It's Time To Start Using Avocados For A Creamy Pasta Sauce

The perfectly ripe avocado in your fruit bowl is on the cusp of turning but you're not in the mood for avocado toast or guacamole. Never fear! You can scoop out that gorgeously rich flesh before it discolors to make an unforgettably creamy pasta sauce free from cream or butter.

A ripe avocado makes the perfect substitute for cream in classic Italian pastas that boast a velvety texture, such as Pasta alla Papalina, because of its buttery consistency. This luscious balance comes courtesy of the fruit's naturally high content of unsaturated fats. Avocado is also a nutrient-dense food full of soluble fiber that boosts satiety. Moreover, its vibrant flesh creates an elegant-looking pasta sauce that has an inviting pale green color and filling texture.

The best part about using avocados to make a creamy sauce is that no cooking is involved. Simply blend your ripe avocado with your choice of punchy ingredients, such as a clove of garlic, fresh lemon zest, herbs, and seasonings, with a dash of starchy pasta water to create a pretty pastel-colored dressing to toss through your hot noodles. The heat from the freshly cooked pasta will warm the sauce, lending it an appetizing sheen. Once you've mastered this technique, you can exercise your culinary muscles and freestyle by adding in cooked veggies, chili flakes, or a drizzle of infused olive oil. For an extra savory finish, consider incorporating Parmesan and toasted pine nuts in your sauce to mimic the flavors of a traditional pesto.

Saving some of your pasta cooking water is essential when making a sauce with fresh avocados because it contains starch released by the noodles. This clever substance thickens and binds the flavors in a sauce, lending it an almost glossy appearance and rounded taste. When combined with the creaminess of avocado, the starchy pasta water lightly loosens a claggy sauce, which helps it cling better to spaghetti. In this recipe for creamless fettuccine alfredo with California avocados, the reserved water is added at the very end to slacken the zingy sauce to the perfect consistency. The seasoned water also boosts the saltiness of the sauce, lending it a richer taste.

If you want to make your avocado pasta sauce even creamier, try adding a dash of your favorite non-dairy milk, such as almond or oat milk, to the blender when whizzing it up. You could even scatter in some nutritional yeast to lend your sauce a cheesy-flavor without the dairy. However, the best route to an ultra creamy-consistency is to use a perfectly ripe avocados. To quickly ripen a hard avocado, place it in a bag of flour for a couple of days. Alternatively, wrap your avocado in newspaper to help it ripen faster.