Easy Vegan Pesto (5 minutes!)

This was a great, simple recipe. My boyfriend is allergic to dairy, and I was sort of sad about having to not use cheese– but honestly, this may have been one of the best pestos I’ve ever made. I also let it blend till totally creamy smooth and it was AMAZINGLY delicate, with a unique acidity that I typically don’t get in pesto. Adding some roasted-till-browned cauliflower to your pasta also helps balance the dish, giving it a hint of sweetness. This is definitely in my regular recipe rotation now!

Just made this for the first time….amazing! I used pine nuts and Nooch (4 TBSP was just right for the cheesy-ness) and added extra sea salt and an extra clove of garlic. Can’t wait to use it on my vegan pizza tonight. Thank you for a great recipe!!

Wow! Are you kidding me? This pesto is fabulous. Full of flavor and super simple. I added half the lemon juice and used water instead of oil. Can’t wait to use as a sauce on my butternut squash pizza (if I don’t eat it all first). Thank you!

Dana, you never disappoint. Used part walnuts, part sunflower seeds, extra garlic and added a fresh jalapeño-we love spicy! Licked the spatula🥰
Happy Thanksgiving!

My absolute favorite pesto recipe (and I have been making pesto for 26 years). Best enjoyed immediately.

Made this recipe and it’s really simple, easy to make and yummyyy. Thanks so much for making this and sharing it.

Thanks so much for this! I used it as a kind of guide and then kinda changed it slightly. I wanted to use basil AND corriander AND parsely haha, so I used a whole packet each of all three, half a squeezed lemon, three tablespoons of rapeseed oil, half teaspon of pink himaylain salt, large tbp of lazy (brand name) chopped garlic in vinegar, whole packet of pinenuts (about 100g) and 5 heaped tbsp of nutrional yeast, and as much water as it needed to my preffered texture. (Nice and thick!) So basically same as yours, just more of it all! Haha. It sits in a nice little pot in the fridge and lasts me about a week.

I really love it, thanks so much! Ive been doing quite a few of your recipes. I found you via a link from this site https://runningonrealfood.com/27-easy-vegan-desserts-6-ingredients-less/

as Im very new to making and baking (about a month) and I love it! Ive bookmarked your website and so many others LOL, and will eventually get through them all! Such fun!

This is delicious -thanks! I have also tried making it with sundried tomatoes instead of basil and I think it was even better. I shall never buy a jar of processed pesto again ☺

I’m not vegan and I prefer this pesto to most others! I add extra lemon juice to keep it bright and I blanched and cooled my basil so it wouldn’t brown in the fridge

Made this pesto for a party, followed the basics of this recipe and added my own flaire. Halfway through the party I went over to try some and people were like “have you tried this pesto?!” I was like “I made it” they were like “woahhh.. we’ve been raving about it for the past 30 minutes, wondering who brought this magic…” Needess to say, they loved it.

Seriously YUMMM!!!
This is so good. I slightly increased the walnuts and olive oil, decreased the water, otherwise did it as written. I’m thrilled — I love pesto and figured a vegan version could never measure up. It totally did! It was perfect. Thank you, Dana!

Love this recipe! We used it for a base on a caprese pizza with vegan mozzarella! It was divine!! My grandson grew the basil and we whipped this pesto up quickly and easily. Thanks for the memories I made with him!!

Amazing and simple!

This was easy to make & oh so flavourful! Didn’t miss the cheese at all!

This pesto is amazing!!! It was so easy to make. In fact, I have a really crappy blender so I added the oil and water in advance (only 2 tbsp each) to get everything to mix so it was a one step process. I also used half spinach because I couldn’t get 2c packed off my plants. Still tasted great! Another really easy mom hack is freezing pureed garlic in batches and then just using a chunk instead of peeling garlic for recipes individually. Saved even more prep work.

I was nervous about using nooch but this a wonderfully bright and fresh pesto. Brava!

This was so easy. Excellent flavor. We used it on zucchini noodles and had garlic toast on the side. Wonderful! I can see many uses for this pesto. Thank you so much for sharing.

I love your website and all your recipes, but this is my favorite. I make it ALL the time with basil from my garden. How do more people not know about nutritional yeast? It makes my whole pantry smell so lovely! I have tried this with walnuts and sunflower seeds, and it is the bomb!

This recipe turned out to be awesome. I customized it by adding chilies to make it spicy 😀. Thank you so much all your recipes are very flavorful.

