This quick and easy pasta meal does not take longer to prepare than boiling a bag of dried pasta. The pasta sauce is made with avocado, bell peppers, onions and olive oil, a perfect lunch meal that does not weigh you down. Avocado is not the most common ingredient to find in pasta sauce but it is absolutely delicious. Try it and see for yourself!
About this Recipe
This recipe has been a staple in my meal planning for years now. I absolutely love avocados, not only for their taste but also as a rich source for healthy non-saturated fat, fiber, potassium, magnesium as well as vitamin B-6. As for pasta, I just love all kinds and I could eat different noodle variations (almost) every single day. 😋
Years ago, I had just arrived at home after a long work day, looking for a quick dinner to prepare, I opened the fridge and found an avocado, a bell pepper, green onions and a pack of cherry tomatoes as the only vegetables available. A few packs of dried pasta, olive oil and seasonings are always available in my kitchen, so I wondered if and how I could prepare an avocado based pasta sauce. I came up with a plan, which turned out to be a delicious and very quick meal to prepare. The recipe has rarely changed over the years and I just love it for its simplicity!
Ingredients
This is what you will need to make pasta with avocado sauce...Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed measurements.
- Bell pepper
- Ripe Avocados
- Olive Oil
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Lime
- Ground cumin
- Cherry tomatoes
- Salt
- Pepper
- Spaghetti, Linguini or Pappardelle
The Avocados
The avocados should be ripe, or else they will not partially melt together with the olive oil and coat your pasta with creamy avocado oil. If you are unsure how to pick the best avocados and how to store them, check out this great "Avocado 101" post published on Clean & Delicious.
Which Pasta to use
I have tried many different pasta types with this recipe and prefer Spaghetti or Linguini to go with this sauce. Occasionally, I buy fresh pasta which tastes always better than the dried version. However, most of the time, I use dried organic brown rice pasta in order to avoid gluten.
How to make it
Prepare the 🥑 Sauce
Cut the vegetables: Clean and dice the bell peppers, chop the green onions, mince the garlic and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Keep all ingredients separated as they will be needed at different points in time.
Prepare the Avocados: Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and peel the skin off. The avocados should be ripe, so the skin should peel off nicely. Chop the avocado flesh in medium small dices and fill them into a large bowl.
Add Olive Oil and Seasonings: Add ¼ cup of olive oil, the juice of half a lime, cumin, salt and fresh ground pepper to the avocados. The lime juice will give a fresh flavour and prevent the avocado from oxidizing. If you prefer the avocado to be less chunky, mash the avocado pieces to your taste, using a fork. Set the bowl aside.
Saute the Bell Peppers: Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan on medium heat and saute the diced bell peppers for 1-2 minutes.
Add the green onions, garlic and cherry tomatoes to the pan and stir fry on low heat for another 1-2 minutes. All the vegetables should still be al-dente and not overcooked. The tomatoes and green onions should just be glazed briefly.
Pour the hot vegetable mix over the avocado mix and stir. The ripe avocados should melt a little due to the heat from the vegetables.
Boil the Pasta
Boil the Water: Set a large pot with water on the stovetop and turn it to medium high heat. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water
Cook the Pasta: When the water starts to boil, turn down the head to medium low and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
Tip: I usually start boiling the water for the pasta as the very first step. The preparation of the sauce does usually not take me any longer than boiling the water + cooking time of the pasta.
Mix the Pasta into the Avocado Sauce
Bring it all together: When the pasta is cooked, strain the water and give them hot into the bowl with the avocado sauce. Using two large cooking spoons, mix the sauce carefully into the pasta from the bottom up.
Variations
Be creative and pick your personal favourite pasta type to serve your avocado sauce with. You can easily make it vegan by choosing vegan noodles. Feel free to add more vegetables, such as zucchini or eggplant and top it with parmesan, cilantro and / or fresh arugula.
Want the sauce to be more creamy? No Problem, mash or blend your avocado with the olive oil, seasonings and lime juice before mixing them into the vegetables.
Pasta in Avocado Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 2 ripe avocados, diced
- ¼ cup olive Oil
- 6 green onions
- ½ lime (more or less, depending on how juicy the lime is)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 15 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper (preferably fresh ground)
- 1 pack spaghetti (approx. 340g)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Instructions
Prepare the Avocado Sauce
- Clean and dice the bell peppers, chop the green onions, mince the garlic and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Keep all ingredients separated.
- Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and peel the skin off. The avocados should be ripe, so the skin should peel off nicely. Chop the avocado flesh in medium small dices and fill them into a large bowl.
- Add ¼ cup of olive oil, the juice of half a lime, cumin, salt and fresh ground pepper to the avocados. Set the bowl aside.
- Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan on medium heat and saute the diced bell peppers for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the green onions, garlic and cherry tomatoes to the pan and stir fry on low heat for another 1-2 minutes.
- Pour the hot vegetables over the avicado mix and stir. The ripe avocados should melt a little due to the heat from the vegetables.
Boil the Pasta
- Set a large pot with water on the stovetop and turn it to medium high heat. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water
- Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
Mix the Pasta into the Avocado Sauce
- When the pasta is cooked, strain the water and give them hot into the bowl with the avocado sauce. Using two large cooking spoons, mix the sauce carefully into the pasta from the bottom up.
Bozena says
Absolutely delicious. Good, healthy ingredients, easy to do it.
Tom says
Loved this quick and easy meal! Took no time to prep, cook and eat. Avocados and pasta need to be mixed together more often!! Def a must dinner everyone should try!!!