Pea Pesto Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Arugula (Vegan + GF)

Yum, so good! Made this for dinner with protein pasta and really enjoyed :)

Delicious! I prepped the pesto and pasta separately so I could whip small serving sizes together day-of for lunch. At first, the pesto seemed too acidic (tasted it raw), but it cooks down beautifully and has just the right amount of zing. I didn’t have pine nuts OR walnuts, so used some roasted shelled pistachios — it added to the green theme & the flavor was there. Will definitely make again, and again, and again!

Such a simple weeknight dinner and so much flavor!

Best vegan pesto ever!!! I added a bit of extra olive oil and threw it together with a variety of veggies and some more pasta water. Drool worthy!

Absolute winner!

This is another total winner from Dana! Made this for friends last week and they gobbled it up. Can’t wait to make it again! I didn’t feel like shelling out for pine nuts and had pecans on hand… Not traditional but the pecans were great in the pesto! I’m sure walnuts would be great too as noted in the recipe

I’ve made this twice!! And both tones turned out so delicious, full bodied flavor and so fresh!!

This is the perfect spring/summer pasta! I love all the green, and the sun-dried tomatoes really take it to the next level. I made it with chickpea pasta, super filling and great the next day too.

I’m not vegan but I love the vegan parm, I’m glad it makes extra because I end up putting it on everything!

Thanks Dana!

Excellent pesto! What a great way to stretch basil (when you have to buy it at the store). I have made many vegan pestos, but never thought to put my vegan parm IN the pesto too. Not sure if that is what elevated it or the peas, but it was spoon-licking good. Used 1/4 of it for lunch and froze the rest for future use. I had to omit garlic and tomatoes for my particular diet, but still amazing! (Oh and only walnuts were available at the time)

Love this recipe! I made the pea pesto the day before and served with the smashed potato recipe from there blog as well (highly recommend). This recipe was super easy to make and came together very fast since I had the pesto already in the fridge. I used 8oz of regular pasta for 2 people and added some extra peas on top for more veggies and deliciousness. I forgot to top with more cashew parm, but it was still delish!

Loved this dish! Full of flavor, quick to make, and toddler friendly!

This was easy and delicious. I subbed sunflower seeds because I didn’t have pine nuts. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for a great recipe.

Super easy and quick. The pesto is delicious and I used chickpea pasta so it was incredibly filling. Added a lot of the vegan parmesan on top and it was amazing!

I’ve made this recipe countless times. I absolutely love it! It’s delicious, easy and quick to make, nutritious AND my kids like it (without the arugula). I’ve made it using pinenuts and walnuts. Both are great. I usually skip heating up the oil, garlic and sundried tomato because by the time the pasta’s done I’m ready to eat! :)
Thanks for this amazing recipe!

we keep coming back to this recipe. we almost always sub out walnuts for pine nuts (out of simple availability), and we now make more pesto than needed so we can use it on other dishes. thank you for supplying us with a protein packed staple!

This is by far the best pesto I’ve ever made! I used walnuts instead of pine nuts and 2 full cups of basil because I didn’t have any parsley. I also used the fusilli from Trader Joe’s that was recommended and it pairs perfectly. Don’t skip on the cashew Parmesan either! It’s so easy to make and so satisfying. I love how protein packed this dish is and will probably make it 100 more times! Thank you!

I made this recently and I can’t wait to make this again. I even used the pesto recipe to make a pesto pizza! I love love love this recipe!

I almost didn’t make this since peas are my least favorite vegetable, but I’m so glad I did. This is the best pesto pasta I’ve ever made and the flavor is incredible! Thanks for giving me even more reason to eat pasta all the time!!

The pea pesto was amazing! So easy to make and super flavorful. I used regular Parmesan cheese instead of vegan parm. Served with lentil pasta. I’ll be dreaming about this dinner for quite a while!

Delicious!! Subbed the vegan parmesan for 2tbsp nutritional yeast. Thank youu :-)

Made this tonight and substituted out the Parmesan for nutritional yeast & served with edamame pasta and it was delicious!