This is a great recipe. I used several kinds of basil from my garden, almonds, and added a couple TBS of Parmesan to the nutritional yeast for richness. I’m having some now spread on sourdough bread with kale soup. I’m looking forward to freezing the pesto to enjoy this winter!

So happy to find this yummy pesto!! Using nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt in place of parmesan cheese made my usual recipe dairy-free.

my new favourite pesto!! wow…this recipe packs tons of flavour! amazing.

This is absolutely great. I used a mixture of pine nuts (so expensive) pumpkin seeds and almonds For the “nut” part. Forgive me I did not measure any of the ingredients out carefully but added by eye!! Thank you so much for the recipe It is so tasty and easy to make.

The tastiest sauce in my life. Used it as a dressing to pasta. SO GOOD!!

This was a quick and easy recipe to follow.
I used pecans instead of pine nuts. The peach skin will make your pesto darker in color. So if you want a vibrant green pesto sauce try sticking with the pine nuts or maybe pumpkin seeds instead.
Thank you!

This is great. Easy to make. Delicious. Thank you!!!

Mmm, delicious! Very flavorful with just the right amount of everything- even better on homemade pasta. We subbed half of the basil for spinach and added crumbled feta for serving. The best pesto we’ve had in a long time! Making it again in a few days.

So so so yummy and it’s vegan ❤️
This recipe is so simple, I did use walnuts instead of pine nuts just because pine nuts are soooo expensive. I didn’t roast the walnuts and there was no weird taste. The nutritional yeast adds creaminess and a great taste, plus it’s Vitamin B12 💕 Highly recommend. I also doubled the garlic cause garlic is life.

Soooooooo delicious. I’ve made this a few times now and love it. I will never buy store bought pesto again.

Loved this recipe! I made it for my family and even my 4 and 2 year old boys loved it on their spaghetti! I had to add the liquid (water and oil) pretty quickly because of the size of my blender (it was too large to pour slowly) and it still turned out beautifully. Thanks for the inspiration!

OMG. This was so good! I made this last night for some pizza. I was nervous about the taste because I forgot to buy lemons, but it was sooo good. It honestly didn’t even need the lemon (although next time I’ll give it a try with). I don’t have the strongest blender, so next time I would grind up my pine nuts With my mortar and pestle, but this was so easy to make. Will definitely be doing this one again.

YUMO!!!! Super tasty and super healthy. Living in Australia my herb garden in winter has an abundance of parsley so I substitute the basil and in summer I use my basil. Love recipes that are seasonal and this works perfectly. Love, love, love this recipe. Thank you xx

I was sceptical. I’ve made recipes before, that I’ve found online on other sites, that have turned out less than expected. I just made it a few minutes ago and I’m blown away. Not only is it the best pesto I’ve ever made but it’s the best pesto I’ve ever tasted. I made it with sunflower seeds and some basil I grew in my container garden. Thanks!

I swear this turned out even more delicious than the non-vegan pesto I made last year. Instead of fresh garlic I used fermented garlic, turned out beautifully. Going to serve it with some potatoes tonight for a potato salad. Thanks for the great recipe!

This is my go-to base pesto recipe! Quick & simple clean ingredients. It always comes out great. I’ll sometimes swap the nuts for walnut or even pumpkin seeds. If I want spice, I’ll add in some red pepper flake. Great recipe!

Oh my! I know I shouldn’t, but I could eat this by the spoonful! Knocks traditional pesto to the ground! Be sure to follow the steps and blend all the ingredients without the oil and water beforehand, otherwise (as I’ve found out) you will be unable to blend into a smooth sauce.

This was really good! Thanks! Xx

Love this pesto! We don’t eat a strict vegan diet but love to have it without dairy and it tastes amazing. So easy to make and makes me happy after picking the basil from my garden!

Love this recipe! Made it with walnuts and without oil. It was perfect!

Easily the best pesto I’ve ever tasted. It’s the only vegan pesto I’ve ever tried and I’m not willing to try others. I come back to this recipe time and time again because it is supremely delicious.

I followed the recipe exactly ( except my
Garlic cloves were huge so I only used two). It was delicious!! I served it over pasta tossed with veggie sausage, broccoli rabe, and sundries tomatoes. Then I roped with some toasted pine nuts. Mmmm mmm.

