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.
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 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.
I made this tonight and LOVED it! Now I’m going to share it with all my friends. Thank you so much
I have used this recipe twice now and am in love with it! Added cherry tomatoes the first time and rock melon the second, they really complimented the flavours. Would it be okay for me to feature this on my blog? With you as a source of course!
Thanks for the great recipes!
Emma
I just made your avocado pasta recipe and whoa Nellie! Delicious!! Rich and creamy goodness and so fast! I used brown rice pasta for a gluten free option. I had it with your carrot, grapefruit and ginger juice for a light and sweet balance to the garlic and lemon pasta sauce. Dessert? Of course your peanut butter cookie dough balls! I took a beautiful photo I’d love to share. :)
Oh my word. This was by far the best pasta I’ve ever had. I mean ever. I knew this was going to be good, but this was amazing. Unbelievably amazing. My husband and I are in love with this! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Tried it! LOVE IT! Can’t wait to make again! Wonderful with fresh basil from the garden, my mouth is watering for more now
I made this and added roasted mushrooms and it tasted so good, knowing that this is the first vegan pasta I ever had (I’m a vegetarian in transition to vegan)
Hi Angela,
Just commenting to let you know that I made this recipe for dinner and it was FANTASTIC. I did a review on my blog that can be found here: http://eatforcolor.blogspot.com/2014/07/recipe-review-ohsheglows-15-minute.html
I made sure to link back to your website and make is clear that this was YOUR recipe. I hope I did that correctly!
Love the cookbook and the website!
Beautiful recipe! Tastes incredible! And your right, it’s really surprising how the avocado can be so creamy and delicious! :)
My toddlers and I adore this recipe … my partner, not so much, but that leaves more for us! My favorite way to eat it is massaged into kale. The fresh basil is definitely not optional, and I think that it is best with plenty of garlic! Thanks so much!!
Just had this for lunch and it was Amazing! Instead of regular pasta i made my own raw zucchini noodles(ofcourse if you wanted a true raw meal you could substitute the olive oil for unrefined raw coconut oil and i think would be great too!) , and because i love spice i added cayeane pepper to your avocado sauce recipe and that added just the right amount of spice and extra flavor for me! I will be making this again, Thanks a bunch!
I’ve tried this recipe twice. The first time I used two garlic cloves and it was okay. I could taste the potential for a great recipe, but as you said, it was a little too much garlic. The second time, I used only one clove and it was soooo delicious. I also used zucchini noodles both times. I sauteed the noodles for just a few minutes and then tossed them in the sauce. Absolutely amazing! I felt like I was having a cheat meal! This will definitely be added to my go to recipes.
I just made this! Oh my word… Absolutely gorgeous. It’s always a good day when you find a new way to eat avocados, right?! Had no basil so used marjoram from the garden. Delish, and a perfect way to use up almost over-ripe avos. As if I needed another excuse to make this. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi, I wanted to thank you for this delicious recipe. It’s really the best avocado recipe i tasted. Today I also added in a handful of baby spinach leaves and chopped tomatoes, also topped it with Some nutritional yeast and hemp seeds, which was also good.
OMG! like seriously! I drove 1/2 hour to find ancient grain pasta, and to my delight, they had both you had listed here, so I bought them both. Almost ran out of gas, but boy… this was SO worth it! I would not add any extra salt next time (I have to watch my sodium intake), as the flavors from everything else is just like fireworks in your mouth! DEFINITELY re-doing this one, (I’d have had 2 more bowls, but I was smart, only cooked ONE portion ;) now, we wait and see if the ingredients trigger (for me) migraines/fibro/ibs … if not. oh baby you are MINE! :) thank YOU SO MUCH!
Absolutely delicious! And so creamy.
This has become one of my absolute favorite, I could eat this every day…:)
At first I wasn’t sure about basil and avocado but Oh my! This is great! I eat the left over avocado sauce on toast next morning or even with tortilla chips. Absolutely delicious!!!
Hi Angela, just to let you know I wrote a post on my newly born blog about this recipe. Thanks again!
And the link of course: atasteofpure.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/my-favourite-dinner-of-the-moment/
I turned Vegan (all at once) right after Christmas 2013. I bought the Oh She Glows cookbook and WOW! why haven’t I been Vegan all my life? I have new eyes when it comes to food – big, googly eyes. This avocado pasta was one of the first recipes I made and yum yum oh yummy in my tummy! I have read how many people may find being Vegan difficult and limiting – I cannot imagine. There is a whole new world here! And it includes creamy avocado pasta so jump for joy!
This is the second recipe I tried after finding your website and has stayed in the regular rotation about once every month or two. I’d have it more often if pasta didn’t bloat me. I always add mushrooms and spinach to mine! I’d like to try some sun-dried tomatoes in there too! Love this creamy sauce!
