Simple Vegan Pesto
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A vegan pesto recipe that is so simple to make with only 5 ingredients ( + salt/water ). Cashews are used in place of pine nuts and cheese for a budget friendly option. Oil free.
Pesto usually involves nuts, cheese, garlic, fresh basil and olive oil. This is my favorite version of vegan pesto, which still has plenty of garlic and fresh basil flavor, but is made without any cheese or olive oil! The cashews provide a buttery, cheesy taste and are a lot cheaper than pine nuts, which are often called for in pesto.
I think you are going to love it! Try it with any kind of pasta you like for a super quick and fancy meal, or use it on pizza, sandwiches, wraps, as a dip or salad dressing. The possibilities are endless, and I just know this will be your new go-to pesto recipe!
How do you make simple vegan pesto?
It really couldn’t be easier! Add all the ingredients plus 1/4 cup water to a food processor. Process until smooth and creamy, adding more water as desired.
This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
Simple Vegan Pesto is good everywhere!
- Spread some on a sandwich with some veggies and avocado
- Use as a salad dressing, thinned out with water
- Serve with any kind of pasta
- Use in place of pizza sauce for pesto pizza
- Serve with vegetables and pita chips for a pesto dip
- Stuff some jumbo shells with it
Can you make pesto nut free?
If you have an allergy to cashews, you can use raw slivered almonds or pine nuts in place of the cashews. If you can’t have any of those, you can use pepitas or sunflower seeds. But the recipe does taste best with cashews, as they give it a buttery, cheesy flavor.
Can pesto be frozen?
Yes, pesto is one of my favorite meals for freezing! In fact, I froze a version of this in preparation for the birth of my last child. To freeze, I recommend using an ice cube tray. You can freeze the pesto in the tray, then once frozen, pop them out and place in a large ziplock freezer bag or other container with a label, of course. When ready to eat, simply defrost a couple of cubes, or more as needed.
Want more Vegan Pasta recipes?
- Stuffed Jumbo Shells
- The Best Vegan Lasagna
- Vegan Baked Ziti
- Vegan Alfredo
- The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese
Simple Vegan Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2-3 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 cups fresh basil, loosely packed
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4-1/2 cup water
- Optional: 8 ounces pasta
Instructions
- To a food processor, add the cashews, garlic, basil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and 1/4 cup water. Process until smooth, adding more water as desired for a thinner consistency.
- If serving with pasta, cook the noodles according to package instructions, then toss with the pesto, adding more water as needed to thin the pesto.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Pesto also freezes well for up to 6 months. I freeze it in an ice cube tray, then pop the cubes out and stick them in a ziplock freezer bag or container.
Notes
- This vegan pesto goes great with any kind of pasta, on pizza, as a dip with vegetables or pita chips, as a salad dressing (thinned out with water), or spread on a sandwich.
- The pesto will thicken up in the refrigerator. Simply thin it out with water each time you use it, as needed.
- Allergic to cashews? Use pine nuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds or raw slivered almonds.
Nutrition
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41 Comments on “Simple Vegan Pesto”
delicious! easy to make. Curious to know “serving size” so I can enter into MyFitnessPal
Thank you! I don’t know the exact serving size, but if you divided the entire recipe by 6, that would be one serving. Probably about 1/3 cup.
Oh my goodness!! This was amazing!!! I had lots of fresh basil from my garden and wanted to try pesto…so, so glad I used this recipe for my first try at pesto. My husband, who is not always a fan of vegan food, scarfed it down and gave it a two thumbs up!! I added corn and grape tomatoes to the pasta, and it was hard to stop eating it. Shared the recipe with my daughters.
I will be making this all the time now. Definitely agree with Kiera, it is the best vegan pesto I’ve tried! Thank you
best vegan pesto I’ve tried!! big win so thank you nora!!
You’re so welcome!!
Just made this. Substituted mushroom broth for the water. And used 3 cloves of garlic. :-). Fantastic and I loved it! Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
I made this dish with what I had on hand. I used walnuts in replace of cashews. I used limes instead of lemons. In addition to the basil, I added a handful of fresh spinach leaves. Otherwise I followed the recipe as written. It turned out great. Will definitely make again.
Thank you! Walnuts sounds like a good substitution, I’ll have to try it.
