How to Make Plant-Based Pesto
I grew up crazy for pasta and, to be honest, pesto wasn’t a usual thing in my home - but I had friends with Italian grandparents and they made this on the regular. So I had to set out to tackle how to make plant-based pesto and I think I’ve got a winner.
It’s dairy-free, but instead we use soaked cashews to add to the creamy factor while using nutritional yeast to help with some of that much desired cheesy flavour.
Pasta is the usual thing to use with pesto. So if that's your jam then check out my super fast plant-based pesto pasta recipe. But now that you know how to make plant-based pesto there’s no reason you can’t use this instead of tomato sauce on pizza, or even as a spread on a sandwich. Toss it into a salad!
Here’s how to make plant-based pesto to top on pasta or pizza dough or however you like it. Dairy free but high on delicious!
- 1/4 cup Raw Cashews
- 2 cup Fresh Basil
- 2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 3 clove Garlic (chopped)
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1/8 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 cup Unsweetened Plant-Based Milk (i like almond or oat for this)
Place the cashews in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for 30 minutes and then drain.
Place cashews in a food processor with everything else except the non-dairy milk. Cover and process until pretty-much smooth, adding plant milk 1 tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency, and stopping to scrape sides of the processor as needed.
To serve, toss 2 tablespoons of pesto with every 1 cup of hot cooked pasta. Or use instead of tomato sauce for pizza. Or use as directed in recipes. Transfer extra pesto in an airtight container. Cover surface with plastic wrap; chill up to 2 days. Freeze however long you want.
However you eat it, drizzle over your food and smash it into your face.
Servings 4
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 74kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 4.5g7%
- Saturated Fat 0.9g5%
- Sodium 75mg4%
- Potassium 201mg6%
- Total Carbohydrate 6.1g3%
- Dietary Fiber 1.7g7%
- Sugars 0.5g
- Protein 3.9g8%
- Calcium 36 mg
- Iron 2 mg
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
