Vegan Pesto! Delicious!!

Vegan pesto is fabulous on so many things….use as a pizza sauce, on pasta, a wrap, a sandwich, in a tofu scramble and much more. This recipe is super simple and easy to make. You will only need a few ingredients, a food processor and a little time.

I am going to share two versions of the same pesto recipe. One has a more dense texture and the other more creamy. Both delicious!

I took the dense version at a recent family gathering and differing opinions on how much people liked it. Some loved it, some said it was too thick. One thing they all agreed on was the taste. Fabulous!

Vegan Pesto

Below are two versions of the same recipe…awesome Vegan Pesto! One with raw almonds and one with pine nuts. For a third  version, you could combine the ideas and use half almonds and half pine nuts. The amount of oil you put in will also change the texture, some like their pesto oily, some do not. Have fun discovering the combination that works for you. Let me know what you think too?

What you’ll need for the almond/more dense version:

This recipe has a fuller texture, the flavour is wonderful and if you want it too be a bit easier to spread, you’ll want to go with the extra oil in the recipe.

• 2 c of fresh basil
• 1 c raw almonds
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 c nutritional yeast
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1/2 -2/3 c olive oil
• 3/4 t sea salt
• 1/2 t pepper

What you’ll need for the creamier version:

This recipe is bit creamier, really all you have to do is swap out the almonds for pine nuts to give it a creamier texture. You will need less oil in this version as the pine nuts have more natural oil.  I also lightly toasted the pine nuts before using.

• 2 c of fresh basil
• 1 c pine nuts (lightly toasted)
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 c nutritional yeast
• 1/2  c olive oil
• 1 T lemon juice
• 3/4 t sea salt
• 1/2 t pepper

Method:

If you have fresh basil in the garden, awesome. If not you can find it in the grocery store. Some stores have live plants that you can purchase and then you can continue to grow more at home!

1. 

   Pick your basil, wash, pat dry and de-stem the leaves.

2. To toast your pinenuts, heat up a heavy pan and turn on med-high. When the pan is hot, add the nuts and continue to stir as they toast (lightly brown).
3. Place your nuts (either raw almonds or toasted pine nuts) and garlic into the food processor and blend thoroughly
4. Add in your basil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and salt to the nut mixture and blend again till well mixed. For the almond version it will be a more crumbly texture and the pine nuts will be finer in texture.

   

5. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the processor with the processor still running. For the almond version, you will still have a fairly thick texture. The pine nut version will be a little more liquid because of the smoother texture of the nut. The oil will separate more from the pine nuts too.

   

   

6. Taste. Add in the pepper and more salt if needed.
7. Place in fridge and let the flavours blend for about an hour before eating.
8. In another blog, I am going to share three ways that I used the pesto, in a salad, on pizza and in a wrap. Really you can use it anywhere you want to add a beautiful Mediterranean flavour to your food.
9. Enjoy your Vegan Pesto!