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!
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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.
I’m considering trying this & substituting cilantro for the basil and lime for the lemon, giving it a little more of a tex-mex flavor profile. Thanks for the tip about getting the moisture out of the znoodles before cooking!
Great recipe, I just made it and tastes awesome!! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kelly-I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this recipe! I am a pesto addict and this was so easy to make. Unfortunately, I didn’t have pine nuts, so I substituted with walnuts. Will be adding this to my personal recipe box!-Thank you.
I followed the recipe to the T, and I think I should’ve used 1-2 extra zucchinis because there was a lot of sauce for little noodles. Also, I entered the recipe in MyFitnessPal, and it found that the whole thing is over 800 calories (so approx 400 calories per serving)? Olive Oil has many calories. However, it was so tasty that I ate my serving anyway and saved the other half for later…
How did you manage to make it so low in calories?
Aside from that, great recipe, will be making it again 🙂
Sorry about that! I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly, I must have had some really large zucchini the first time because there was just too much sauce for only two zucchini. This whole recipe yields about 8 servings of sauce and a little pesto goes a long way so feel free to put as much or as little as you’d like with your noodles or you could even cut the recipe in half! 🙂
I made this tonight and while the pesto had a really great flavor, it made a TON of sauce and two large zucchini were not nearly enough for the amount of sauce. Next time I will use more like 4-5 zucchini because this time it was just like eating a bowl of pesto.
Very good recipe, the zoodles (and especially the pesto) were delicious. I didn’t use a spiralizer but a Julienne peeler and the noodles were still fine. I would definitely suggest doubling, or even tripling the zucchini though, since it was too much sauce for too little noodles. Also, the calories are a bit off. And btw, serving size 1,5 cups? Who would eat just 1,5 cup of this delight? 😛
Thank you for the recipe, it will definitely stay in my cookbook to be made again!
Great recipe Kelly, and very tasty. Definitely be making this one again.
This is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted! Seriously. I grilled jumbo shrimp marinated in lemon and garlic and topped the zoodles slathered in this pesto. I also made gluten free organic chicken nuggets, diced them and topped with some fresh parm. My kids have told me to make this regularly, and I will! Thanks for the recipe, it is really really good!
Thanks Vanessa, I’m so glad!! 🙂
I’m new to cooking. If I want to double the recipe to feed more people do I literally double each ingredient?
I would suggest just doubling the zucchini noodles, but keeping the pesto the same – it goes a long way 🙂
Turned out perfectly! Selfish! Planning on using leftovers on poached eggs for breakfast. Yum!