This Dairy-free Basil Pesto is just like the original, it’s garlicky, fresh and full of flavour. It’s perfect to serve with pasta but also on a pizza or sandwich.
I’m obsessed with basil pesto. My mum would always make loads of it when younger and we would always have a jar of fresh homemade pesto in the fridge. This is why I never buy store bought pesto. Not only is it cheaper and so easy to make it is a lot a lot tastier! My mum’s pesto is not vegan, as is the traditional Italian pest, but I created a vegan version that is really similar to it. I hope you like it as much as I do!
The traditional pesto is made with basil, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan and pecorino cheese. It can be easily made vegan by replacing the cheese with nutritional yeast, which is very often used in many vegan recipes where there is a need for a “cheesy” flavour. All you need to do is blend all the ingredients and you have your delicious pesto, no cooking required.
This Dairy-free Basil Pesto is:
- Super easy
- Quick, ready in 5 minutes
- Creamy
- Fresh
- Light
- Flavourful
What you will need:
The main ingredients for this super easy vegan pesto are:
- Fresh Basil
- Nuts, any type
- Nutritional Yeast
- Good quality olive oil
- Garlic
- Pasta, If you’re gonna eat it with pasta, I suggest fresh pasta!
What to serve this dairy-free basil pesto with?
As you can see in the pictures, I love to have pesto with fresh pasta, but there are other delicious options! You can try it with other types of pasta such as tagliatelle, gnocchi or with lasagne. It is also great to use in a traybake, to season a potato salad, in a buddha bowl, simply spread over toast or in a salad. The options are endless!
More pesto recipes
Dairy-Free Basil Pesto | Traditional Italian Recipe Made Vegan
Ingredients
- 100 g basil
- 25 g walnuts (1/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Salt to taste
- 400 g Pasta
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients and put them in a blender or food processor. Alternatively, you can use a mortar to grind the ingredients by hand.
- If you’re eating it with pasta, cook your pasta al dente. The cooking time depends on the pasta, I used fresh “trofie” and it took 4 minutes. I like to add the pasta water to the pesto while it’s blending to make it really creamy. Alternatively, keep some pasta water aside, drain the pasta, then for each tbsp of pesto you add to the pasta add some pasta water so everything is mixed well.
3 replies on “Dairy-Free Basil Pesto | Traditional Italian Recipe Made Vegan”
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