Great recipe! Served this pesto as a dip at a cocktail party – everyone raved about it & could not believe it was dairy-free. I tweaked it slightly by leaving out the raw garlic and the water; used walnuts instead of pine nuts; and added a very generous bunch of parsley to the mix…scrumptious! I’ll be returning to this recipe again – many thanks!!

This pesto is divine. I used freshly cut basil and squeezed real lemons rather than store bought lemon juice. Loved the freshness that the real lemon brought to it. Hands down my favorite pesto. I have been vegan for 3 1/2 years now and almost exclusively cook from your recipes several times a week over this time. Always reliable, easy, delicious food and a huge variety. Sorry for never telling you how great you are and how much your work is appreciated! I bet there are many other silent devour-ers of your site like me. Please keep them coming!

PS. For those of you new to the site, check out the BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches and Southwest Tofu Scramble. There are not words. Just do it. Now. Really, now.

We have plenty of basil in the garden, so I decided to make this today. It is a super delicious pesto. We have allergies in our family, so I looked for a dairy free recipe. I am so happy I found this one. I have made pesto in the past, without adding the parmesan, and it was ok. This one is amazing. The only change I made was that I toasted the pine nuts before adding to the processor. And I used 1/8 cup olive oil and no water.
Thanks for the great recipe. Will be making this often!

Awesome and fast pesto! I used the food processor and subbed sunflower seeds in for pine nuts. Delicious with pasta, chicken and veggies 😊
Thanks MB! 🙌🏼

I love pesto but hadn’t made it since I thought it would be a time consuming effort. This recipe was fast and delicious – picked fresh basil from my garden and the results are just delicious. Will be making more and freezing it!!! Many thanks for the great recipe!

Ok. Had to fess up….I used this to make a creamy pesto sauce. Back in the day (30 years ago) I used to make chicken in a creamy pesto sauce. I haven’t found (until now) a pesto that would work in a vegan version. It was absolutely perfect!!!! Thank you for this recipe!!!

Once again….you hit it out of the park with this one!!!!! This is fast, easy and out of this world!!!!

We have missed pesto since going plant based three years ago. This recipe is a hit for our family and so easy to make. We make it without salt and oil and it’s great. Thank you!🌱❤️

Had a bumper crop of basil and decided to try this. Made it with walnuts instead of pine nuts. It was delicious and my son (picky non-vegan 22 yo) thought so too! We loved the bite of the raw garlic and did not find it to be too noochy. (My nooch was a bit old and probably milder, and I used 3Tbsp.) Lots of flavour for just a few ingredients and a tiny amount of effort. Thx!

I just made this for dinner. I gave it a four out of five stars since I preferred this to the store brand. The only reason I gave it four and not five stars is that although I doubled the recipe, I feel like it didn’t make as much as I expected. But note, the pesto does go a long way!
My husband, although he liked the fresh ingredients, gave it three out of five stars. I think because it wasn’t what he expected. I did add sun-dried tomatoes and Kalamata olives. I did not have lemon or lime juice, so I substituted orange juice, which I read is the next best thing. I could not taste it. I also used veggie rotini. Delicious!

I think the texture of this turned out perfectly, but a bit too much nutritional yeast for my liking! If you are not used to the nooch flavour, I would add significantly less

I didn’t love this, it was way too garlicky for my tastes, and for my kids! It’s also the first pesto I’ve made with an oil and water mix, which I thought gave it an odd consistency. I’d definitely make it again but with just one garlic clove, and no water and more oil :-)

As a non-dairy gal it is super tricky to get my traditional cheese loving parents to admit anything other than the real deal is even edible. This pesto blew us all away! I followed your recipe exactly and used pine nuts and it was creamy, bright, and so so freaking good. Thank you so much for helping me convert the old sticklers!

Delicious and very easy! It turned out a bit liquid for my taste so I added a few pieces of avocado and it was a delicious & creamy addition!

I made the recipe as an attempt to please my mom, who had to go on a dairy-free diet and was completely skeptical of “that thing called ‘nutritional yeast’.” Well, we can honestly say the vegan version almost beats the traditional pesto. Bear in mind that if you want a stronger flavor, pour just a little bit of water into the mix and don’t save on olive oil.

I was nervous to make this recipe without oil, but it turned out just as good! (I’m avoiding oil for 10 days while I’m on a cleanse.) I added two cups of fresh Spinach, since I had it; and it’s quite common to make it that way in Peruvian cuisine, which is what I grew up with. I served it with spiraled sweet potato noodles. Mmmmmm! Such a great combo!

