Is there anything better in this world than Pesto? Actually, yes! Avocado Pesto! Pesto is traditionally made out of basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese but can easily be customized by switching out different types of herbs, nuts, fat, etc. One late night, while I was needing a quick dinner, I decided to try making a pesto sauce by using an avocado and let me tell you… it is yummy!

The other day after a long day, at 7:00 at night I totally looked in my fridge and then my freezer looking for something to make for dinner. The kids were hungry after just getting back from soccer practice and I was exhausted from the regular schedule of well…life… and the massive to-do lists. Even more to my horror, there were no freezer meals in there! I must have used them all up. DANG IT!! And the fridge was mostly bare too!

So if that’s ever happened to you, you know you gotta start looking around and getting all creative… making strange casseroles and pastas. So that’s what I did.

I had a few avocados that were ripe that I didn’t want to go to waste. Also some fresh basil and cilantro.  And a box of pasta. So, I thought to myself, why not attempt to try and make an avocado pesto sauce recipe? It might be weird, but I love all those items, so… how bad could it be?

So while those noodles boiled I grabbed the avocado, basil, cilantro and added them to my blender.  I didn’t have any pine nuts on hand, but I had almonds so I added some of those. Then some olive oil, parmesan cheese and lastly some lemon so the avocado wouldn’t brown. And blending, then messing with the seasonings..I tasted it… and it was really really good!!  This avocado pesto still tasted quite a lot like regular pesto, but was creamier and thicker. And thank goodness too because I was very hungry by then.

Make Ahead & Freeze this Avocado Pesto

This recipe does make quite a bit of Avocado Pesto, so make sure to freeze the leftover pesto in ice cube trays.

Usually avocado can be a tricky item to freeze as it can turn brown quickly from the contact with the air. So I typically use my vacuum sealer when freezing avocados. But this recipe had just enough lemon juice in it to help it to thaw nicely as you can see in my photo. I love that I can just boil some pasta on busy nights, then toss them with a few of these avocado pesto cubes. Super fast dinners are my fav.

We all gobbled up this pasta like we were starving lunatics, everyone loved it and I even got a compliment from one of my kids! She said, “Mom – can you make this one more often, it’s soooo good!”

Avocado Pesto

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Pasta

Keyword: avocado pesto

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Avocado pesto you can make ahead & freeze!  Chock full of creamy avocado, basil, cilantro and almonds, AND it's vegetarian/gluten-free.

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Ingredients

• Makes 2 cups
• 1 lg. Avocado
• 3 tbsp. 45 mL lemon juice
• 1 c. 250 mL fresh basil leaves, large stems removed
• 1/2 c. 125 mL fresh cilantro leaves and soft stems
• 1/4 c. 60 mL almonds
• 2 tsp. 10 mL garlic, minced (about 4 cloves)
• 1/4 c. 60 mL parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1/2 tsp. 2 mL salt
• 2 tbsp. 30 mL water
• 1 tsp. 5 mL olive oil

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients into a high-speed blender, or a food processor. Blend until well pureed and creamy, about 5 minutes.

FREEZE

1. Place pesto in freezer trays. Freezer until solid, at least 4 hours. Transfer to a freezer bag. Freeze.

THAW

1. Plastic desired amount of pesto cubes in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to thaw in fridge 8 hours. whisk and serve.

I can see me using this avocado pesto as a dip, atop French fries, and even atop a salad too!

Perhaps there is nothing I wouldn’t put this delicious, nutty, robust pesto on.

NOTHING!

…okay, maybe not a cake… but still….