Zucchini noodles tossed together in a creamy avocado pesto for a delicious healthy weeknight dinner that is gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan and can be easily made in under 20 minutes!
Table of Contents
Happy Meatless Monday!
No I’m not a vegetarian, but sometimes I just love having a day where the only thing I fill my body with are fresh fruits and veggies, especially after a big Super Bowl weekend! Yup. My diet yesterday pretty much consisted of beer, chicken wings, cheesy dips and pizza…..uh I think my body is screaming for a serious detox, but you know what, I enjoyed every second of it! Especially the commercials. And Beyonce. I mean the Super Bowl only comes once a year so I totally welcome the little, err BIG splurge that comes with it!
This recipe is perfect because it’s super filling, crazy healthy and the best part is you feel like you’re eating a big bowl of pasta! It’s also incredibly quick and easy to make too (literally under 20 minutes), especially the creamy avocado pesto that’s gets drizzled over the top. No need to heat up either!
See how easy that is??
Just throw everything into your food processor
I also love zucchini noodles because they don’t take that long to cook either. Now zucchinis are made up of 95% water – crazy right?! – so it’s important to try and get out any excess water so you don’t have soggy noodles. The easiest way for me to do this is by putting them in a colander in the sink, sprinkling them with a little salt and letting the water drain out. Then I just pat them dry with a paper towel and they’re crisp and ready to go!
Now this dish honestly tastes just as good cold too, especially if you like crisp raw veggies, but since I prefer my zoodles having that “pasta-like” feel, I simply sauteed mine for a few minutes on the stove and then just tossed them with the pesto sauce. Super simple!
Just a quick note: avocado tends to brown easily so if you do want to enjoy any leftovers, make sure to wrap tightly with plastic wrap (making sure the plastic wrap is pressed up against the pesto sauce) to prevent from browning. This tastes best served immediately though – enjoy!
Zucchini Noodles with Creamy Avocado Pesto
Ingredients
- 6 large zucchini, spiralized
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
For the Sauce:
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- Cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Spiralize your zucchini and set aside on paper towels so that any excess water is soaked up.
- In a food processor, add avocados, basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice and sea salt and pulse until finely chopped. Then with the motor still running, add olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified and creamy.
- Drizzle olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat then add zucchini noodles, cooking for about 1 to 2 minutes until tender.
- Add zucchini noodles to a large bowl and toss with avocado pesto. Season with cracked pepper and a little Parmesan, serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made this, and it was so good! I never liked zoodles in the past but this recipe changed that, thank you for sharing such healthy yet tasty recipes.
I just made this recipe and I thought it tasted pretty good. The pesto was really yummy but like Kelly mentioned in the beginning, since it was made with avocado it does turn brown really easily when exposed to oxygen, so it is definitely a hard thing to store and definitely should be eaten right away. Also I would definitely say to be careful not to overcook the zucchini noodles, because I think I cooked mines for a little too long and they ended up getting kinda mushy. This was my first time eating and cooking zucchini noodles so it’s definitely something that would get better with practice I’d say. You could also choose to eat the zucchini noodles raw with the pesto as another option. I chopped up some almonds to put on top of mines to add a contrast in texture and I think it tasted pretty good. If you don’t store the pesto well though it is going to brown so just keep that in mind. I read somewhere that maybe raw chopped onions help to keep avocados from turning brown but idk how true this is so if anything it’s worth a shot to try cutting some raw onions to put on top of your pesto when storing it. I definitely want to try making this pesto again with some regular pasta noodles or lentil pasta noodles cause I think it would taste really great with that too. Also if you are trying to use up all of the pesto you could put it onto sandwiches too so that you have a nice pesto sandwich. Great recipe, just make sure that you are careful about storing it and being careful to not overcook the zucchini noodles. If you don’t have a spiralizer I saw that you could buy little handheld spiralizers from TJ maxx, or I also saw them at Grocery Outlet. Otherwise Safeway sells bowls of spiralized zucchini, carrots, and beets in the vegetable produce section where they have their packaged salads and fresh fruit bowls.
Do you think the zoodles already mixed with pesto will hold up well for a meal prep so that this could be served for a few lunches throughout the week?
If you are making this for the week I would suggest keeping the sauce separate from the zoodles so that the zoodles stay fresh and won’t get soggy. Also when storing the avocado pesto, cover it tightly with plastic wrap pressing down into the sauce so that not much air can get to it. Avocado tends to brown after being stored, but this recipe should still be a good about 2 days after making! 🙂
Awesome recipe! It’s perfect for a quick weekday dinner 🙂 I love that it makes quite a big batch of pesto, so that you have leftovers for sandwich-making 😀
Lots of love from Belgium!
What Do you use to spiral the noodles?
I use this spiralizer, but there are so many different ones out there for great prices! 🙂 http://amzn.to/2oLIZgp
Really amazing and so easy. I added green peas as well which was delicious. I used a blender which wasn’t ideal so I finished it off with a stick mixer which did a great job. SO GOOD.
Great recipe, I grilled chicken and put it on top. Will definitely make again!!
I have made this several times and it is so delicious I feel like I am cheating on my diet. You don’t need much pesto to get the amazing flavor, and I top mine with some freshly grated parmesan. Thank you for this great recipe!
I cannot have any nuts- are there any replacements for the pine nuts?
This was AH-MAZING! Such a healthy alternative to regular pasta and the avocado pesto is just to die for – I could put it on anything and eat it everyday. For those that do not have a spiralizer, Fresh Market or Whole Foods sells pre-spiralized zucchini, sweet potatoes, beets, and squash! It definitely helped to put them in a colander to get out the excess water. Will be using this recipe again!