So yummy, we loved this!!! I made a few modifications due to a lack of pine and walnuts, so I used cashews instead. I also added parsley. Used with gluten free spaghetti. Highly recommend and would make again.

I like this recipe a lot. It is the first time I made pesto. It turned out great! I had to improvise a little, using cashews for the nuts and avocado oil instead of olive oil. I will try to make it with walnuts and olive oil next time I have those on hand!

Yet another amazing vegan version of a traditional dish. I made this over spaghetti with chopped tomatoes and fried shiitake mushrooms. Lovely!

It’s soooo good! Just made it and I’m impressed with this beautiful flavor!

I really wanted pesto for dinner but only had parsley and walnuts so modified this recipe a little. It was really delicious and I will add it to my regular repertoire.

I made this today and it’s delicious! I added a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar and turned it into a dressing for a salad of roasted pumpkin, spinach, walnuts, and fetta. The taste was perfect. Thank you for the recipe!

First time making pesto and oh my gosh- it turned out amazing! Subbed for walnuts and the flavor was unreal. I really think the nutritional yeast really took the flavor profile up a notch. I was literally licking the bowl. We served it over protein pasta but will try with our soybean and lentil pastas next. Thanks for always having wonderful vegan recipes, Dana! I love them!

Excellent! I made 10 servings in my Vitamix in under an hour and froze it in small containers. Now all I have to do for dinners is cook the pasta! Btw, the bulk of that hour was spent removing the basil leaves from the stems. The actual recipe preparation took no more than 8 minutes.

Delicious! I made some modifications to accommodate what we had on hand. Spinach + cilantro in place of basil, Extra garlic and half the lemon. I look forward to making it with basil when I get some. I’ve made so many of your recipes and love them all! Thank you

I normally absolutely love all of Minalmist Baker’s recipes but this one is a no for me. I followed her recipe to a T and it simply didn’t taste right and I’m a HUGE pesto lover.

So easy and delicious! I followed the recipe precise and it had exactly enough garlic and lemon juice! 3tbs of olive oil and 3tbs of water were more than enough as the pesto was quite liquidy that way. Delicious over my lasagna and on my ciabatta!

Best diy pesto! Easy to make and great for pasta, pizza, or to use as a condiment.

Ugh, this is a staple. I always eat spoonfuls out the fridge! Delicious as is.

Nice and easy however 3 cloves of garlic was way too much, it killed the rest of flavours, I can still taste it the next morning. I’d add it to taste or roast before adding. Also I’ll try roasting pine nuts next time.

Easy and delicious. I like how you can just blend it all together before adding the oil. I don’t like to get the processor out because I’m lazy, but it was definitely worth it.

I made this with plans to save it for some pasta tonight, but it was so good I ate almost all of it with a spoon!

Was very delicious, but a little too tangy. I’ll just use less lemon juice next time, as everything else was perfect :)

FABULOUS! My measurements were a little different because I needed to use up my fresh basil. I probably had about 3 cups fresh basil a rounded 1/4 cup of each pine nuts and nutritional yeast, juice of 1 lemon, 4 cloves garlic since this was more than the recipe and rounded portions of everything else to hopefully adjust so it was close to the original flavor profile. I subbed water for the oil with red flags raiding in my mind that no way could this be as delicious as regular homemade pesto with freshly grated cheese and olive oil. Despite my preconceived notions, I found it flavorful and fabulous! No one would EVER know it was vegan or oil free. So glad I tried it and thank you for such an amazing and healthy recipe!!!!!

I made this with all spinach and love the flavor. While not vegan, I am dairy and soy free. I had not tried pesto before making this so I can’t compare it to that made with parm. I make it in a wide mouth quart jar and my immersion blender. No extra dishes to wash, just screw on a lid and put in the fridge. I love it on toast in the morning too.

Soooo good!! I added sundried tomatoes, and skipped the lemon as I never used to use it when making classic non-vegan pesto. I can’t really explain how happy it makes me that pesto can still be on a vegan’s menu!! ?

This recipe is easy, fast and absolutely delicious. I added extra lemon because I didn’t think it was worth saving the extra from a whole lemon. I ate it over zucchini noodles. I love that it can be frozen!

I just made this pesto and I‘m amazed how insanely delicious it turned out! I used walnuts, omitted the oil and used 5 tbsp of water instead. Never would I have imagined this could taste this great without any oil. Thanks a lot for the recipe MB – 5 stars!!

