp or chicken too! Bottom line this recipe is great glad it’s catching on in cyberspace.
Hey! I had to tell you how much of a help you have been to my family. We went vegan very abruptly last October due to health issues my husband was faced with. Everything I knew about cooking flew straight out the window. I was lost. I came across your blog. (It was one of the first sites I happened onto after going vegan cold turkey…) Several of my first recipes were from you, and I continue to gain a lot of tasty and healthy goodness from your experience in a vegan kitchen. When I went searching this evening for an idea to use up some avocado I needed to use for supper, it was no surprise when the first thing I see is from you :-) This avocado pasta dish was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your vast knowledge with us, and for all the wonderful recipes!
It was really good!! This is being put into my regular rotation of meals. I added shrimp because I’m no longer vegan and it worked very well, I’ve never tried vegan “shrimp” but might also work well in this recipe if you wanted added protein.
I never really thought to try an avocado sauce for pasta, but this looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it. I have a creamy pasta recipe similar to this one, however I use Toffutti and rice milk to make a creamy texture! :)
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe!
– Emily
Just tried it for dinner, instead of pasta I tried it with zucchini and it was delicious! Heaven in a bowl!!! ♡♡♡♡♡♡
I love this recipe and I love your book. I add organic cider vinegar in half the “water” required to give it zing and plus it keeps the avocado green! And it’s super healthy. Even my husband doesn’t even know he is on a “healthy” regime :)
I just finished this. So delicious- and so simple! Total winner.
Just made it… Super delicious! A new favorite, for sure! Thanks for sharing so many amazing recipes! Greetings from Brazil ;)
This recipe is AMAZING!!! Best pasta ever. I have been eating this every week since I found this page and the first bite always puts a smile on my face because it’s so delicious.
I did add nutritional yeast as a topping. I expected it to taste really bad in this recipe, but tried it anyway… and it turned out to be really good.
This pasta was so good I made it for valentine’s day for me and my boyfriend and we both loved it. The sauce was so creamy and made very light with the inclusion of lemon juice. It tasted like a fresher version of Alfredo sauce but so much healthier for you. If you get a chance do make it. However make sure to taste it once you mix it with the pasta I made my boyfriend taste the sauce before and he said it was an explosion of flavor but when he tried it with the pasta it was much more mellow and worked. Also if you don’t have fresh basil I used basil paste which worked just as well.
This was amazing! So simple and absolutely delish! I kept on forgetting it was guilt free! Superb.
just have to add my 2cents worth…Made the sauce and used my new spiralizer to make zucchini noodles. I sautéed those with some garlic and dash of red pepper flakes until hot and somewhat tender. Added the sauce on top and it was just so beautiful plus Delicious, my husband says this ones a keeper. Already thinking to make it even better with different color squashes, roasted cherry tomatoes, etc. Thank you for a fabulous sauce that is so versatile.
I made this for dinner last night, minus garlic, becuause I was out :( It was very good still. I’ll be making this again with garlic in the near future!
This looks delicious I’d love to include this in my top 5 clean recipes this week!
I’m definitely going to make this recipe for my family. The spelt and kumet pasta are an excellent idea. I think we’ll all benefit from cutting down carbs. Upping the healthy fats and proteins.