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Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Avocado pesto zoodles with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes is a super quick, easy, and healthful meal, and comes together in under 30 minutes. This whole30, paleo and vegan dinner recipe is perfect for any night of the week.

This post is sponsored by the California Avocado Commission.

Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and pine nuts. These creamy zucchini noodles are vegan, paleo, healthy, and super easy to make

^^^I know, right? Zoodles never looked so sultry.

It has been ages since we’ve enjoyed a good zoodle on this blog. We visited the topic with my Mediterranean Zucchini Noodle Pasta way back in 2014, followed by Zucchini Noodles with Roasted Tomatoes and Lemon-Garlic Sauce, and haven’t heard from them since. You guys, we were ghosted by the zoodle.

Truthfully, the reason we haven’t zoodled for so long is I went a little hot out of the gates when I first bought my spiralizer, and needed to take a hiatus thereafter. 

The great news is, we’ve rekindled our relationship with vegetable noodles, and we’re ready to dive back in full-force with this avocado pesto zoodle dish.

It’s so great, I’m just going to have to bulletpoint out the features.

These zoodles are:

  • Vegan and paleo
  • Dairy-free, yet creamy
  • Easy to throw together on any weeknight
  • Require just 30 minutes to prepare
  • …and a few basic ingredients to make

Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Pine Nuts - this simple and easy dish only takes 30 minutes to make and is vegan, paleo, and healthy

Made with California avocados in place of oil, the pesto sauce comes out ultra luscious, creamy, and flavorful. If you’ve never made pesto using avocados, I recommend it!

It’s a great oil-free approach and yields such a silky-smooth texture for all those times you’re craving something decadent but don’t want to overload yourself with overly rich food.

How to Make Avocado Pesto Zoodles:

Simply spiralize your zucchini squash, whip up the avocado pesto, and toss everything together in a big skillet.

When all’s said and done, this is only about a 30 minute time commitment, which makes it ideal for those evenings you just want food fast and don’t have a plethora of time to spare.

This creamy zucchini noodle dish is one of those unicorn recipes in the sense that it is everything you could possibly want and more in a silly simple weeknight meal. It satisfies your palate and belly while being quick, nutritious, and inexpensive.

Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and Pine Nuts - this gluten-free, vegan, paleo dinner recipe only requires about 30 minutes to make.

With the produce-heavy lifestyle comes the risk for waste during those times you don’t get to your crisper fast enough. 

We’ve all seen the memes on avocados and how they can be rock solid one moment, then overripe the next, but the good news is there are plenty of options for using up ripe avocados, this dish being one of them.

Blending overripe avocados to smithereens with other ingredients helps mask any flavor and texture issues, ensuring your avocados get put to good use even when they aren’t in any condition to be eaten sliced or chopped.

The same concept can be applied to spinach and zucchini.

This is an awesome way of using up a great deal of less-than-crispy spinach or squash (perfect for those of you with a CSA box or grow a vegetable garden) in one fell swoop.

I try to maintain a low-waste household, using up pantry and produce items before they go bad as my way of being mindful and conscious.

Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and Pine Nuts. A healthy vegan and paleo dinner recipe that only takes 30 minutes to make

In case you’d like to make this recipe your own, here are some ideas for customization:

Recipe Adaptations:

  • Looking for some protein? For vegan protein, add chickpeas. If you’re a carnivore, grilled or baked chicken and salmon pair nicely with this meal.
  • If you aren’t dairy-free, serve the zoodles with grated parmesan, gouda, or gruyere.
  • Sprinkle the zoodles with nutritional yeast (or add 1 to 2 tablespoons to the pesto sauce) for some added cheesy flavor.
  • Replace sun-dried tomatoes with fresh cherry tomatoes.
  • Use yellow squash or any of your favorite summer squash in place of zucchini.

And now, we zoodle!

My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!

If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!

Avocado Pesto Zoodles with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and pine nuts. These creamy zucchini noodles are vegan, paleo, healthy, and super easy to make

Avocado Pesto Zoodles

Avocado pesto zoodles with sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts - an easy, healthy vegan dinner recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
3 to 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil, or olive oil
  • 4 medium zucchini squash, spiralized
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and rinsed
  • 3 cups loosely packed baby spinach
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Avocado Pesto:

  • 1 large ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast, optional
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup fresh basil, loosely packed
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

Instructions

Prepare the Avocado Pesto

  • Add the ingredients for the pesto to a food processor and process until creamy. Taste for flavor and add more lemon juice, garlic, and/or sea salt to taste

Make the Zoodles

  • Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spirallized zucchini noodles and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes. Add the spinach, cover the skillet, and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove the cover and continue cooking until zucchini noodles reach desired doneness (I like mine al dente).
  • Add the avocado pesto to the skillet with the zoodles and stir well to combine. Serve zoodles with lemon wedges and toasted pine nuts.

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 3 - Calories: 378kcal - Carbohydrates: 18g - Protein: 10g - Fat: 32g - Fiber: 6g - Sugar: 8g
Course: Main Dishes
Cuisine: American
Keyword: avocado pesto, gluten free, low-carb, paleo, pesto zoodles, vegan, zoodles, zucchini noodles
Servings: 3 to 4 people
Calories: 378kcal
Author: Julia
Avocado Pesto Zoodles with sun-dried tomatoes and spinach - a quick and easy vegan plant-based meal

Recipe Rating




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Bernadette

Monday 6th of December 2021

Avocado pesto … OMG!!! Yum! Loved it!

Julia

Tuesday 7th of December 2021

Thanks, Bernadette! Hope you enjoy! xoxo

Susan

Sunday 1st of August 2021

This recipe sounds great. We have tons of amaranth growing in our yard, since it has been actually raining during our rainy season, and amaranth leaves are a great [free] substitute for spinach. We are not huge fans of basil pesto, but I'm thinking that making it with a combination of marjoram and basil would be quite nice. Or maybe just cilantro. I find it very difficult to get good fresh basil here in the desert. I think I'll go for cilantro, and do almonds or pistachios for the nuts. Thank you for inspiring me!

Julia

Sunday 1st of August 2021

Sounds amazing! I hope you love it with the cilantro! Enjoy! xoxo

Jennifer

Tuesday 15th of June 2021

Delicious!! I added some sautéed soy curls and a few fresh cherry tomatoes; otherwise followed the recipe as written, and it was fantastic! Thank you for this!!

Julia

Wednesday 16th of June 2021

Oooh, sounds great! My pleasure, Jennifer! xoxo

Chelsea Goldkamp

Monday 1st of March 2021

Oh my goodness! Just made this mouth watering gem! Saw this about 2 min before lunch and decided I had to have it. Since it was a last min thing had to use what I had on hand, cashews instead of pine nuts, olive oil instead of fresh lemon juice. Realized I forgot the fresh garlic as the spinach & zoodles were done, so I sprinkled some garlic powder on top. I blame pregnancy brain! HAHAHA! And oh my goodness THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST PESTO ZOODLE RECIPE EVER! I even had the kids eat it with me, & can't wait to make it for hubby, cuz I know he will LOVE it. THANK YOU! I have not enjoyed too many meals during my first trimester and this was extremely enjoyable. Thank you Thank you Thank you. Love the avocado in the pesto! Pure genius!

Julia

Monday 1st of March 2021

I'm so happy you like it, Chelsea! Thanks so much for the sweet note! xoxo

Projeto Você Feliz

Tuesday 13th of October 2020

Wow that looks so yummy!

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