Arugula Pesto Pasta Meal Prep
Pasta of your choice is dressed with a quick homemade arugula pesto and tossed with zucchini, green peas, and broccoli. This vegan pasta dish tastes great chilled or warmed up!
Vegan Arugula Pesto Pasta Meal Prep Ingredients:
• 8 oz pasta of choice
• 2 teaspoons avocado oil, or oil of choice
• 2 cups sliced zucchini, halves or quarters
• 2 cups frozen green peas
• 4 cups broccoli florets, steamed or roasted
• 8 Tablespoons arugula pesto, or more to taste
Arugula Pesto (makes about 1 cup)
• 1 cup lightly toasted walnuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cups baby arugula
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Arugula Pesto Pasta Meal Prep
Pasta of your choice is dressed with a quick homemade arugula pesto and tossed with zucchini, green peas, and broccoli. This vegan pasta dish tastes great chilled or warmed up!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 4 meals
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta gluten free, if needed
- 2 tsp avocado oil
- 2 cups sliced zucchini
- 2 cups frozen peas
- 4 cups broccoli florets steamed or roasted
- 8 tbs arugula pesto or more, if desired
Arugula Pesto (makes about 1 cup)
- 1 cup lightly toasted walnuts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp fresh squeeze lemon juice
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
Pasta
- Cook pasta al dente according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and reserve ½ cup of pasta cooking water.
- While pasta is cooking, heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is warm, add sliced zucchinis and cook for 3-5 minutes until tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Cook frozen peas according to package instructions.
Arugula Pestp
- Place walnuts, garlic, arugula, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds until walnuts are roughly chopped. With the food processor running, slowly pour in olive oil. Continue to process until mixture is well combined. Taste for seasoning and adjust with additional salt, pepper, or nutritional yeast to your preference.
- In a large bowl, combine pasta, zucchini, green peas, broccoli, and arugula pesto. Add 2 tablespoons of reserved pasta water to moisture mixture. Add additional pasta water as desired, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add additional arugula pesto as desired. Serve pasta chill, at room temperature, or warmed up.
Notes
Nutrition for 1 out of 4 meals:
28g Protein | 62g Carbs | 34g Fat | 14.5g Fiber | 635 Calories
Seems easy enough to make and is an easy way to make my Italian husband happy :). Thank you so much for sharing.
This was so delicious! Becoming a regular staple. Damn good pasta.
That’s so great to hear, Miriam! Thank you for sharing your feedback with us!
Will the recipe work without walnuts?
Hey Reyna – we haven’t tried leaving them out but if you try leaving them out and don’t care for it, you could always add them back in. Also, other common swaps in pesto include pine nuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios or almonds.
Where does the 2 tsp of avocado oil come in?
Where does the avocado oil come in?
The avocado oil is used in step 2 of the recipe.