Easy Vegan Pesto (5 minutes!)

I apologize if this is a duplicate comment because I may have left a message here before, but I can’t find it now. I am not a vegetarian or vegan, but my daughter has a cheese allergy so I started making this for her but now I’m making it all the time, I usually don’t miss the cheese and if I do, I can always grate a little Parmesan on top. So I recommend this to everyone vegan or not!

This recipe is so yummy!!! I made it with walnuts, as the price of pine nuts is obscene. I also used the last of my garden basil. Kept a bit for tonight’s dinner and froze the rest in an ice cube tray so I can have this deliciousness any time I want! Thank you for this!

I also add vegan Parmesan cheese to the mix, salt adjusted, and it comes out perfect! You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!

I made this for the first time yesterday. I used just 3 TBSP of water which seemed almost a little too much. I think part of the problem is my food processor isn’t great. Next time I make it I’ll use vegan parmesan in place of the nutritional yeast flakes – I like tge flavor of it but I have to limit my intake of it

I have a favorite classic pesto recipe that I love, but started making this for my daughter who was vegan at the time. I kept sneaking hers though because the lemon made it taste so fresh and enticing! Now I alternate between the two but add lemon to the classic when I make it. Thank you for the upgrade

First time in my life that I ever made pesto, I used to just buy it all the time. Wow that was dumb, what was I thinking? Haha! I knew I could trust you for an excellent recipe, and I was right. It’s delicious and I’m already thinking of all of the things that I can put this on and in, of course my primary reason for making this pesto is to duplicate a veggie sandwich I frequently purchase at $14 a trip. Now I can do it, thanks to your recipe! The other day I made an NYT recipe baked dip using mozzarella and cannelini beans (I feel confident I spelled that wrong) and I was thinking a little pesto drizzled on top of that would send it to the stratosphere. Thank you so much for always being my go to!

delicious! Love how lemony it is!

I have been using this recipe for years. I grab a big bunch of basil from my garden and often double or triple this and then freeze it for use during the cold winter months when good basil is hard to come by. I often skip the nutritional yeast – personal preference – and rest of family can then add parmesan at serving time, if they like.

YUM! I made extra so I could freeze a jar and I’m so glad I did! I put it on my avocado toast just now and I’m obsessed! Another amazing recipe, you never let me down :D

Ok I just finished making this with fresh basil from the garden. I added a little more garlic, some green onion and skipped the oil. I used aquafaba( the water from a can of chickpeas) instead of water and oil. I also cut the salt in half. I think it turned out well. I ended up with more than one cup because of my extra additions. Seriously, it took less than five minutes and longer to clean up than to process this wonderful pesto. Thanks for the recipe

so amazingly fresh. i didnt add water initially as the consistency seemed fine, and i was adding it to pasta immediately anyways with reserved pasta water which supplemented the original water. simple, delicious, did take longer than 5 minutes but I blame my small food processor

I made this recipe with my vegan boyfriend and we loved it! Except we replaced the basil with spinach and added vegan Parmesan to the mix, serving in top of gnocchi! Thank you for making this recipe!! <3

Fabulously easy and tastes so good. Thank you for sharing.

I just made this pesto and substituted 2/3 of the basil leaves with garlic scapes that I just harvested from my garden. I used pinenuts and didn’t need any garlic at all the depth the flavour the nutritional yeast gives this recipe is far better than just Parmesan cheese alone, I will definitely be making this recipe again. Thank you for sharing your work so generously.

Great recipe! I add a little bit of mellow white miso paste for some extra funk. 💛

Great recipe! And so simple! I used fresh parsley and walnuts and it was divine! And it got 2 thumbs up from my omnivore sister :)

I made this & added extra garlic, just delicious, thank you I will make again

I made this with pistachio nuts and the low end (3T) of nutritional yeast. We loved it in my household! Best Pesto Ever — this will be in rotation during our long basil season. Thank you!

Followed the recipe exactly using homegrown basil from a friend and it turned out incredible! I only needed to use 1 T. water for it to reach my desired consistency. I froze the rest in ice cube trays. Thanks for the recipe and the tips! Will definitely make again :)

Pleasantly surprised by how delicious this came out to be. Made two adjustments though: one garlic clove and only one tablespoon of lemon. Great update to classic pesto and a good way to eliminate any source of cholesterol by removing parmesan altogether.

Just a simple fab recipe – thank you. I sautéd off some asparagus, courgette and shallots, added the pesto and a little vegan cream. Served with pasta and a sprinkling of pine nuts 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

I made this, and found that the 2 tbsp of lemon juice is just way too much. The sauce had a nasty, sour taste as a result. The lemon juice over-powered all of the beautiful basil and pine nuts that went into this. Additionally, I have a standard sized food processor that made it difficult to process such a small amount of pesto. It never really came together and was chunky as a result. If I were to make this again, I would used only 0.5 tbsp of lemon juice AT THE MOST, and triple the recipe to give my food processor enough volume to work with.

Fabulous recipe! I have made this pesto several times. Most recently, I used fresh parsley instead of basil, and it was awesome! I have also used carrot tops as the greens. Thanks for sharing!

Super delicious and so easy! I threw everything in at once in the food processor by mistake, but it came out beautifully!

This was absolutely delicious! I added more lemon juice and less water. I will be making this often.

This is a wonderful pesto! Our guests loved it over gnocchi and all wanted the recipe. I used your 5-ingredient vegan cheese. Absolutely fantastic.

Love this recipe! Made it multiple times now and it’s worlds better than store bought pesto. I like to add just 2-3 tbsp of water sometimes a little extra lemon.

This has been our go to pesto recipe for many months now. It is super simple and oh so delicious. I make it with 1/4 cup of raw cashews. The recipe is light and bright and full of basil flavor without the weight of too much oil.

My two year old LOVES this sauce. She’s been eating it with a spoon. It’s happened twice now so it’s not a fluke. I’ve also offered her other (high-quality jarred) non-vegan pesto and she’s completely uninterested, but this stuff is her favorite. We’ve been eating it on top of flounder baked with tomatoes and onions, and its superb.

The garlic goes from 3 cloves to 9 cloves when you toggle to metric! Yikes!
I’m guessing 3 is intended.

This was so delicious and so simple! I had an abundance of basil this year and loved that I could easily make this pesto and freeze it to get me through until next summer. Also, loved the flexibility on using walnuts instead of pine nuts.

I’ve made this recipe for a year now and we love it. We eat more fish and vegetables because they both taste better with this vegan pesto. And because we keep kosher we can serve this with both meat and dairy meals. Sometimes I add more garlic, sometimes more lemon juice, rarely the greater amount of water. Excellent, thank you!

I made this with the Cuisinart food processor you recommend and it turned out perfect! My kids love it, too, which is a huge bonus. Thank you for providing nutritious, simple recipes for all seasons.

Have made this often, both following the recipe to the letter (using walnuts), and sometimes substituting collards for 1/2 of the basil. Either way, divine. Thanks!