Description
My favorite homemade basil pesto! You won’t be missing anything with this fresh, flavorful vegan pesto. It’s gluten and dairy free, and it’s easily nut free!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup raw cashews (or pine nuts or pumpkin seeds!)*
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Combine. In a food processor, combine basil leaves, cashews, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of black pepper. Pulse JUST until the basil is roughly chopped and the ingredients are pretty evenly combined. (You don’t want it fully pureed here, since we’re not done mixing! )
- Drizzle In Olive Oil. Scrape down the sides of the food processor. Gradually pour in the olive oil, pulsing to incorporate it until the basil is very finely chopped and the mixture looks cohesive and evenly mixed. Ideally, you want it fairly smooth, but with some texture. It shouldn’t be a smooth puree!
- Taste and Adjust. Add more lemon juice, salt, or pepper, if desired. (For thinner pesto, feel free to increase olive oil up to 1/2 cup.)
- Serve & Store. Enjoy right away on pasta, pizza, sandwiches, burgers, veggies, potatoes, and more. Or, store in an airtight container or jar topped with a thin layer of olive oil in the fridge up to 1 week. Stir pesto before using if any separation occurs. (See notes for freezing instructions!)
Notes
- How To Freeze Vegan Pesto: You can simply freeze the pesto in a freezer-safe jar with a thin layer of olive oil on top, or freeze it in an ice cube tray and transfer the cubes to a freezer bag. That way you can add just 1-2 Tablespoons of pesto at a time to a recipe without having to thaw the whole jar. Frozen pesto will keep 2-3 months in the freezer.
- Nuts. Feel free to swap in toasted pine nuts here! Or, for a nut-free version, you can use pumpkin seeds–I prefer sprouted pumpkin seeds.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Food Processor
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tbsp
- Calories: 72
- Sugar: 0.2 g
- Sodium: 97.5 mg
- Fat: 7.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.1 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 1.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg