Garlicky cumin roasted broccoli gives this simple pasta dish outstanding flavor! With zingy lemon and cilantro and chunks of creamy avocado, you’ll be amazed how tasty this turns out with minimal ingredients and a low price point.
This is a surprising one! You see a pan full of broccoli, pasta and avocado and it looks… you know… alright. But it’s actually super tasty! That broccoli is roasted with lots of garlic, cumin, chili, and then tossed with lemon zest. We have cilantro (coriander) to freshen things up and creamy avocado to give us a hit of creaminess from time to time.
I have been working on this recipe a long, loooong time and nothing was ever right until I added the cumin and cilantro. Don’t leave those out! With simple meals, the right herbs and spices are everything.
A big advantage of this recipe is the broccoli to pasta ratio. So much broccoli!
Half a bag of pasta serves 4 here, because the broccoli is so much of the “bulk”. It’s still really filling with the olive oil and avocado, so it’s not a light dish, it’s not low calorie. But if you’re prone to overdoing it with carbs and getting an energy slump (my hand is way up right now) you might notice the difference here.
Ingredient Notes & Subtitutions
As you can see, the list of ingredients isn’t very long. And while there is an avocado in the mix, because all of the other ingredients on the lower end of the cost spectrum, it’s not a super pricey meal.
- I loved farfalle for this dish but any short pasta will slot in fine.
- I used 375g (13oz) of broccoli, this is around 1 large head though I made it up from 2 smaller ones.
- The chili is definitely optional so leave it out if you wish.
- Garlic on the other hand is definitely needed.
- Ground cumin, too, is kind of essential. I tried this recipes many times and it only really clicked into place once cumin joined the party.
- The lemon will be used for zest and juice. I would not hesitate to try a lime here instead!
- The cilantro (fresh coriander) is the perfect finishing touch and much like cumin, it was a deal breaker for me in getting this recipe feeling complete. Parsley might work if you absolutely needed to try something else.
- We want a large, ripe avocado. You could definitely try this with frozen avocado chunks if needs be, I find those do a decent job in warm dishes.
This can be a 30 minute meal
It’s entirely possible to get this on the table in around 30 minutes, if you stagger your prep in the right way.
- You need to get the broccoli in the oven first, before you think about any of the other ingredients. So immediately get the oven preheating, then get the broccoli prepped and cooking before you gather or prep any of the other ingredients. From there, get the pasta going next. It may be ready a little earlier than the broccoli – that’s OK. It can sit and wait for a few minutes, tossed with a little olive oil, if needed.
- Once the pasta is cooking, go ahead and chop the cilantro and avocado, zest the lemon and then slice it in two for juicing.
The first time you make any recipe, it’s likely to take longer, but if you put it on repeat it gets easier and faster.
More Roasted Broccoli Recipes
Roasted Broccoli Avocado Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli , florets
- 4 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 9 oz (250 g) farfalle pasta
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red chili, chopped
- 1 lemon
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 large avocado, cubed
- 1 bunch cilantro (fresh coriander), chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 360F.
- In a large bowl, toss the broccoli florets with the olive oil, cumin, garlic, chili and lots of salt and pepper.
- Scatter the broccoli in a deep roasting tin or casserole dish and place in the oven for 20 minutes until crisp around the edges.
- Meanwhile, cook your farfalle according to package instructions.
- When the broccoli is ready, quickly add the lemon zest and the juice from 1/2 of the lemon, and mix to combine.
- Drain the farfalle and add it directly into the roasting dish. Toss through.
- Finally, add the cilantro (coriander) and avocado chunks. Toss through, and drizzle with some additional olive oil if the pasta seems too dry. Squeeze some extra lemon juice over the top, plus salt and pepper to taste.
