Peas and Avocado pesto- This creamy and healthy pesto recipe is a variation of the classic pesto .A super simple ,easy and healthy pesto dip made using creamy avocados with peas is super versatile and delicious. You can easily make this avocado pesto recipe vegan by substituting just one ingredient.
Pesto is a sauce, originally from Italy, traditionally consisting of crushed garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, Parmigiano-Reggiano(Parmesan cheese) and pecorino sardo (cheese made from sheep’s milk), all blended with olive oil.
As much as I love the classic pesto , today I wanted a to make sauce with the ingredients in hand, and realised pesto is a great way to sneak in veggies in your food in the form of sauce, so tried this new pesto recipe – this creamy Peas and Avocado pesto recipe .
As I said, traditional pesto tastes awesome, but there are times you cannot make the classic recipes . At those times adaptation and experimenting really is a great way to personalise your classics and add lots of fun and flavour to your cooking!
I love having fun with different ingredients.
Ingredients required to make Creamy pesto with peas and avocados
This peas and avocado pesto recipe is made using simple ingredients readily available in your pantry.
The main ingredients for this healthy pesto being the protein rich green peas and creamy avocados along with onions, roasted garlic, cheese and seasoning.
Pine nuts- You can use as is or you can dry roast the pine nuts as well before adding to the pesto recipe.If for some reason you cannot use pine nuts for this pesto recipe, you can replace it with cashew nuts , or completely omit any nuts.
This recipe can be made nut free if you are allergic to nuts .
Fresh coriander and lemon juice – Addition of these adds such a fresh flavor to this green creamy peas and avocado pesto recipe.
This peas and avocado recipe isn’t vegan as this requires cheese.
However you can easily make it vegan by replacing the ingredients . To make this recipe vegan , replace parmesan with nutritional yeast.
Steps to make the peas and avocado pesto recipe
Dry roast a few garlic cloves (just separate the cloves, with the skin on) in a pan. Keep aside.
In the same pan heat a little olive oil, and add a small chopped onion. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, and add peas .
Add the peas. You can use fresh peas or frozen peas.
I used frozen peas for this recipe. But in India, where fresh peas are in abundance in winters, you can use fresh peas.
Cover with lid and let the peas cook for 10-15 minutes , so that they become tender.Let it cool.
If you are using fresh peas, you might have to cook it for a little more time .
Also if using fresh peas, you can consider boiling these first to make these tender, and then sautéing with onions.
Blending the peas and avocado pesto dip
Add the sautéed peas and onions, dry roasted garlic cloves, avocado, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, few fresh coriander leaves, salt, pepper cloves, evoo and juice of half a lemon to your blender.
Blend to form a smooth paste.Add a little water, to get the required consistency in the sauce.
Once smooth take out in a jar.
Drizzle it with a little EVOO, and your creamy delicious peas and avocado pesto is ready.
Serving Avocado and peas pesto dip
This recipe makes the most delicious avocado pesto toast.Just slather liberally on any toast maybe a sourdough or plain brown bread. Top it with your favourite chickpeas, or mushrooms or roasted tomatoes.
Also this avocado pesto is a perfect dip for your healthy green salads.
I regularly use this to make my kids favourite avocados and peas pesto pasta.
Avocado and peas pasta is a toddler friendly recipe and perfect and very healthy if you are looking for baby led weaning (BLW) recipes too.
If you try this recipe, I will be happy to know! Leave a comment ,your suggestions, questions and feedback, in the comments section below.I will be happy to revert.
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Peas and avocado pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup peas fresh or frozen
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 small onion
- 7-8 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup pinenuts you can replace these with cashews or blanched almonds
- few sprigs fresh coriander leaves
- 1/4 cup parmesan to make this vegan use nutritional yeast
- 4-5 whole pepper cloves
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-3 tbsp E V olive oil
- water
- 1/2 tsp olive oil for cookingg
- Juice of half a lemon
Instructions
- Dry roast the garlic cloves (with the skin on).Keep aside.
- In a pan, heat a little olive oil. Add chopped onions and sauté for 1-2 min.
- Add peas, mix, and cover for 10-15 min till they are tender and cooked.Fresh peas might take longer to cook.Once cooked, let it cool.
- In a blender add all the ingredients- peas and onions, roasted garlic, avocado,pinenuts,fresh coriander leaves, parmesan,pepper cloves, salt, 1 tsp EVOO,Juice of lemon, and a little water.
- Blitz until it forms a smooth paste.Your peas and avocado pesto is ready.
- Drizzle the leftover EVOO on top, and serve it!
Notes
- To make this vegan- use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan.
- If you do not have pine nuts available, use soaked cashews or blanched almonds instead, but the taste will vary. I have tried all options and all taste good in their own way!
- Adding roasted garlic , really enhances the garlic flavour, hence I used roasted garlic. You can use raw garlic as is.
- If you want you can dry roast the pine nuts as well, before adding to the blender. That enhances the nutty flavour.
This was super yummy though I omitted the coriander and pine nuts as I’m not really a fan, but instead of the pine nuts I added hemp seeds as it has that subtle nutty flavour, blitz it up, nice and creamy. It’ll go down well tonight’s dinner. ????