Creamy Avocado Basil Pesto

If you’ve ever been to Ottawa in Canada, you know that Shawarma restaurants are one of the most popular food joints.  They’re usually open really late and serve the best food ever! They have chicken or beef shawarma, kebabs, falafel, and my ultimate favourite,  garlic sauce.  I could make my own garlic sauce at home except you need to use canola oil to make it.  I don’t eat vegetable, sunflower, canola, peanut oils and so I wanted to make a version that wouldn’t require so much oil, but would still taste like a delicious garlic sauce.  I experimented with healthier ingredients and found that a creamy avocado and basil pesto tasted almost like the real thing and is paleo friendly!  The great thing about this pesto is that you can also use it with zoodles and different kinds of pasta, but I used it as a spread for my lettuce wrap sandwiches.  I grilled some chicken and topped it with this pesto, wrapped it in a swiss chard leave and oh my goodness…it was fantastic! The first bite really reminded me of Shawarma back in Ottawa so this recipe was definitely a huge success! I uploaded a recipe for my shawarma here!

I found that the 2 garlic cloves, lemon juice and dijon mustard were a must because without them the extra virgin olive oil overpowered the entire pesto. I think this pesto can serve 4 when used as a spread for sandwiches, but for pasta, there’s only about 2 servings.  The entire recipe has 833 calories and 8.79g net carbs! 

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Creamy Avocado Basil Pesto

A delicious creamy garlic sauce perfect for pasta or spreads!

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 208 kcal

Author Mira

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 5 g basil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Peel and mince the garlic clove. Cut the avocado in half and scoop out of its shell.
2. Place all of the ingredients, except the olive oil, in the food processor and pulse for 30 seconds. Slowly add the extra virgin olive oilin a slow stream. This will emulsify the pesto and make it more creamy and thick.
3. Serve on sandwiches as a spread or with pasta (zoodles).

Recipe Notes

Get the equipment used here:
KitchenAid KFP0711CU 7 Cup Food Processor, Contour Silver

Nutrition Facts

Creamy Avocado Basil Pesto

Amount Per Serving (4 servings)

Calories 208 Calories from Fat 190

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 21.13g 33%

Saturated Fat 2.9g 15%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 54mg 2%

Total Carbohydrates 5.67g 2%

Dietary Fiber 3.5g 14%

Sugars 0.94g

Protein 1.15g 2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.