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.
Hi i like to try to pack this for lunch. Any suggestions on how i should prepare and store the zucchini overnight?
Oh you can easily do this! Just spiralize the zucchini noodles and really make sure you squeeze out all the water then keep them in a sealed airtight container 🙂
Just finished making and eating this. It was okay, my first ho with spiralizing. Stirred in some Pico that I had and that really hrlped, in my opinion. Will try zucchini noodles again!!
Looks amazing! Would I be able to freeze the sauce for prep so I can have it on different things during the week?
Absolutely!
Is there any way to make this recipe without a spiralizer or food processor? I have a blender…
You could always use a peeler or grater to make the zucchini noodles and depending on the type/size blender you have I’m sure you would have no problem making the pesto 🙂 I would just make the pesto in small batches as a blender may not hold all the ingredients at once!
I just made this! The pesto is delicious, I could eat it straight. Thanks for a tasty low carb recipe!
I think my portions must have been out because there was wayyy too much sauce for the zucchini pasta. I ended up with a knot of zucchini pasta smothered in what my partner described as a very nice tasting guacamole dip! Sadly it ended up in the bin 🙁 I was so disappointed, but will try again with a different sauce. Nothing against your recipe – just my cooking skills!
Sarah, exact same thing here. It needs at least twice as much zucchini (even though I used a 3lb zuc from my garden) or half as much sauce, as well as thicker noodles (I did 3mm – spaghetti size). I’ve saved the “dip” (lol) and will make some fettuccine noodles instead and maybe add some more oil or something to thin the sauce a bit. Or one could just blend in any stuck noodles and actually use it as guacamole. It does taste great, but it’s a bit thick for me too. Recipe needs some tweaking but I’m glad I found it!
I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly! I think I just had some really large zucchini – sorry about that!!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I have a type 1 diabetic son and he loved this and it didn’t even affect his sugars! He barely need insulin! Thanks so much! #happymom
I found this too thick and avacado-y. I think one avocado would have been enough and then it would have been a bit thinner too. It was too gloppy. I will try it again – I did the drying the zoodle trick and it worked really well. I made the zoodle early in day and wrapped them in paper towels and sat them in the fridge. They were quick and easy to cook.
I have been making this twice a week for the past 4 weeks since I found the recipe. Thank you for posting this! It’s my go-to, too tired to waste a bunch of time in the kitchen meal and it is fabulous 👍
Hi Kelly!! I pinned this recipe and decided to make it, I just added chicken and let me tell you..It was AHHMAZING! It was so popular and tasty that my family ask me to do it on a Sunday family gathering (No one could tell that they where zoodles) Thank you so much!! Kisses from Mexico 🙂