Traditional & Cheese-Free Pesto
This recipe you can swap out traditional parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast to make it vegan friendly. So you still have all the flavour of the herbs, nuts and good olive oil which is the base of traditional pesto sauces. And nutritional yeast helps give it that nice cheesy flavour with out actually adding and cheese. Makes about 2 cups. 1 tbsp = 1 serving
Equipment
- Food processor or small blender
- Measuring cup
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 2 cups Fresh Basil fresh, cleaned and dry
- 2 tbsp Walnuts or nuts of your choice, make it nut free by using sunflower or pumpkin seeds
- 3 Garlic cloves peeled
- 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp sea salt or to taste
- 3 tbsp Olive oil extra virgin, cold pressed
- 3 tbsp Water filtered, more if needed
Instructions
- basil, nuts or seeds, garlic, nutritional yeast or cheese and sea salt to your food processer or small blender and blend into a nice paste consistency.
- Gradually add the oil in by drizzling a little at a time while blending if possible.
- Scrape down the sides and blend again.
- Add in 1 tbsp of water at a time and blend until consistency desired.
- Add the pesto sauce into a glass container with a lid and store in the fridge. Or alternatively, you could freeze in single portions and take out as needed.
Notes
Like more zip! Add 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon in the beginning when blending.
Make it nut-free: Swap out sunflower or pumpkin seeds for the nuts.
Make it dairy-free: Swap out the parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast.
Nutrition
Serving: 1tbspCalories: 37kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 52mgPotassium: 18mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 166IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!