Just finished eating this delicious meal. I added a small white onion and some green peas and it was extremely tasty! Loved the fresh flavours and the creaminess of the avocado. Will definitely be having this again!
I cannot even express how delicious this is. And it’s so quick and easy to make! It blows my mind. It’s a favorite to make for friends when they’re coming over cause I can just double the recipe and make a bunch of it for super cheap. I’ve made it three times now.
It’s exploding with light, crisp, refreshing flavors and it leaves me feeling way more full than I was expecting. It doesn’t even matter if there are leftovers the next day because the citrus keeps the avocado from turning brown. I just freaking love this recipe.
P.S. Now that I know what spelt spaghetti is (available at Sprouts) and I’ll never be going back! Wee!
this meal was fantastic! i didnt follow the recipe to a T, but it was delicious and i would have never thought to combine avacado with a past dish, touche’…. :)
Just made this for lunch today and It was really delicious and so creamy! Finished with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast on top too :)
I just made this for lunch with raw zucchini noodles!! I needed an extra tbsp of EVOO for my blender to pull everything together, but this recipe is PHENOMENAL!!
Made this for dinner this evening. Husband and I both loved it. Will definitely be making again!
I just made this pasta instead of a box of mac and cheese and was soooo much more satisfied! And it took the same amount of time! I didn’t have basil or olive oil so I make it with kale and grape seed oil instead. SO GOOD!
Yay – loved this… yum yum yum! :)
p.s writing Avocado ‘flesh’ kind freaked me out… :D
Making this for dinner AGAIN tonight… We simply cannot get enough of this dish. We’ve been making it for about 18 months now and it’s in regular rotation, so maybe once every 10-14 days. Love, love, love it!!! (We use Delallo fusilli pasta instead of spaghetti. It clings to the noodles better.) :) ENJOY!!
So bummed! Was really excited for this recipe but I added too much lemon juice. Should have followed the recipe more closely and tasted as I went along :/. I will try it again. Loved that it was so simple and quick.
A huge, massive thank you from the uk for this recipe! It was a lovely quick and easy comfort food diner! Yum!
So many comments on how it LOOKS, and so few on how it *actually* goes!
Just whipped this up for dinner – so simple and easy! Tasty, with a strong garlic flavour, which I love. I’d suggest one clove if you’re not a big garlic fan. I also added cooked carrots and broccoli for added veggies. :)
Oh my gosh this is AMAZING. I tried to blend the avocado with my little blender (ended up a bit chunky) but even with that it was the best “creamy” pasta I have ever made! Thanks for sharing :)
This video has just made my night! It is the most adorable thing. the cutest couple, so heartfelt. And how amazing a crow and a kitten! aw, renewed faith in animals and mother instincts of all kinds. Thanks for posting. I love avocado pasta too, yum!
Made this last night. Added more lemon juice and roasted grape tomatoes. Sooooo good!!!!
Just ordered your cookbook …so excited can’t wait …..I love new recipes…..my husband always says I have enough cookbooks …you can never have too many….am looking forward to trying some new dishes
This looks delicious will definitely be cooking it next week
I just made this pasta, and it’s delicious! I added some red chili powder to give it an extra kick and it turned out wonderfully. Thanks for sharing!!
Always reliable, always delicious. I make it with whole wheat fettuccine and err on the side of less garlic…one clove is very garlicky. Thanks!
I was wondering if you didn’t have basil if I could use some pesto I made homemade instead?
I’ve been reading your blog for some time now but today was the first time I tried one of your recipes… this one. And what shall I say? It’s absolutely gorgeous! I so enjoyed the creamy texture and avocado is always a hit with me anyway…
The video clip also made my day. It kinda reminds me of the lioness that adopted an oryx antilope baby in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya)
All the best to you and your small family from freezing Germany :)
It is great, i will make at tonight , thanks you very much
Garlic, fresh basil leaves, fresh lemon juice, olive oil,avocado,sea salt, ground black pepper and lemon zest, all contribute to delicacy of pasta. Thanks for this recipe.
Is there anything to substitute the basil with?:)
cilantro maybe?
I made this tonight. Delicious!
Tried this, soooo delicious! You are my hero.
One of my fav recipes. Very rich and creamy! I bet it would be good with some spinach too.
I tried this and it was amazing.
I added in some mushrooms and chicken too to make it even more filling.
Thanks so much! I’m making it for my family this weekend.
Your blog is so delightful, thank you.
from London, England
I have made this several times, and it is the most delicious avocado recipe EVER! Thank you!! :))
This was seriously incredible! I just finished my bowl and might be making it again tomorrow. Had it on sautéed zucchini noodles and grape tomatoes :)