Vegan Walnut Basil Pesto

If you have any basil still growing in your garden, or you find basil in your farmer’s market, quick, make some pesto! I refined my vegan pesto recipe so it’s closer to the pesto I made years ago when I was able to eat dairy.

Before finding out I was allergic to dairy, I loved to make pesto out of fresh basil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. I still love pesto, but now make it with vegan Parmesan cheese and substitute walnuts for pine nuts.

The flavor of this pesto depends on the vegan Parmesan cheese. I use both store-bought and homemade versions of vegan Parmesan in this recipe. Both turn out well, but I prefer the homemade vegan Parmesan I make out of cashews, coconut oil and nutritional yeast.

Pesto is simple to make. Put all ingredients into a food processor, pulse a few times, then, with the machine running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube. In seconds, you’ll have a delicious pesto sauce you can toss with pasta or serve with meat or use as a sandwich spread.

Springhouse Turtle

Print Recipe

Vegan Walnut Basil Pesto

By Springhouse Turtle – Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes

Dairy-free Parmesan cheese and raw walnuts combine with basil into a rich pesto sauce that's great over pasta, with meats or as a sandwich spread.

Ingredients

• 2 cups basil leaves, packed
• 3/4 cup grated vegan parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup raw walnuts
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 teaspoon pink salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

1

Put all ingredients except olive oil into the bowl of a food processor.

2

Pulse a few times to blend.

3

With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil down the feed tube.

4

Add an extra teaspoon or two of olive oil if the sauce is too thick.

5

Toss pesto with pasta, use as a sauce for meat or as a sandwich spread.

6

Store pesto sauce in a covered glass container for up to a week in the fridge.

Basil, garlic, vegan Parmesan cheese, walnuts, garlic, salt and olive oil are all you need to make vegan pesto.

Put all ingredients into a food processor, except olive oil. Pulse a few times, then pour the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the machine is running.

Process until the pesto is smooth. Serve with pasta, as a meat sauce or sandwich spread.

Pesto keeps in the fridge for a week, covered, in a glass container.

Springhouse Turtle