Super Quick Oil-Free Vegan Pesto
This classic pesto recipe substitutes nutritional yeast for the parmesan and aquafaba for the oil. Bump up the nutrition with spinach and the brightness with lemon juice, and you have an absolutely decadent vegan pesto.
Equipment
- 1 Blender/food processor
Ingredients
- 4 cups/80g fresh basil see notes for frozen
- 2 cups/80g of fresh spinach
- 1/3 cup/45g pine nuts toasted
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup/60ml cold water
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- fresh cracked pepper
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Heat a skillet on medium. Lightly roast pine nuts until golden brown (or buy pre-roasted pine nuts and skip this step). Set aside to cool 1 to 2 minutes.
- Place the basil, spinach, and pine nuts in the food processor and blend to combine.
- Add the nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon juice, and black pepper to the food processor. Blend again.
- Open the top of the food processor and slowly add the water while it's running.
- Serve immediately over pasta or roasted vegetables. OR store in an air-tight container up to 5 days in the refrigerator or 6 months in the freezer.
Video
Notes
Keep refrigerated and consume within 3 days!
If you don’t have fresh basil, you can use a mixture of frozen basil and spinach, though the consistency might change slightly.
The ratio of spinach to basil is not set in stone. Feel free to use just basil and no spinach, or an equal amount of spinach and basil. I don’t recommend using more spinach than basil, as you will start to lose flavor.
The pine nuts can be substituted for any kind of nuts or seeds you prefered, but walnuts, almonds, cashews, or sunflower seeds will work best.
Nutrition
Serving: 2tbspCalories: 102kcal
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