I was so happy to finally find a pesto recipe that doesn’t use oil! This had so much flavor, I stuck it into the fridge after making it and before serving it in order to thicken it up. When I make this again I will probably add more basil to give it a greener color, other than that it was amazing!!
Awesome recipe! I made a traditional pesto first with lots of oil and cheese and although I don’t eat cheese I tasted it for seasoning. This vegan version is so much better! Light and just as flavorful. Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re so welcome!! Thanks for the comment!
Made this today for a small get together and it was delicious!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
AMAZING!!!! This is so easy and delicious! This will be my staple vegan pesto recipe from now on! I did make a tiny change since basil is not in season yet (plus I wanted to experiment): I used 1 cup basil and 1 cup baby spinach. Wow. So. Good. Thank you!
You’re so welcome!
Hi! You’re recipes are great. This sounds yummy. I’m not vegan- I was wondering why “raw” cashews or nuts are to be used. If I use regular cashews is there a big taste difference. I’m just unaware, thanks!
Raw cashews are better because they are sort of buttery tasting, and mimic cheese and cream really well. Roasted cashews will work here, but you might detect more of a nutty taste.
Made it tonite and it was so amazing and flavorful. Used real lemons and we added lemon zest and it really punched up the flavor. The family was so sad when it was finished! Can’t wait to make it again!
That’s so great! Thanks for the comment!
This is so delicious and I’m so happy it is dairy and oil free! Amazing how much flavor there is, I’m a fan for life! Adding this with some spaghetti squash and roasted harvest tomatoes for dinner tonight. I’m sure it will be phenomenal! Thank you! 😋
You’re welcome!
Tried it. Not enough basil for me, I kept adding more lol. Then more water to compensate, but it still was a little dry for my liking. Not sure what everyone’s deal is with oil… a quality olive oil with minimal heat is healthy, so I think I’ll add it next time to give a better consistency. That being said, I love the use of cashews! Using just pine nuts is too bitter for me. The cashews gave a more mellow flavor, but I think an in-between would taste great, like 2/3 cashews and 1/3 pine nuts. So thanks for that great idea! The nutritional yeast was also a nice touch! 🙂
Made it and really like it. Good to add to lots of different foods. You say it makes 6 servings. What is the serving size?
I have never measured it exactly, you could divide it by 6 to know for sure, but I think about 1/4 cup is one serving.
Great recipe, tasty and easy to prepare
Taste so good!
Glad you liked it!
I’ve been experimenting a lot with vegan recipes and recently trying to cut oils out of my diet. I came across this recipe and thought why not try it. I will say I make amazing traditional pesto regularly, like at least 4/5 times a year so I do have high standards. Expecting this to be you know second rate okay pesto compared to my original. I was so pleasantly surprised as to how good this is. Like I’d say very comparable to the regular stuff that’s full of oil and parm. So to see how much less fat I can use and still make an extremely tasty pesto was really exciting. I love it, highly recommend this recipe
Thanks for the recipe–its definitely a keeper. I’ve made it twice now and am playing with the quantities of basil, doubling it the second time around. I also made it in my Vitamix because I wanted a creamier sauce. That is a little harder to do than the blender because it requires liberal use of the tamper, but it did work and the texture of sauce was more to my liking.
I’m so glad you are enjoying the pesto recipe! Thanks for the tips about the blender.
This was really good. Do you know how long ot keeps in the fridge?
I would say 3-4 days. Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Where do you get your basil? We have a basil plant (that is small) and 2 cups FRESH BASIL is a lot… But we love pesto! So I’m trying to figure out how I can get my hands on that much fresh basil. Whenever I’ve bought it at the store fresh it’s always like 2 small sprigs…
Trader Joe’s usually has large amounts of basil, but I’ve gotten it at regular grocery stores as well. Of course it’s easier to find in the summer for sure, and usually I grow my own and have plenty. It’s also 2 cups loosely packed basil if that helps!
So easy and not oily like traditional
Pesto. Very flavorful. Thanks for another great recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this pesto! I know what you mean, I don’t like the extreme oiliness and olive oil taste of most pesto. Thanks so much!
Thank you for this delicious recipe. It’s amazing!
Thanks so much!
So easy, delicious, and affordable!! Thank you. Just what I needed in my life. 🙂