Description
This green goddess pasta salad blends together summer greens, herbs and creamy avocado and tosses it together with your favorite pasta. An easy and flavorful weeknight dinner ready in 20 minutes.
Ingredients
Salad Base
- 1 lb pasta (I used fusilli pasta, but use what you like including gluten-free options)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, optional
- 1, 15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups cabbage, diced or shredded
- 3 Persian cucumbers, sliced
- 1 jalapeno, diced (optional)
Goddess Dressing
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1 cup spinach
- 2 tbsp fresh dill or 1 tsp dry dill
- 3 green onions, white part roughly chopped and green portion thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 large avocado
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp water
- Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Add in pasta and cook it according to the package until it’s al dente. Drain the pasta and add back to the pot with a handful of ice cubes and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and mix to combine and cool the pasta.
- Make the dressing by combining the basil, spinach, dill, the white portion of the green onion, nutritional yeast, garlic, avocado, vinegar, lemon juice and 1/4 tsp salt. Blend until smooth and then set aside.
- To the cooled pasta add the chickpeas, cabbage, cucumber and the sliced green parts of the green onion. Pour in the dressing and toss to combine. Taste and add more salt if desired then serve.
Notes
Salt your pasta water. This impacts the flavor of your pasta, which impacts the flavor of the whole dish. Make sure to generously salt your water.
Do not use overripe avocado. Use an avocado that just has a slight give to it. This will keep your pasta greener for longer.
Change up the herbs. You can always experiment with different combinations of herbs based on your preference. Using fresh and in season herbs will lead to the best tasting sauce.
For more protein, use a protein-rich pasta. Pasta naturally has 8 grams of protein per serving, but you can increase the protein significantly by using a bean based pasta like lentil pasta instead.