Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes-the avocado is the secret ingredient to making this pesto super creamy and delicious! Your family will love this easy pasta dish!
Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta
Don’t you love comfort foods that are secretly healthy? That’s how this Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta is. It gets a thick, creamy texture from avocado, and the addition of spinach brightens the color and ups the healthiness even more! This is a weeknight classic that your entire family will enjoy. Our boys love this pesto pasta and they have no idea it’s made with healthy avocado and spinach! YAY!
How to Make Avocado Pesto
Avocado is what makes this pesto super creamy, not heavy cream or butter. It gives you those healthy fats! I sneak in spinach too because adding more greens is always a good idea.
This avocado pesto is so easy to make, it’s as easy as adding ingredients into your food processor or blender! To make the avocado pesto, you will need:
- Fresh basil
- Spinach leaves
- Avocado
- Garlic
- Lemon juice
- Parmesan cheese (or nutritional yeast if you need the pesto to be vegan!)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
..and then just blend everything until it’s smooth!
Vegan Pesto Pasta
One simple swap turns this into a VEGAN Pesto Pasta! The secret? Use nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan. This keeps you from losing out on any amazing flavor while making a totally vegan dish. You can find nutritional yeast at most grocery stores now. I love it!
What Pasta is Best with Pasta?
Really, you can serve this with any kind of pasta you like best! I usually use Fusili since it has tiny ridges for the pesto to cling to, and you get more delicious flavor in every bite. Other pastas I love with pesto:
- Penne
- Macaroni
- Farfalle
- Orecchiette
- Rigatoni
- Zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash for an all-veggie option!
How to Blister Tomatoes
I love slow roasted tomatoes, but sometimes I don’t have time for slow roasting. When I am short on time, I blister my tomatoes on the stove top. The flavor is fantastic and it only takes about 5 minutes! This simple step that adds a really great depth of flavor to this Avocado Pesto Pasta. Give it a try!
- Start with grape or cherry tomatoes
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Add tomatoes and garlic, then season with salt and pepper. It’s going to start smelling AMAZING!
- Cook, stirring frequently, until tomatoes start to blister and pop.
- Discard the garlic and serve the blistered tomatoes on top of your Avocado Pesto Pasta. Yum!
More Pasta Recipes:
If you love this Avocado Pesto Pasta, check out some of my other pasta dishes!
For the Creamy Pesto:
-
1
cup
packed basil leaves -
1
cup
packed spinach leaves -
1/2
large avocado -
2
cloves
garlic -
1
tablespoon
fresh lemon juice -
1/4
cup
grated parmesan cheese -
2
tablespoons
olive oil -
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper,
to taste
For the Pasta and Tomatoes:
-
12
oz
pasta -
1
tablespoon
olive oil -
1
pint
cherry or grape tomatoes -
2
cloves
garlic,
roughly chopped -
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper,
to taste -
Crushed red pepper flakes,
for garnish, optional -
Basil leaves,
for garnish, optional -
Parmesan cheese,
for garnish, optional
First, make the creamy avocado pesto. In a food processor, add the basil, spinach, avocado, garlic, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, and olive oil. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and transfer to a large bowl.
While the pasta is cooking, cook the tomatoes. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes blister and start to pop, about 5 minutes. Discard the garlic.
Add the creamy pesto to the large bowl of pasta. Stir, adding the reserved pasta water as necessary. Stir until the pasta is well coated in pesto. Top with blistered tomatoes. Garnish with crushed red pepper flakes, basil and parmesan cheese, if using. Serve immediately.
Note-to make this recipe vegan, use nutritional yeast for the parmesan cheese. You can also use zucchini noodles instead of pasta.
Nutrition Facts
Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 337
Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 2g10%
Cholesterol 4mg1%
Sodium 77mg3%
Potassium 434mg12%
Carbohydrates 48g16%
Fiber 4g16%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 10g20%
Vitamin A 1397IU28%
Vitamin C 16mg19%
Calcium 84mg8%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
