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.
Oh my!! So delicious. My new quick pasta when time is short. Also going to use as quick side dish. Thanks
So creamy and delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I added extra garlic, deleted the oil, used gluten free pasta, added peas and artichokes. Second time in 10 days that I have made this. Thanks again!
I’m so happy you hear you love it so much! Thanks for your feedback. :)
You are amazing Angela! Don’t listen to people sitting at home complaining that there is too much garlic in a recipe. It is common sense that it depends on if you love garlic or not and that the size of it matters…I can’t believe ANYONE would leave such negative comments…but then again, the average human sits at home and complains about other people’s creative work instead of doing something themselves. You are amazing, don’t let any negative vibes touch you! THANK YOU for all you do!!
haha thank you for your kind words! Don’t worry, I don’t take it to heart ;)
My family and I found this way too garlicky with 2 cloves of garlic. In fact my wife and son found it indedible, and I had that raw garlic taste in my mouth for the rest of the evening. My advice is to stick to the 1 clove of garlic.
Hey Damien, Thanks for your feedback! I’ve taken your advice and updated the recipe to 1 medium garlic clove. They can vary in size so much I think it’s easy to overdo it. I hope if you try it out again you enjoy it more!
Omg thank you! I ate this two hours ago and I feel like i ate a full ball of garlic. Blah!
Another easy solution: Cook the garlic–either steam it or saute it until the harsh rawness is gone.
Ah yes good idea (and faster!)
Saving the planet, my health and the animals never tasted so freakin” good. This is now my favorite vegan recipe. I’ve been vegan/plant-based for 6 months and most of the vegan recipes taste MUCH better than my meat eating days. This one here is now my new favorite and will be my go-to for making any kind of creamy pasta. It reminded me of Alfredo only much better in flavor! I added cooked mushrooms and fresh vine tomatoes to the mix. I also added a bit more garlic.Turned out perfectly!
Hey Holly, Oh that’s such great news! Thank you :) I hope you try many more delicious recipes to come
Not that you would need to, but this sauce can actually be made a bit in advance. The lemon juice prevents the oxidation of the avocados so it will stay green.
My mom and I just made this for lunch we are avid pasta eaters and O…M…G….let me tell you this by far the WORST dish I have ever eaten. I took a few bites and couldn’t stomach anymore. Whoever gave this 5 stars must have no taste buds left in their mouth. We decided to make this because we have an abundance of avocados from our avocado tree and now after making that horrendous meal I don’t think I can eat another avocado without gagging for months.
Oh I’m so sorry to read this Taylor!! I appreciate your feedback though. How much garlic did you use? It can easily overpower for sure!
You either made it wrong, or dont like avacado to begin with. Plain and simple. The dish is amazing.
Why do people always have to complain..its bad enough on Facebook and the like..now on recipes.. and to think that this lovely lady went out of her way to please us with a different way to use avocadoes..You cant educate stupid..for me I loved it..well done and greetings from Crete where Avocadoes grow plentiful here.. Rx
This was really good. I wasn’t feeling well, but thought spaghetti would be easy for dinner. I was looking at the avacado on the counter and wondered if somehow I could combine them. I googled it and came up with this recipe. It was really easy and delicious. When I asked my husband if he wanted avacado spaghetti he said “absolutely not!” (He thought I was making the speghetti itself out of avacado.). He really enjoyed it. He thought it had butter in it since it was so creamy. I didn’t have any basil but did have basil paste. It was absolutely delicious and will be a good go to. THANK YOU!!!
Hey Lynda, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your review :)
Absolutely delicious! Here in the Midwest we are currently experiencing a snow storm and I don’t really want to go to the store soooo I used dried basil. Even dried it was good!! Can’t wait to remake with fresh basil
Oh that’s great it was good even with dried basil! Thanks Nathan
I didn’t read all 1000 comments but will try it and add some pine nuts or flaked almonds to see, should almost taste like a creamy pesto (hopefully!)
This is really great and I recommend sprinkling nuts when finished (I used almonds) for crunch and texture.
Great idea! Tried it and loved it :)
I made this with “Maria’s Noodles” which I have recently discovered and are pulse based, so have some extra protein! I also served this with OSG’s “Pecan Parmesan” sprinkled on top and the little crunch and extra burst of flavour was so good!!!
Oh we use those noodles sometimes too…great idea! :)
This sucks! My mom was gagging after she tried one bite! Horrible flavor.. seriously ?
I have been making this pasta a lot lately and it is so good! I usually just cook the pasta (shells work great) and then mash up in a bowl with a fork – freshly minced garlic (makes all the difference over the jar stuff), avocado, basil torn into small pieces by hand, salt, pepper, olive oil, I skip the water. They stir in with the cooked pasta – so easy and just mashing it in a bowl makes for fast cook time and easy clean up!
Strange to me that some folks disliked this so much. It was a huge hit for me. I used short noodles, cooked the noodles and then cooled them down before mixing in the sauce. I served it room temp as a pasta salad with kalamata mixed in. My 5 year old nephew loved it so much he said he wants to learn how to make pasta salad. ? I definitely recommend including the lemon zest, so tasty!
That’s so cute what your nephew said! Thanks for your feedback Nikki :)
i think everyone needs to take into account that a raw sauce will taste strong when just made. why? because it’s raw! make it a few hours before you plan to eat it, or even the night before. the flavors meld nicely and strong foods like garlic will mellow.
that’s a great tip, Dawn! Another option would be trying roasted garlic.
I made this tonight, I used rice pasta and sprinkled chili flakes over it. So delicious.
Thanks for your review Nellie…so glad it was a hit!
I really liked this quick, easy dish! My daughter had two bites and refused. ? She is a teenager. I keep trying.
So glad you loved it Louise!
BEST PASTA EVER!!! Ive been making this for a few years now and it is amazing. If youre thinking it will be like a guacamole pasta, WRONG. It is the most creamy amazing tasting sauce ever. EVER. Normally i double the recipe, and add more basil and garlic. And less lemon juice. You can always add more, but cant take away. ALSO, it NEEDS to be done in a food processor. This cannot just be smooshed by hand. It will not taste the same. ALSO, if you add crumbled goar cheese, OR parmesan, it adda an extra yummy factor. MY FAVORITE!!!!!
Aww thanks so much Jill! I appreciate your feedback
Thank you so much for this recipe! My two year old is asking for more even after dinner is over which NEVER happens. I bet I could even sneak some spinach in there next time. I added extra avocado and olive oil for some more fat. Delish.
whohoo, that’s great to hear!! Always feels SO good when your toddler asks for more…heh