I have made this multiple times and love it! Sometimes I do no oil and all water, other times I add a couple TBSP of EVOO. I use pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts. I did try sunflower seeds but I think the pumpkin seeds give it the flavor I’m looking for. Thank you for such a wonderful quick recipe! It’s a hit with everyone who has tasted it!

I wanted to make an awesome and impressive vegan dish for my carnivorous friends. They had superb compliments although I left out the oil. I would certainly make my oil free version of this vegan pesto again and again.

It’s okay, I personally found it much too tart for my taste and couldn’t get the fatty mouthfeel that pesto usually has. I followed the recipe at first, then added extra salt, oil, and nutritional yeast. It’s still meh for me. I don’t think I’ll make it again but if I did I would roast the garlic, and use toasted salted nuts.

Simple and super easy. I made the pesto tonight with cashew nuts instead because that’s what I had in the pantry. It was so delicious with my red and white quinoa macaroni. My husband and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely make it again. Thank you so much for such a great recipe!

This literally takes only 5 minutes to make!

I used 3 Tbsp of nutritional yeast.
I used 3 Tbsp of EVOO.
I didn’t use any water.

I served this pesto over 1 pound of Banza bow tie pasta and added fresh san marzano tomatoes.

It was very, very good.

I just wish I made more pesto or didn’t use a whole box of pasta when mixing it together.

Excellent recipe. I used one large clove of garlic and a little more lemon juice and it was nice and zesty. Love. Love. Love. Thank you!

Hi! Can I sub pecans in place of pine nuts? Also, I am allergic to garlic, what can I use in place of it? Onion possibly or onion powder even? Also, what happens if I add more olive oil instead of water?Thank you, your recipes are a life saver for someone like me with TONS of food allergies and intolerance. I’ ve found that your recipes are straight forward, healthy and easy to adjust if needed.

This was so good! Tossed it with pasta and steamed broccoli for dinner. Will definitely make again.

Just made this for dinner tonight, soooo good and so easy! Will be making this often!

Thank you very much for this recipe, it was quick, it was delicious (made it with walnuts) and I´ll definately do it again! :)

This was quick and easy and very delicious. I put it on Modern Table Elbows, pasta made with lentils, rice, and peas. For the pesto, I only needed to add 1 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of water. I used the pine nuts. Yummy recipe!

I made this and it was really yummy! I used fresh basil from my garden and only made a few changes. I only added a splash of lemon juice since I’m not a huge fan of too much lemon. Then I used only olive oil vs olive oil and water. I just slowly added it till it got to the consistency I liked. I haven’t made pesto since I went dairy free so I was really missing it and was worried about not being able to add parmesan like I was used to. This was still super good without the parmesan and I’ll be making it again for sure. :D

Followed the recipe to a t and it came out delicious!!!!

Followed this recipe, substituting the pine nuts for cashews with sea salt because that’s what I had on hand. My dairy-allergic son absolutely loves pesto, but the vegan variety that we usually get at the grocery store has been out of stock, so we tried this instead. Absolutely delicious! Thank you for an easy and excellent recipe!

Sauce came out better than I expected. Added this to some vegan tortellini from kite hill and it was absolutely delicious. I did substitute half of the nutritional yeast for vio-life Parmesan and added pasta water instead of regular water. Also, roasted garlic instead of raw and added fresh pepper. Overall, this is a keeper!

I just made this to replace the regular basil pesto I love from the store. WOW! I actually used my mortar and pestle to make it … delicious!! I am so happy! Thank you!

Oh my gosh this was such a hit with my family and the our dairy free company! Sunday lunch was a resounding success with the gluten free noodles with pesto, green onions and peas— and some of us indulged in the sun dried tomatoes! I loved the yeast flakes idea as it did really make it cheesy! Thank you! This recipe will become a staple. Bless you!

This recipe was gorgeous-so easy and so quick and all the family loved it, including the young children. I may never buy pesto again! Thank you.

I didn’t have enough basil, maybe like 3/4 cup. I used all of the ingredients listed except water–I didn’t need it. I simply tweeked the amount of ingredients to make them proportionate to my basil amount. Very delicious taste and I will add this recipe to my list of Staples. Thanks.

I made it without oil or broth and it was great! The nutritional yeast and lemon juice are inspired. I like the cayenne suggestion someone made. I’ll try that next time.

