Vegan Pesto (GF)

Name: Vegan Pesto (GF)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 135 g pine nuts (roasted); 40 g cashews; 30 g fresh basil leaves; 80 ml (1/3 cup) olive oil; 1 tbsp nutritional yeast ((I used fortified with B12)); 3/4 tsp salt (or to taste); 1/2 tsp ground black pepper (or to taste)

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When I was still vegetarian I loved eating pesto pasta. At that time I always made pasta with store bought pesto. Since becoming vegan I wanted to create a vegan pesto recipe that will be as flavourful as I remember the original one. The secret to achieving this was roasting the pine nuts and substituting the original parmesan with cashews and nutritional yeast. It also contains just the right amount of olive oil so that it’s rich but not too oily.

I’m very pleased with how this recipe turned out. I think it’s even better than the original. But maybe that has also something to do with using fresh ingredients at home. I use this pesto in vegan pesto pasta, beetroot noodles pesto pasta, vegan meatball sub and on vegan pesto pizza. Try making these recipes, I’m confident you’ll love them.

Vegan Pesto (GF)

Amazing vegan pesto made with roasted pine nuts, cashews, basil, olive oil and nutritional yeast. Use it in pasta, on pizza, on a piece of bread and in many other ways.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Course Main Course

Servings

Calories 433 kcal

Ingredients

135 g pine nuts roasted
40 g cashews
30 g fresh basil leaves
80 ml (1/3 cup) olive oil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (I used fortified with B12)
3/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper or to taste

Instructions

Heat the oven to 180 °C. Arrange the pine nuts over the baking tray with baking paper and roast them for 5 min. If you are making a bigger batch perhaps an additional minute of roasting is necessary but otherwise 5 minutes is perfect.
Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix everything well together so it gets the texture of a sauce. (I like to crush pine nuts and cashews in the blender first and then add other ingredients.)
Transfer the mixture into a small jar and store it in the fridge. Use it in pasta, on pizza, on bread…

Notes

*If I’m making a smaller batch of vegan pesto, too small to make it in a blender, I just chop basil by hand and crush nuts in a food processor, then mix everything together with a spoon. That way I can still get the same vegan pesto, just a little bit more chunky, which I kind of like it even better.

*Constructed with tips from The Spruce Eats.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 433kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 7gFat: 43gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 11gMonounsaturated Fat: 23gSodium: 469mgPotassium: 304mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 407IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 2mg

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