Basil Pesto Pasta with Veggies

Veggie Pasta salad with pesto in a bowl.

Enjoy this easy Basil Pesto Pasta with Veggies in less than 20 minutes! It's a flavorful, fresh, and healthy dish to make again and again!

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American, Italian

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings

Calories 488kcal

Equipment

Large pot
knife
Spatula or cooking spoon
measuring spoons

Ingredients

12 ounces of fusilli pasta
Salt
2 cups packed spinach chopped fresh baby spinach leaves
6 to 8 tablespoons prepared basil pesto or make your own
1 to 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper more or less to taste
1 whole ripe avocado peeled and chopped
cut vegetables of choice like broccoli, peppers, or squash

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Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water (3 quarts of water, a tablespoon of salt) to a boil. Add the dry pasta (12 ounces) after the water is boiling. Stir occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cook pasta until al dente (cooked through but firm to the bite). Cook time will vary depending on your variety of pasta, but it will take approximately 7-12 minutes.
Place your chopped spinach (2 packed cups) in a large bowl. When the pasta is done, take out about a half cup of the pasta cooking water and set it aside for use later. Drain the pasta and place in the bowl with the chopped spinach. Mix together. The heat from the pasta will help wilt the spinach leaves a little, and this is what you want.
Stir in the prepared pesto (6-8 tablespoons) so the pasta is well coated. Next, add a little of the pasta cooking water you set aside to moisten the pasta a bit. You may not need it all, but add it until the pasta is nice and moist. The starch in the water will help the sauce cling to the pasta. Add in any vegetables you like.
Add 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, half a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of black pepper. Mix well.
Gently fold in the chopped avocado (1 whole). Add more salt, vinegar, and or pepper to taste if needed.
This recipe is best completely delicious served slightly warm or at room temperature.

Notes

SALT THE WATER. Make sure you salt the water you cook the pasta in. Salted water creates tastier pasta!

AL DENTE PASTA. Cooking the pasta al dente until it's almost done results in the best texture because the pasta keeps cooking a little once it's away from the heat.

RESERVE PASTA WATER. Definitely reserve some of the pasta cooking water when combining all ingredients later. It contains the starch that will make the pasta nice and creamy and make the sauce stick to each one!

AVOCADO. Add your avocado at the very end so that it doesn't get smooched or start to turn brown.

Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

Nutrition