I have a baby with a dairy allergy and another who has a nut-free school. I make this with sunflower seeds, toss it on whole wheat rigatoni, and they both devour it at lunch. Thank you!

This is now a regular staple in our rotation. So easy to make. Sometimes I skip the garlic and use extra nutritional yeast and lemon. So good on pasta and in stuffed portobellos mushroom caps.

This is a great recipe. It tasted really yummy. I used cashew nuts instead of pine nuts and lime instead of lemon.
Great idea to add a small amount of water, it was creamy and easy to stir into pasta.

Didn’t even know I liked pesto but made this for a pasta party with friends and everyone loved it!!!

This is such a great recipe. When I have extra time I like to roast the garlic and lightly toast the pine nuts for even more flavor.

Super simple recipe; I used fennel tops to make up for about 1/4 cup of the basil.

This is my go to pesto recipe! I sometimes use cashews or just use the vegan parm instead of nuts and yeast. I put it on roasted spiralized zucchini! And it’s always a winner!!

Love this recipe, did cut the nutritional yeast a to 2-3 TBLS and subbed in Cashew nuts (what I had on hand) Turned out perfect and just goes to show how versatile this wonderful recipe is. Thanks so much for sharing

I can’t believe this is my first time making this! I might not be 100% vegan but I am trying to get there. I enjoy this MORE than regular versions. According to the nutrition facts, it does have lots of salt (nooch?). Overall a staple!

What’s to say but……Perfectly delicious!!!

I had never made pesto before, so I loved this simple recipe. I made it pretty much exactly to the recipe, but added a little extra oil as my blender was too big. I have eaten this as a dip with chips and can’t wait to stir it through some pasta later for dinner. Thanks for the lovely recipe.

Delicious pesto! Thanks for sharing Dana….❤️ #govegan ?

So good! I spread it on avocado toast

I decreased to 2 TBL nutritional yeast, 4 TBL pine nuts and only did 1 tbl of water. Love that it says lemon measurement instead of just “half a lemon.” Best pesto if my life and it’s VEGAN! Trust me I’ve made a lot! Thanks again minimalist baker!

I used 1/2 massaged kale and basil with sunflower seeds! It was delish!

Fabulous recipe – so easy to make and so tasty. I made it to pour onto courgetti which was delicious.

Nutritional yeast for pesto! Glad I saw your page!

I’ve been making pesto off & on. I recently began using fresh parsley instead of basil. Try it, you might not go back to basil ($$, if you don’t have it in your garden!).

Walnuts or almonds also do really well in place of pine nuts ($$$)
I always made my pesto with a processor, but now just use a knife and cutting board. Try it. A very palpable texture treat awaits!
Garlic, garlic, garlic! Yes!

My whole family really enjoyed this recipe. I actually didn’t have the full two cups of basil so I used baby spinach to make up the difference and I was pleasantly surprised with the results!

This is delicious. I just made a batch without being too picky on the measuring because I wanted to use all the basil I picked today. I found myself eating it with a spoon so I’m going to steam some green beans to put this on. I washed my garden basil and it was still damp so I did not end up adding water. I used cashew nuts because they are my favorite in basil and add a creamy texture. I also love using toasted pumpkin seeds in pesto. I gave it at 5-10 minutes of chopping in my ninja food processor to get the fine texture I wanted. No one will miss the cheese!

Delicious and light vegan pesto. I used to buy vegan pesto from the store but I’m now fully converted. So good tossed with tenderstem broccoli, petit pois or other green vegetables, cherry tomatoes and pasta. Yum!

This was so good I am licking the bowl

I love pesto and this was something missing ever since I went plant based…
I feel silly because I never thought of using nooch!! I mean, I already use it as a parm replacement on everything else so why the connection of using it in pesto NEVER occurred to me. So thank you! It’s awesome!
So

My boyfriend recently went vegan and I’ve been experimenting with new recipes for our favorite dishes. I have to say- this pesto is the best I‘ve ever made and the consistency was the best I’ve ever been able to get it- way better than with dairy. We made pan fried gnocchi with this pesto and it was delish. I never knew about nutritional yeast but now I’m looking for other recipes I could use it in. So good! Make this!

This pesto is amazing ! I mixed it in some pasta and spread some on top of broiled tofu. So amazing

I’ve been vegan for 10+ years and also gluten free for past 5…This recipe is my GO TO for pesto- it is SO delicious and easy. I grow my own basil, and like it spicy so I also add 1 tsp of cayenne to the mix before food processing. Thank you for this simple, reliable and tasty plant based pesto!