Thank you 🙏🏼

Sheesh yet another out of the park recipe! YUM! That’s from even the non-vegans though we used vegan parmesan! Whoop whoop! Thank you for sharing, as always!

I used Nutritional yeast instead of vegan parmesan and it was delicious. What a great delicious recipe!

This dish is so delicious! The first time I heard about a “non traditional” pesto I was a bit skeptical, but this has proven that you can make a pesto out of lots of “non-traditional” ingredients and make something super delicious! I think the sun-dried tomatoes and arugula really go well together, and putting it in the form of a pasta salad really gives it a fun spring pasta salad vibe. When I made it, I added fresh cherry tomatoes in addition to the sun-dried tomatoes (I love tomatoes!) and it was delicious! I love your recipes, and they helped me get started when I switched to a vegan diet. Thank you so much for creating and sharing all of the recipes you have so far. I’m always excited to browse your site and see what’s new. Keep up your amazing work!

Loooveee this! I made it with nutritional yeast instead of parmesan because we don’t have that in my country ? And also added grilled smoked tofu cut in cubes ?

This was amazing! My husband loved it, and this will now be a regular on the rotation. Parsley brings out such an amazing flavor in the pesto. The sun-dried tomatoes were the icing on the cake! Added mushrooms as well since I love them. Thanks Dana! :)

Loved the pea pesto! This is a surprisingly high protein meal, especially if you add vegan meatballs and use legume noodles (black bean, edamame, etc.). Perfect meal after the gym!

The first time I made this recipe, I decided to leave out the peas because: peas in pesto? Didn’t think I’d like it.

Just made it for the second time WITH peas and oh my goodness, it is even more delicious.

All I can say is THANK YOU and YUM!

One of my favorite Minimalist Baker recipes!! And that’s saying something! I make this all the time with Barilla protein plus pasta for an extra protein packed vegan pasta dinner. What more could you want??

Thank you for sharing this wonderful and easy recipe! My family loved it so much there weren’t any left over.

This recipe was so delicious! I fixed it for my husband and he went back for thirds lol. It’s been really hot in NC and it was great not have something so heavy but still filling. I will definitely continue to try your recipes.

It is so delicious!!!! Such a lovely green color and all that basil fragrance. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!

So delicious! My mom is not normally a pesto lover so we used more peas than the recipe said and she LOVED IT! She even asked me to make it again next week!!

OMG!!! This was delicious. Perfect summery pasta meal. Saved a little pasta water to add. Otherwise made it exactly as recipe says. Will definitely make this again!!!

Made just the pesto (or peasto as my family kept calling it) for crostini and it was so good! Huge hit. THANK YOU for this recipe!

I made this last week and it was a hit in our house! I added a few more sun dried tomatoes than the recipe called for – so delicious!

I’ve made this twice now and absolutely love it! The first time I made it with oil, but because generally speaking I don’t cook with oil, I tried making it oil free. I’m not sure what the best way to do that is, in order to make it creamy. I think next time I may substitute an avocado. This time I had some oil free vegan cream cheese and I used a bunch more nutritional yeast to make it delicious. I also topped mine with a bunch of spinach, baby kale, cherry tomatoes, and shiitake mushrooms. AMAZING dish! Thanks so much!

Made this last night, and it was really really delicious! The sweetness of the peas really softens the tang of the pesto and makes it very creamy. I added extra (ovenbaked in my case) tomatoes, and omitted the extra Tbsp of oil. I used regular pasta, and added extra nooch and a tablespoon of cashews as I was a bit short on vegan Parmesan. Will definitely make a again!! Would make an excellent, easy yet impressive dinner for guests too :)

We made this tonight. Subbed in 1/8 cup walnuts and 1/8 cup of pine nuts to make up the 1/4 cup. Also added 1 cup of thinly sliced button mushrooms to the sun dried tomatoes when cooking. Absolutely AMAZING.

