Homemade Avocado Pesto Pasta Sauce

We are big fans of pasta in our house. Coming from an Italian family, pasta was a regular staple in my house growing up. It can be simple, easy to make, and cheap if you need it to be. My husband can make pasta, I can make it in a pinch, and it always feels like home!

This particular pasta dish has become a regular in our rotation of meals during the summer months. Last summer and this summer I have grown basil in our garden and used our homegrown basil for this dish. I love being able to make a dish that is backyard to table! (Now if only I could grow avocados!) We first had a sauce like this from our first round of Terra's Kitchen meals. If you are interested in trying their meal delivery system, we highly recommend them! You can check out my blogpost about our experience with their service.

Creamy pesto sauces out of cans from the store can hold a lot of unhealthy fat, but this dish harnesses the healthy fat in avocados to provide the vehicle for richness and creaminess of a pasta sauce. If you aren't a fan of avocado taste, don't worry. This is not an avocado tasting sauce, but much more a pesto tasting sauce with the basil, olive oil, parmesan, and spices in it.

I make use of my food processor for mixing and blending this sauce. If you have a blender, it will work well for this sauce as well. I also reserve some water that my pasta noodles cook in to use in my sauce, reserving more than I think I will need, in case my sauce needs it for creaminess. You could use hot water if you forget to save some from the pasta!

I have used bowtie, rigatoni, spaghetti, and macaroni with this pasta sauce. I will say that the rigatoni and the bowties are my favorites for the way that they hold onto the sauce, but I truly think that whatever kind of noodle you have on hand will work well with this sauce. I think gluten-free noodles will work well too! Those are next on my list (because they're next up to use in my pantry!).

Avocado Pesto Pasta Sauce

1 Avocado (Mushier the better)
1 Handful of basil leaves (1/2 cup unpacked)
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2-4 Tablespoons of hot reserved pasta water
1/4 cup dairy-free parmesan cheese (or regular if that's your preference)
1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/8 tsp pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (or to taste)

Scoop green flesh of the avocado into a food processor or blender. Remove basil leaves from stems and add to avocado. Add olive oil, 2 Tbsps of pasta water, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to avocado and basil. Blend until smooth and creamy. Add more pasta water until desired creaminess has been reached.

Enjoy!