I made this to put on a GF pasta primavera and it was awesome. I can’t say enough good things about it. The only hint I would add is that it has to food process for a long time (about 5 minutes) to get to a good consistency, but that’s just a head’s up. I have already shared it with 2 of my GF DF friends and can’t believe that my days of missing pesto are over! I, too, used the larger amount of nutrish yeast. I also used a little extra lemon and the pine nuts. Very forgiving and great recipe. Thanks!

This was very good. I decreased the garlic a bit and increased pine nuts for my personal taste. Just commenting because my food processor died halfway through and I did the other half in the blender; the blender batch was remarkably much better. So if you have both, choose a high speed blender!

FREAKING WOW… This was probably the best pesto I’ve ever tasted. I did make a couple alterations to the recipe:
– I did 2 TBS pine nuts and 2 TBS walnuts
– I also added a couple small handfuls of frozen greens (kale, arugula & spinach)

But seriously, what a fabulous recipe!!!

My only issue with this pesto is that I stand at the counter eating it with a spoon (to “test” it), and the next thing you know half of it is gone. It is absolutely fabulous! Also, if you are a little low on basil, which I was the last time I made it, you can add in some supplemental spinach and it still tastes divine.

So delicious! Definitely amped up the nutritional yeast levels and lemon for extra kick.

I made this for the first time yesterday just to eat over gluten free pasta and it is SO GOOD! Now that I have all the ingredients on hand, this will be so easy to make when I want it in the future again. It tastes cheesy and sooo good! I did 3 tbsp of the nutritional yeasts and it wasn’t more than enough cheesy flavor.

I made this for a group without garlic and it was delicious. I then made it for home but with only 1 clove of garlic and it was also delicious. I use the higher amount of nutritional yeast for the flavor. Thank you so much for this recipe! Pesto is just the best.

Amazing pesto. I make this with a tweak I picked up from Dana’s Super Green Vegan Kale Pesto and put in an extra cup of fresh parsely. I add an extra tablespoon of pine nuts and sub out the nooch for the vegan parmesan recipe she has. Would go good with some percorino romano for non-vegans as well. Putting this on everything I can and will be growing some basil plants as well!

I’m so impressed by this recipe! I was looking for dairy and nut free pesto recipes and I am so glad I found this one; I was able to make everything in my magic bullet in less than 10 minutes. I’ll definitely be making this again!

It was fantastic even tho I didn’t have any basil. Used cilantro and spinach instead. Very tasty.

Hi Dana,
I made this with your pasta recipe the other night. It was absolutely delicious!! I will definitely be making it again. I am looking for excuses to use the leftover in other dishes or for my packed lunch (maybe paninis or salad?).
Great recipe! Really added some oomph to a pasta dinner

I whip this up pretty much every time I have enough fresh basil grown in my garden. Super quick and easy and makes Ana amazing pasta sauce. A little goes a long way!

I skipped the water, and used cashews as thats what I had on hand. It was absolutely delicious, will be my go to pesto recipe.

I can’t get enough of this pesto- I even have it on toast as a snack! Just used the last of my basil with walnuts instead of pine nuts and it is just as delicious. Pledging to grow truckloads of basil next season!

I didn’t get around to adding any oil because the consistency was perfect without it! Used 2T nutritional yeast, 2T lemon juice, and sunflower seeds, which are options suggested in the recipe. Bright in flavor, bright green in color. Love it!

Used some cashews and almonds as they were the only nuts/seeds I had to hand, subbed 1.5 cups for wild garlic leaves, and put in 2 small garlic cloves. Really tasty! Had it with mushrooms, broccoli and tagliatelle for an easy dinner, and plenty left over for a second meal later in the week too :) Thanks!

I absolutely love this recipe! I became extremely dairy sensitive over one year ago and missed pesto a lot. The only substitution I made was using 2/3 arugula and 1/3 basil in lieu of only basil.

Best Pesto ever! I roasted the pine nuts before using, soo good! Thank you!

This is so good. I have made this numerous times. I always use Go Raw sprouted sunflower seeds. I add 3 T olive oil, 1 T lemon and 5 or 6 T water depending on how much basil I have on hand. I stick to the recipe for the rest. I am not vegan but can’t have dairy so this is just perfect. I use it when making homemade pizza or on top of noodles. It is the best!