Healthy Spaghetti

Gorgeous healthy spaghetti packed with peas and a bold pesto made with avocado, fresh green leaves and bright lemon. An explosion of flavor and nutritients ready in 20 minutes.

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Total Time20

Course: pasta

Cuisine: Italian, vegan

Keyword: Healthy spaghetti

Servings:

Calories: 463kcal

Author: Katia

Ingredients

Spaghetti

8 oz (220 grams) spaghetti (or your fav pasta shapes)
2 cups (250 grams) frozen or fresh peas

Healthy pesto

2 packed cups (200 grams) raw or cooked Kale, preferably the Tuscan/lacinato variety, thick stem removed
2 cups (100 grams) Baby spinach, washed
½ large avocado, diced
¼ cup cashews, plus more to serve if you wish
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt, or according to taste
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Spaghetti

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water according to the package directions or until al dente.
In the last 3 minutes of the pasta cooking time add the peas (if using frozen peas the water temp quickly drops, but it will boil again straight after). When the peas are tender and bright green and the pasta al dente, reserve ½ cup of the pasta water, turn the heat off, drain and return pasta and peas to the pot.

Green pesto sauce

While the pasta is cooking, place all the pesto ingredients except olive oil in a food processor. If using cooked kale, see notes in the recipe card.
Blitz until the ingredients are finely chopped. Then, slowly pour the olive oil in through the feeder tube possibly with the motor running. Blitz until smooth or to desired consistency adding a touch of extra oil or water if needed.
Taste and add more lemon juice, or salt, to adjust the overall flavor to your liking.
Once the pasta is done and in the pot along with the peas, add the pesto, a touch of the reserved pasta water and toss until well combined and coated.
Serve immediately with a pinch of chili flakes and chopped toasted cashews if you like.

Notes

Kale: you can use lacinato kale, also knows as Tuscan or black kale or cavolo nero (it's my favorite variety), but curly kale works just fine as well. If you prefer to use cooked kale (as I did for this recipe), remove the hard stems from the leaves, wash them under running water, and bring a pan full of salted water to a boil. Finally, add the leaves to the pot, simmer for 3-5 minutes and drain.

Healthy spaghetti leftovers: you can store spaghetti leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up 2 days. Reheat it in the microwave or on the stove adding a touch of water if needed. The color will eventually get dull, but the flavor will be still nice.

Nutrition facts: the nutrition values are for one serving and they are based on an online nutrition calculator. It’s an estimate only and it should not be considered as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. Please see my disclosure policies.

Nutrition