Can you think of a better quick meal than a bowl of pasta? Me neither. In this 15-minute pasta the creamy avocado is paired with tangy lime, garlic, chilli, fresh herbs & nutty cheese and boy, it’s tasty! Funny story, this pasta became a huge hit in Finland back in 2012, so big that some stores even ran out of avocados and pecorino cheese as everyone wanted to know what the fuss was about… Well, it definitely wasn’t fuss over nothing as this Avocado Pasta is truly delicious! Honestly, you gotta try it!
Avocado Pasta
🍴 Servings: 2
🕒 Hands-on: 15 – 20 minutes
🎛 Cooking time: No additional!
INGREDIENTS
- 180g spaghetti
- 1 ripe avocado
- ½ lime
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ red chilli, minced
- handful of basil, roughly chopped
- 15g pecorino, finely grated
- 15g parmesan, finely grated
- pinch of salt
- pinch of black pepper
Plus
- 2 litres water + 1 tbsp salt, for cooking pasta
- extra parmesan, to serve (optional)
STEPS
1 Start by chopping the garlic, chilli and basil. Also grate both cheeses ready.
2 Next, cook the spaghetti al dente according to package instructions. Make sure the pasta water is well salted as you’ll need some for the avocado “sauce” as well.
3 While the pasta is cooking, make the avocado sauce. To do this, first cut the avocado in half lengthwise and remove the stone. Then scoop out the flesh and put into a small bowl. Roughly mash with a fork.
4 Squeeze in the lime juice and add minced garlic and chilli, followed by basil and both cheeses. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
5 Reserve about 100ml of the pasta cooking water and then drain the pasta. Add about 50ml of the water to the avocado mixture and stir.
6 Divide the pasta between two servings bowls and stir in the sauce. Alternatively, place the drained pasta back in the pan (not over heat) and stir in the sauce. Serve the avocado pasta with some grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper!
Notes:
- Pasta water — Cooking pasta in well-salted is always important, but adding enough salt is particularly important with this dish to get the right flavour profile. I think ‘10-100-1000’ is a pretty good golden rule to remember when cooking pasta. This means 10g salt per 100g pasta and 100g pasta per 1000ml water 🙂
- Herbs — You can substitute fresh basil for coriander or flat leaf parsley, or even use a mixture of your choice! All of these herbs works really nicely with this pasta
- Cheese — The avocado pasta is the tastiest with both parmesan and pecorino, but it’s delicious even with just one of these cheeses. If leaving one out, remember to double the amount of the cheese you are using!
- Sauce — When adding the pasta water to the avocado sauce, you can always add a bit more if you prefer slightly thinner consistency. Since avocados vary in size too, 50ml is the rough guide how much to add. Putting slightly less or more won’t affect the flavour
- Meat — I quite often add some bacon or chicken, they both work really well with this pasta
- I wish I could take credit from this recipe, but it’s pretty true to the original. I’ve changed some amounts a bit and also left olive oil (1 tbsp) out as I think the pasta tastes better without it
ALLERGEN & DIET INFO:
(V) Note that this dish is not vegetarian as both parmesan and pecorino usually contain rennet, which is an enzyme found in the stomach lining of goats and calves. There are some vegetarian-friendly versions of these cheeses available at some grocery stores so make sure to check the label!
Main equipment:
Small bowl
Saucepan (3L)
Chopping board + knife
Optional:
Colander, Grater, Kitchen scales
Other recipes you might like…! ⤵︎
I’ll definitely make it soon. I waited long enough for this recipe 😉. I absolutely love it!!!
My sincere apologies! But hey, don’t they say good things come to those who wait… 😉
It was worth a wait 😊
Nice comforting creamy easy recipe – perfect for a Friday night!
I finally made.
Love it, love it, love it!!!