This was the most delicious, taste sensation pasta dish I’ve ever made! Will definitely make it again. Made with home grown basil and arugula (roquette in Australia!). Didn’t get a chance to also make the vegan cheese but went with some normal parmasan.

Always takes me a bit longer than the recommended times… maybe I just stuff around too much ?

Thanks for sharing. Amazing.

Make this now! Love it. I’m a longtime fan of Dana- thanks for your wonderful, simple recipes. I’m also a longtime fan of pasta, but not the unhealthiness of most of it! I’m not vegan, but I’m always looking for ways to be healthier and cook at home more (vs. eat out).. so basically this is perfection. Sneaking the peas in the pesto is GENIUS! They don’t have a strong flavor, and you can always offset any “blandness” peas potentially could add with more spice, garlic, whatever you like. I made a huge batch as food prep for lunches for the week and it reheated beautifully. Just wanted to briefly echo what another review mentioned…I made the following modifications 1) Add more sun dried tomatoes…I put in 1/2 cup easily, 2) add red pepper flakes! I also 3) added a bit more olive oil, just to avoid dryness…Of course any tendency to it being dry is probably my fault somewhere. Dana knows what she’s doing. ;)

We LOVE this meal! It’s one of my go-to recipes for company! So easy to make yet super delicious!!

Thankyou, Very much for sharing all these amazing recipes, im so greatful for your site, i am new to plant based eating, and your site, facebook,insta has helped me so,so much. Thankyou. PS i made this meal today after a busy day, so yummy, comforting & simple. =)

This is wonderful. I made it completely oil free, by just using water and a smidgin of balsamic when sauteing the garlic and sun dried tomatoes. Yum!!!!

To up the protein I grated some smoked tofu on top. I make pesto from anything green (even radish leaves). For nut allergies try raw pumpkin (pepitas) or sunflower seeds. Less expensive and mushy than pine nuts.

I’m not usually very fond of pesto but I wanted to give this a try and it’s the best pesto I’ve ever had!
I loved the tangyness due to the lemon (I used lime) and it’s not too oily.
I’m definitely going to make this again! Thanks!

Yum yum yum! Another killer recipe from minimalist baker! This will be in my regular recipe rotation.

This was a huge hit in my house! I used banza chickpea pasta .
Your recipes are amazing

This is such an easy and fantastic recipe, I have made it many times when arugula is in season. Even my husband, who is not a big arugula fan, LOVES this pasta recipe. It’s on our weekly rotation during arugula season :)
Thank you, Dana!!

SOOOO GOOD!!!!

Holy crap Dana, on a scale of 1 to 10 this recipe is a 2000! I took some suggestions from others that recommend adding roasted cherry tomatoes (adds much needed moisture) and red pepper flakes for heat.

To cut down on fat I used 2 TBS each water and EVOO too. Other than that, this recipe is just utter vegan perfection.

I’m going to harvest all the basil growing in my garden and make this pesto to see in the winter months by freezing in an ice cube tray and vacuum sealng in freezer bags.

The peas really really are delightfully sweet and pack a big protein punch,

Chalk up another epic recipe in Dana’s vault of vegan deliciousness!

As usual with Dana’s recipes, it was outstanding! Due to personal preference, I omitted the parsley from the pesto and also omitted the sun-dried tomatoes. I bought the English peas from Trader Joe’s and used half in the pesto and the other half in the pasta. I just sautéed them with garlic in a little olive oil and threw them in with the cooked pasta. I could’ve eaten the entire pot! Thanks, Dana!

