Green Goddess Pasta

Pasta is a go-to meal in our house. I love going off script on pasta recipes because it is so simple to fit different dietary needs. As much as I love keeping Marina sauce (this one is my favorite) on hand, my favorite pasta sauce is pesto.

Of course, Pesto is traditionally made with basil and pine nuts, but I love sneaking greens in my pesto. I often make pesto with spinach, arugula, or kale; therefore, the green goddess pasta! This recipe is adaptable to various dietary requirements. The pesto is vegan and the entire recipe is gluten free. My family loves cheese but I only use it as a garnish so it can be omitted for my vegan followers.

Ingredients

Pesto

8 C of Greens (any combination of spinach, arugula, or kale)

1 medium avocado

3 Tbs of Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ Cup Walnuts

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/2 C of basil leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 Tsp of Grated Ginger (optional)

Pasta and Add-Ins

2 Tbs of Nutritional Yeast

3 C of Cooked Gluten Free Pasta

For Garnish

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Red Chili flakes

Methods

1. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the box and set aside.

2. Add the pesto ingredients to a food processor and blend. Do not blend into a smooth paste, as the sauce should have some texture. If you are worried that you may end up with large bits of walnuts or garlic, start with those ingredients and pulse them a few times in the food processor.

3. Pour the sauce into a pan and add pasta and nutritional yeast. I recommend doing this in case you have more pasta than sauce. Make sure everything is well combined. Keep the pan at low heat. You do not need to cook the sauce.

4. Optionally, garnish with red chili flakes and some Parmesan cheese. You can use more nutritional yeast as a garnish to keep this recipe vegan.

This meals comes together in 15 minutes which makes it a perfect weeknight meal. if you recreate this recipes, make sure to share it on Instagram.

Notes on using ginger:

I love the addition of ginger but feel free to skip it if you want to keep a more authentic pesto flavor. If you choose to add ginger, add a little oil to the pan at medium low heat in step 3. Add the ginger, let it sizzle, and then tun the heat down to simmer and follow the remaining steps. You can see this on my Instagram reels.