CREAMY AND DREAMY pasta made with nature’s finest ingredients to satisfy my pasta needs. After eating this stuff the only regret I have is not making more.
This recipe has been hiding in my archives since late 2013. It had zero love and I totally get why. I make this frequently and even my picky best friend loves her some avocado pesto pasta. If you know Lindsey, her palate isn’t very forgiving so this not only shocked me, but herself.
She called me up once trying to follow the recipe and was confused. I logged on, looked at the old blog post, and realized I had no idea what I was doing back in 2013. The recipe was scattered and listed in bullets throughout the post, and I actually had to sit and stare at one of the pictures for more than a minute to figure out what it was. If you’re a food blogger I’m sure you know what it’s like to back track to your first recipes and itch to recreate them. If one thing is for sure, I’ve learned a lot about food blogging since 2013. I’ve also learned that if I’m ever in a pinch for a homemade meal, this is the recipe.
This is NOTHING more than boiling pasta and tossing it with a sauce made straight from your food processor. Yes that means technically you can have a homemade meal without any effort.
The key ingredients to the sauce are avocado and basil pesto. The avocados give the sauce the rich and buttery consistency giving us that creamy sauce we all crave – think Alfredo. The pesto is there strictly for flavor. You can buy pre-made basil pesto or take full advantage of your neighbor’s never ending basil bush. To make pesto, just throw a handful of basil leaves in a food processor with a clove or two of garlic, a palm full of pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. Pulverize while drizzling in 1/4 c. of good olive oil or as much as you need to get a pesto like consistency.
The pesto and the avocados combine to make a sauce that not only tastes but smells like a garlicky basil bash. Uh, can we have more garlicky basil bashes please?
Squeeze over a splash of fresh lemon, taste for salt and pepper, and add your garnishes as you please. Sometimes when making this I leave the pine nuts of out the pesto and use it as a garnish, other times I add Parmesan cheese, and some I just keep it light and eat it how it is.
You could also make this entirely vegan by leaving out the Parmesan cheese and buying egg-less pasta noodles. That means the only thing harmed while making this recipe is your dad for eating all the left overs.
Enjoy!
- 16 oz. spaghetti or fettuccine (one box)
- 4 ripe avocados
- 1/4 c. basil pesto (see notes and post for recipe)
- 1 lemon
- Basil for garnish
- Parmesan Cheese for garnish
- Pine nuts (optional)
- Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Halve, peel, and remove the pit from the 'cados. Add them to a food processor with the basil and pulse until smooth and creamy.
- Season sauce with salt and pepper, keep tasting along the way!
- Toss the sauce with the warm noodles. Squeeze over some juice from a lemon for flavor. Garnish with basil, Parmesan cheese, and toasted pine nuts if desired.
- You can buy basil pesto at the store or make it homemade. Throw a big handful of basil leaves in a processor with a clove or two of garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and about 1/4 c. of pine nuts. Drizzle in 1/4 c. of olive oil while blending until consistency is achieved.
- **ABOUT NUTRITION: lots of healthy fats going on here and the label does not pick up on it. Just keep that in mind 🙂
Hi Lindsay, I follow your blog pretty consistently but hadn’t visited in several weeks. I am hosting a “Ladies Night” next weekend for 3 of my closest friends and my menu consisted of Linguine with Pesto!! I happened to click on your blog today and what did I see? Not only was it a recipe for Pesto but it also included AVOCADO. Literally one of my favorite foods. I wanted to make a lightened up version since we are all looking to be calorie conscious. But I feel like i can lighten this up with portion size and maybe substituting Zoodles:) Thanks for the awesome recipe and entertaining blog, you are an inspiration to people like me who love food:)
This made my day, thank you Ashley! This recipe is delicious and it’s a frequent dinner at my house. The avocado makes the “sauce” SO creamy, mocking the Alfredo and is surprisingly filling! Your girlfriends will love it. Best part is it’s all healthy, and of course you can do the zoodles which I think I might do this week! Let me know how your dinner party turns out 🙂