This delicious 7 ingredient avocado pesto pasta is full of fresh herbs and bright flavors. A healthier take on traditional pesto, this avocado pesto sauce is vegan and oil-free! Ready in just 15 minutes, this recipe is perfect for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
My life got a lot more interesting once I started making pasta recipes that didn’t include a red sauce. Classic pasta and marinara is tried and true, but can get old quick. Let’s shake it up. Enter: pesto pasta. Ehm. Avocado pesto pasta 😱
Pasta coated with a creamy avocado pesto sauce? And only 7 ingredients required? And it’s ready in just 15 minutes? Let’s go! ⛹
Pesto with basil and parsley
Most pesto recipes call for basil, olive oil, pine nuts, and parmesan, along with a few other spices. But we are going to veganize it, swap out some less affordable ingredients, and make it a bit healthier.
I don’t know about you, but where I live I find fresh basil to be pretty inaccessible. At the grocery stores they sometimes sell basil plants for an ungodly amount of money, but never any basil cuttings with the other fresh herbs. I’ve tried to buy and care for the basil plants, but I end up killing them. Shame on me. I really do love basil 🌿
Anyway, due to my unwillingness to frequently splurge on basil (and my lack of green thumb to grow my own), I am cutting this pesto with 1 cup fresh basil and 1 cup fresh parsley. Parsley? In pesto? HELL YEAH 🤘 Parsley in pesto is amazing, plus it’s a very affordable and accessible fresh herb. If you don’t want to include basil at all, use 2 cups of parsley.
Speaking of expensive ingredients, bye bye pine nuts. No room for you in this recipe. When making pesto in the past, I’ve swapped pine nuts for sunflower seeds, but this pesto pasta recipe is so good without the extra ingredients!
Vegan oil-free pesto
I love pesto, but I do not love the amount of oil in it. I’m not anti-oil at all, but a lot of the time pesto just tastes like herbs drowning in an oil bath. Instead of olive oil, I subbed in avocado for a healthier fat. The avocado makes this pesto sauce super creamy and dreamy.
Instead of parmesan, I used nutritional yeast for a nice umami, cheesy flavor. Nooch is great in this recipe, but feel free to swap in store-bought or homemade vegan parmesan.
Add in lemon juice, garlic, salt + pepper to taste, and a little water to thin it all out and you got yourself a dang meal full of luscious, creamy pesto sauce worthy of all you queens and kings out there 👑
How to make avocado pesto pasta
Homemade pesto is a great way to use up fresh herbs and leafy greens that are about to go bad. Plus, it’s so easy to make! Almost too easy to make…
- Cook the pasta al dente.
- Put all the pesto ingredients into the food processor and blitz until smooth.
- Drain the pasta, return to the pot, and stir in the pesto.
- Enjoy immediately!
The first time I made this recipe, I accidentally ate like 80% of it in one sitting. Yup, I basically inhaled 3 servings of this crack pasta. I would eat some… then pause. Then continue. And it was only when I remembered that I told my friend I’d bring him some that I stopped eating. Otherwise I would have finished the whole dang thing 🥑🌿
Pace yourselves, friends!!! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do 🤤
Like quick and easy pasta recipes? Check out my vegan white bean mac & cheese
If you make this recipe, leave it a rating and a comment! You can also tag me @Daughter_of_Seitan on Instagram so I can see your lovely food creations. XOXO
Print
Avocado Pesto Pasta
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Mains
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This delicious 7 ingredient avocado pesto pasta is full of fresh herbs and bright flavors. A healthier take on traditional pesto, this avocado pesto sauce is vegan and oil-free! Ready in just 15 minutes, this recipe is perfect for a quick and easy weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 8oz pasta of choice (gluten-free if necessary)
- 1 large ripe avocado, skin and pit removed
- 1 cup fresh basil, packed *
- 1 cup fresh parsley, packed *
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a medium pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta al dente according to package instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, add all the remaining ingredients to a food processor. Process until the pesto is smooth and creamy. Add extra water if you like a thinner sauce.
- Drain the pasta, then return to the pot. Stir in the pesto and cook over low heat until warm.
- Serve this pasta warm or cold. Store in the fridge 5-7 days.
Notes
* Instead of 1 cup each of basil and parsley, you could do 2 cups of parsley or 2 cups of basil. Alternatively, I think spinach would work in this recipe if you don’t have basil or parsley.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 recipe
- Calories: 304.59
- Sugar: 2.62g
- Sodium: 309.48mg
- Fat: 7.32g
- Saturated Fat: 0.76g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 50.59g
- Fiber: 11.19g
- Protein: 13.03g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: avocado, pesto pasta recipe, vegan pesto
Save for later
