Avocado Pasta Salad

5 from 41 votes

This Avocado Pasta Salad recipe is a healthy summer salad that's perfect for picnics and potlucks. It has a rich creamy avocado sauce with tomatoes and corn

Course Salads

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 8

Total Time 23

Servings servings

Calories 428kcal

Author Yumna Jawad

Equipment

Ingredients

12 ounces rotini pasta or other short cut pasta
1 avocado peeled, stone and chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
1 cup frozen corn thawed
Fresh basil for serving

Dressing

2 avocados peeled and cored
1 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup almond milk
Juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions but reduce cooking time by 2 minutes so pasta is al dente; drain well. You can thaw the frozen corn in the pasta cooking water in the last 3-4 minutes of cooking time.
To make the avocado dressing, combine the avocados, spinach, almond milk, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic to a blender or food processor. Season with salt and pepper. With the motor running, add olive oil slowly until dressing is emulsified, smooth and creamy.
In a large bowl, toss the pasta with the dressing, tomatoes, corn and avocados. Garnish with fresh basil and serve immediately.

Video

Notes

Storage: Store any leftovers in an airtight container. They will last about 2 days in the fridge. However due to the oxidation of avocados, I would recommend consuming within 24 hours of making the pasta salad.

Substitutes: For best results, follow the recipe as is. However here are some common substitutes that would work well in this recipe.

Instead of almond milk, you can use any other plant-based milk or regular milk or leave out the milk all together.
Instead of spinach, you can use kale, arugula, parsley, cilantro or basil. You can also omit the greens if you'd like.
To make this gluten-free, use any type of gluten-free pasta you'd like and cook it al dente.

Equipment: I use the Kitchen Aid 7-Cup Food processor to make the creamy avocado sauce. It has a high and low pulse speed so you can make the sauce pretty smooth and silky.

Nutrition