Avocado Cream Pasta with Lemon and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
For a simple weeknight pasta, whip up this avocado cream pasta in under 20 minutes. You can make it with linguine or spaghetti. It coats the pasta in a silky and buttery smooth avocado cream sauce, with lemon, garlic, and chili. Topped with sliced sundried tomatoes to add some tartness, this easy pasta recipe can quickly become a family favorite.
Add this Greek-inspired marinated chicken breast for a meat variation, and enjoy a simple, tasty family dinner.
Why You’ll Love This Pasta Dish
Avocados can go from unripe to overripe in very little time, and no doubt you’ve seen lots of memes online about this! That was somewhat the inspiration for this dish. If you have avocados at home and they’re starting to go squidgy, you can use them later in the day in this recipe.
For me, dishes like this are a great example of how tasty cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. This is so quick to put together and makes great use of ingredients like avocados that may be about to go bad.
Ingredients to Make it
Want to make this pasta dish? You’ll need to get the following ingredients together:
- Pasta – 1 lb linguine (or spaghetti)
- Avocados – 3 avocados
- Cream – 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Lemon – 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- Garlic – 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Chili Flakes – 1/4 tsp chili flakes (or more to taste)
- Salt – 1/2 tsp kosher salt (plus more to taste and to salt the water for the pasta)
- Black Pepper – 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes – 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced or roughly chopped
- Butter – 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- Basil (optional) – a handful of fresh basil (optional), finely chopped
Directions
Step 1. Boil the pasta according to the package instructions (about 10 minutes for linguine). Drain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.
Note: While the pasta is boiling, blend the avocado and cream together (see step 2) so the blended mixture is ready to go and the pasta doesn’t go cold.
Step 2. Blend the avocados and cream together. Then, add 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water and blend.
Note: You can use an immersion blender, a food processor, or any regular blender.
Step 3. To the empty pasta pot over medium heat, add 1 tbsp of unsalted butter. Add the minced garlic, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Saute for about 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice and avocado cream. Stir for about 30 seconds, just enough to warm the avocado cream mixture without cooking it too long.
Step 4. Remove the pot from the heat and add the pasta tossing it in the avocado cream. If you need to thin out the sauce a bit more, add some more pasta water. Taste and add any additional salt, pepper, or chili flakes to taste. Keep in mind the sun-dried tomatoes add a bit of a saltier taste to the pasta so don’t overdo the salt.
Step 5. Serve with chopped or thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes on top and (optionally) finely chopped fresh basil.
This goes down a treat at home. That avocado cream sauce is so rich and silky, and the sundried tomatoes help add a bit more umami to this recipe.
More Weeknight Pasta Ideas
Both this lemon basil one-pot pasta and this easy 15-minute basil pasta have been weeknight lifesavers for me. They can be ready in no time at all, and use ingredients you’ll have at home, or you can quickly pick up from the store on the way home from work.
Another favorite I like to have in the fridge is pasta salads, like this Greek-inspired one or this pesto pasta salad with pine nuts and mozzarella. You can make these on the day, or you can make them the night before and enjoy the next day.
One-Page Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 lb linguine or spaghetti
- 3 avocados
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 lemon juice (about 2 tbsp) and zest from the lemon
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste and to salt the water for the pasta
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- fresh basil (optional) finely chopped
Instructions
- Boil the pasta according to the package instructions (about 10 minutes for linguine). Drain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Note: While the pasta is boiling, blend the avocado and cream together (see the next step) so the blended mixture is ready to go and the linguine doesn't go cold.
- Blend the avocados and cream together. Then, add 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water and blend.
- To the empty pasta pot over medium heat, add 1 tbsp of unsalted butter. Add the minced garlic, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. Saute for 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice and avocado cream. Stir for about 15 seconds.
- Remove the pot from the heat and add the pasta tossing it in the avocado cream. If you need to thin out the sauce a bit more, add some more pasta water. Taste and add any additional salt, pepper, or chili flakes to taste. Keep in mind the sun-dried tomatoes add a bit of a saltier taste to the pasta so don’t overdo the salt.
- Serve with chopped or thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes on top and (optionally) finely chopped fresh basil.
Need more quick and easy weeknight dinner ideas? Don’t forget to save this to one of your recipe idea boards, ready for when you need some quick inspiration.