Just wanted to let you know that this spring-time bowl of food love is sponsored by my friends at Udi’s Gluten Free!
This creamy, gluten free avocado pesto healthy pasta salad uses zucchini noodles instead of pasta and has crunchy croutons! It’s a simple, low carb, easy spring side dish that’s perfect for get togethers!
Creamy! Fresh! Spring-time vibes with tender-crisp swirls of zucchini noodles.
WITH MEGA crunch-a-rific cubes of crispy, golden brown BREAD.
This is the kind of healthy pasta salad that your food loving self is down with.
Mow down, that is.
SPOILER ALERT. It’s the middle of M-A-R-C-H already and Mr. Google is telling me that next Monday is the first day of SPRING. We are THIIIISCLOSE to smelling flowers, seeing sunshine, rainbows and all the other happy things of the universe that happen in spring.
Liiiike ribbons of crispy zucchini noodles that are ENVELOPED in the richest and velvety-smoooothest hug of heart-healthy avocado, are packing a 1-2 PUNCH of garlicky-basil goodness A-N-D creamy, soft hard boiled eggs for some extra PROTEIN.
Think of it like a salad riff on the zucchini noodles with pesto, which is where I learned that this zoodle + pesto + egg combo is the BOMB.
With bread. In a salad. Crispy, crunchy, baked-to-golden-brown love bites of carbs that are going to make you re-think your previous thoughts that zucchini noodles are not FILLING.
Aforementioned bites of carb bliss are also packing some mega-super-food nutrition in the form of chia seeds from Udi’s Gluten Free Millet Chia Bread.
[clickToTweet tweet=”This this #Glutenfree Avocado Pesto Zucchini Noodle Pasta Salad for #Easter! @Udisglutenfree” quote=”This this #Glutenfree Avocado Pesto Zucchini Noodle Pasta Salad for #Easter! @Udisglutenfree” theme=”style2″]You remember the ridiculous amounts of superfoods that we packed in the Superfood Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad Sandwich of 2016. This is like THAT…but, not a sandwich.
The soft, pillowy-sensation that happens in your mouth when you munch on Udi’s bread is PERFECTION for a sandwich. BUUUUUUT not so perfection when our SALAD GOALS = croutons, you know?
Just like the Cauliflower Alfredo Lox Bagel Breakfast Bowls, toss ‘em in oil and then bake them until you reach the golden-brown-homemade-crouton MECCA.
SRSLY. You’ll never buy them again once you realize how EZ-PZ making croutons all on your very own is.
Look at you. CHAMPIONING THE KITCHEN.
Can we just sit back and bask in the healthy, delicious glow that is also known as avocado pesto for a sec? Did you even know you could use avocados to make pesto? This was new to me until some sweet potato salad with avocado pesto entered my life, and it has been on rep-EAT for every single day in my life here on this planet we call Earth.
SPOILER ALERT, the sequel: it’s going to be in yours T-O-O.
It’s mega creamy-and-crave able, totally addictive, tastes good on ANYTHING and it’s like negative 2 ingredients.
Which is “Taylor speak” for 4. AKA: ALMOST NONE. AKA: you can probably make it RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND if you’re one of those people who always has avocados on hand.
Like me. #AvocadoLife. <— I vote we make this a popular hashtag. You know, now that we even have an emoji.
Other fun things about healthy pasta salads that are brimming with nutrition, crispy carbs and mega vegetable <3 <3: they are BEGGING (hi! Pick me!) to be brought to your Easter brunch/potluck/dinner/however you celebrate.
I mean, hard boiled eggs. If you’re one of those people who are still trying to figure out adulting, and still decorates Easter eggs (I am!) but also happens to be REALLY BAD at decorating said Easter Eggs, you can just use the not-approved-to-be-seen fails of previously mentioned decorating attempts in pasta salad.
Eating ALL the evidence of your not-so-creative-soul and – PSYCH – everyone is going to still think you’re the MVP of the Easter shindig when zucchini noodle pasta salad love joins the scene.
Delicious. Nutritious…and no one is even gonna be suspicious.
Killin’ it.
Ingredients
For the salad
- 3 Eggs
- 4 Large zucchinis, spiralized with blade B
- Salt
- 1/2 A small red onion, Spiralized with blade B
- 1/4 Cup Fresh basil, thinly sliced
For the croutons:
- 4 Slices Udi's Gluten Free Millet Chia Bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 4 tsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
For the pesto:
- 1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp Avocado, mashed (130g or about 1 large avocado)
- 2 tsp Fresh garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Pinch of pepper
- 1 Cup Fresh basil, loosely packed (not chopped)
- 2 Tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Place the eggs in large pot and cover with 1 inch of water, bring them to a rolling boil. Once boiling, turn off the heat (leave the pan on the burner!) and cover with a lid. Let sit for 11-12 minutes. Then, drain the hot water out and fill the pot with ice cold water to prevent them from cooking further.
- While the eggs sit, place the spiralized zucchini noodles in a large sieve over top of a bowl and sprinkle with a pinch of salt, tossing around. Let them sit, tossing occasionally, so they release some moisture.
- Place the cubed bread in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil. Add in the Italian seasoning and toss to coat.
- Pour the bread onto a a large baking sheet in one layer. Bake for 6-7 minutes golden brown and crunchy.
- While the bread bakes, place the mashed avocado, garlic salt and pepper in a SMALL food processor (mine is 3 cups) and process, stopping to scrape the sides as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Add in the basil and process until the basil is broken up and mixed into the avocado.
- With the food processor running, stream in the olive oil, processing until well mixed.
- Press out as much moisture from the zucchini noodles as you can and transfer to a large bowl. Add in spiralized red onion, fresh basil and the avocado pesto and stir until well combined (you may need to cut up a few of the zucchini noodles to help them evenly mix.) Peel and dice the eggs and mix them in.
- Toss with the croutons and DEVOUR! *
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
Keep in touch with Udi’s Gluten Free on social media for more delicious ideas: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PER SERVING: SMART POINTS: 5 POINTS+: 2. OLD POINTS: 4
(Per 1/8 of the salad)
IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, PLEASE REMEMBER TO TAG @FOODFAITHFIT AND #FOODFAITHFITNESS ON INSTAGRAM! I LOVE SEEING YOUR RECIPE RECREATIONS! 
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