Creamy Avocado Pasta with Garlic Shrimp made with just 10 ingredients! Savory, simple and healthy - perfect for a satisfying weeknight meal.
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Simple, fresh and fancy? Yes please!
Ok, let's take a quick minute and appreciate the amazing wonderful-ness that is the avocado. Those little guys are chocked-full of all the good stuff.. potassium, fatty acids, fiber, you get the idea. In English.. they are really really good for you. Bottom line.. you need them in your life.
Annnnd.... I'm gonna help get you started.
You guys, I made a yummy, delicious, creamy, no-cooking-required-type sauce Out. Of. Avocados. And It's. So. Easy. 6 ingredients (which are most likely hanging out in your pantry right this very second), 5-minutes prep and my food processor. Seriously, dump everything in, press a button.. delicious creamy avocado sauce DONE.
Toss it with a some whole wheat noodles (or zucchini noodles if you prefer) and top it with some wild-caught shrimp that has been cooked up in a skillet loaded with olive oil and TONS of fresh garlic and you have got yourself a dinner that's fancy enough to give the illusion that you spent all day cooking in the kitchen. Is there anything better?
Time Saving Tips and Tricks:
Prep: This recipe is so simple that there really isn't much of a reason to prep ahead!
Make Ahead: This recipe tastes great as leftovers, but it gets a little ugly. The avocado does that funky brown color thing. Bottom line.. tastes great, don't plan to make it ahead if serving to company.
Freezer: Not this time. Avocados cause a little trouble in the area of make-ahead and freezer friendly!
Creamy Avocado Pasta with Garlic Shrimp
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Weeknight Meal
Ingredients
- 12 oz. whole wheat pasta (gluten-free if neeeded)
- 2 avocados
- ½ cup herbs/leafy greens (I used ½ spinach and ½ parsley)
- 6 garlic cloves, divided
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- salt/pepper
- ⅓ - ½ cup olive oil + 1 more for cooking shrimp
- 1 TBS butter (optional - can be replaced with extra olive oil)
- 16 oz. raw shrimp
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
Instructions
- PASTA: Prepare pasta according to recipe directions.
- CREAMY AVOCADO SAUCE: To the base of a food processor, add avocados, herbs/leafy greens, 3 garlic cloves, lemon juice, parmesan cheese and salt/pepper to taste. Pulse 8-10 times to chop up garlic and herbs. Slowly stream in ⅓ - ½ cup of olive oil (depending on thickness of sauce desired).
- GARLIC SHRIMP: Mince remaining 3 garlic cloves. Add 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS olive oil to skillet with garlic over medium heat. Stir continuously until butter melts. Add shrimp. Cook shrimp 1-2 minutes per side or until fully pink. Remove from heat. Do not over cook.
- ASSEMBLY: Toss the pasta with the creamy avocado sauce. I like to add a little pasta, little sauce, little pasta, etc. This helps make sure that the pasta to sauce ratio is correct. You may have extra sauce or extra pasta depending on the size of your avocados. Top with shrimp and cherry tomatoes. Garnish with additional herbs if desired.
Notes
- For a low carb option, serve this recipe with zucchini noodles instead of whole wheat pasta!
Helpful Hints:
- Special Equipment: You need a food processor to make the sauce. You may be able to get a blender to do the job but I haven't tried. If you do.. report back in the comments section!
- You don't have to stick to oregano and spinach for your herbs/leafy greens. Cilantro, basil, parsley.. use what you have!
- Shrimp that has been peeled and deveined costs more. It only takes a few minutes to do this yourself! I purchase wild-caught frozen shrimp. To thaw, I pull it out of the freezer about 10 minutes before I need to cook it, place it in a colander and run room temperature water over it. Don't use hot water, it will cook the shrimp!
- I sliced fresh, uncooked cherry tomatoes and tossed them onto the pasta. I suspect that roasting them with olive oil and salt and pepper would take this dish to a whole new level.
Let's Connect:
- Prep-Ahead recipes are my all time favorite! Join the BRAND NEW Simply Sissom Community Private FB Group and let’s meal prep together! Each week I share an exclusive recipe in the group via FB Live that is REALLY simple and make-ahead friendly. Join us!
- You can also find Simply Sissom on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. Check it out and if you like what you see.. follow!
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Lewis Johnson says
I love having pasta with avocado sauce.