We just love this recipe! I have a friend who cannot eat cow’s milk, but is fine with goat, so I subbed in goat cheese, rather than go with the Vegan Parmesan. Huge hit. Works great cold as a dip, as well, and the colour is so intense and beautiful beside a bowl of bright red salsa and bright yellow turmeric hummus (your recipe, of course). Thank you for all your hard work and well tested recipes!
We’re enjoying the cookbook very much as well.
-Ruth

This was so good! I omitted olive oil when I was sauteeing the sun-dried tomatoes and garlic because my sun-dried tomatoes are kept in oil already, I used walnuts in my pesto instead of the toasted pine nuts, just because I have more use for walnuts, and I used canned peas. I bet the pesto would have come out a little greener if I’d used fresh peas, but it tasted sooooo good! I just ate a whole plate and I’m so excited for the leftovers. A bunch of my friends said it looked great too so I made sure to share the recipe! This was really easy and really fast to make, would definitely make it again!

I made this last night for a group of six people, a mix of vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters. Except for one teenager who called it bland, everybody liked it but nobody raved. I’ve been reading other reviews and wondering if anything would make it better. I followed the recipe pretty closely but doubled it and used whole wheat pasta. The ingredients were expensive (pine nuts especially, but also the vegan parmesan, the sun dried tomatoes and even the basil, since I don’t grow it). Because of the recipe’s relative uniqueness, I’d like to keep it in my repertoire but only if it is something everybody really enjoys so I’m still thinking about this one.

I love pasta and peas together and am going to make this tonight! Thank you so much for continuing to inspire me in the kitchen with your wonderful recipes.

Awesome awesome awesome. Pea pesto is def. the way I’m going from here on out. Slam DUNK.

I love this recipe like all your other recipes I have tried!! So so tasty!!!

I’m a pregnant vegan who has been craving pesto pasta! This recipe surprised me just how delicious it turned out, so much flavour! Unfortunately I couldn’t find vegan parmesan cheese so I had to substitute with nutritional yeast flakes but still was amazing!

Love it love it love it! Tasty, creamy, easy and fast. Next time I will halve the amount of lemon, because it was a little too zingy for my taste. And also I would increase the amount of peas too 150 grams (because why not? :D). I also replaced halve of the olive oil with water. Thank you for this recipe!

I found this recipe from Kiera Rose’s channel ages ago and I just made it for the first time tonight, it’s excellent! We have nut allergies here so I subbed the pine nuts with fresh eggplant and it worked perfectly. I read somewhere that if you don’t want or can’t use nuts in a recipe eggplant is the way to go. Maybe the protein content went down a little but oh well, the consistency and taste were perfect and it was still surprisingly filling. I also love how easy it is to doctor to your needs. This is totally going into my meal prep rotation from now on!

Oh…I wanted to add to my above comment…I generally loathe parsley and peas (husband loves them both though)! But somehow this sauce was still SO amazing!

GREAT recipe! I made this oil-free and salt-free, with a lentil penne and it was super delicious! The sauce is absolutely perfect :) the toasted pine nuts as a garnish was fantastic too. This was a fast and easy dish to prepare too!
Trying to post a pic but it’s not working out.
Thanks for all the wonderfully delicious recipes! ❤️❤️❤️

Absolutely love this recipe! We’ve made it at-least 10 times by now, and its amazing every time! Great for taking with you on the go too, we make it a lot to bring camping/hiking/on beach days where we know we’ll be away from home for long periods of times, and it keeps great! Always satisfying and nutritious :)

YUM! This was a fantastic recipe. Made directly as-is and loved every bite :)

I have to give a shout out to Kiera Rose on YouTube for bringing this recipe to my attention in one of her videos — I love your recipes but had somehow missed this one!

Thank you so much for this recipe! It has brightened my life! This is so easy, delicious, & versitile!!! I’ve made it three times with different ingredients I had laying around. Today I used foraged dandelions! Amazing! I love making pesto aioli with some of it.

I love this recipe for summer. I’ve made it twice now and the second time I experimented with some modifications. I used Cilantro instead of parsley and I added a hunk of ginger too. I was scared to overdue the ginger, but next time I will add a little more. I gives a nice fresh zest to it. :)

I love this pesto. I like it more than traditional pesto. Great for the whole family. Thanks for all your great recipes. It has helped with all the allergies in the family