Quick and Easy Vegan Pesto Recipe

I have a confession.. I’ve never actually made a vegan pesto recipe before. It wasn’t even until I started working at a vegan restaurant that I had a taste! I fell in love immediately. The way lemon sensually pairs with basil is almost too perfect. Known for being notoriously easy to make, I dove right into the recipe-writing and testing!

Fresh ingredients for a simple and delicious vegan pesto recipe.

I wanted to keep things simple, but also felt compelled to experiment (of course!). Nutritionally, hemp seeds and pine nuts are both powerhouses. I went with a blend for the base of the pesto. They get along perfectly, both having a semi-neutral flavor and extremely similar texture. Hemp seeds also happen to be way cheaper per pound! Yay!

(Feel free to substitute the hemp seeds for more pine nuts, as needed. It should turn out similar!)

Whole cloves of garlic, fresh basil, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast combine for a taste surprisingly similar to the non-vegan style! My partner couldn’t believe how much it tasted like parmesan, and was shocked to find out it was nutritional yeast based! (he practically hates nooch!)

A vegan pesto recipe for every occasion!

I purposefully lessened the sometimes overwhelming lemon flavor for a multipurpose pesto sauce. This is perfect on pasta (duh!), but also goes amazingly well on toast, bread, veggies, or even as sauce on pizza! The options are virtually endless! Even better, it takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, so you can throw it together last-minute.

Nick @ ServingRealness.com Serves 1.5 cups 48 Quick and Easy Vegan Pesto Recipe Fresh and delicious, simply combine in food processor and is ready to serve. Packs an impressive 9 grams of protein per serving! 5 minPrep Time 10 minCook Time 15 minTotal Time Save Recipe Save Recipe Print Recipe My Recipes My Lists My Calendar Ingredients 2 cloves of garlic

2 cups basil

3 tablespoons pine nuts

2 tablespoons hemp seeds (or more pine nuts)

Salt and pepper to taste

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil (or more)

1/3 cup nutritional yeast Instructions Pulse garlic in food processor until diced Add rest of ingredients (save the nutritional yeast) and pulse a couple more times to pulverize While on lowest speed, slowly pour in olive oil and combine until desired consistency. (I prefer a thicker pesto, if you would rather a smoother consistency experiment with adding more oil) Stir in nutritional yeast by hand and serve! Notes Keeps in airtight container in fridge for up to a week. Nutrition Calories 48 cal Fat 1 g Carbs 6 g Protein 5 g Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info 7.8.1.2 52 Nick Abell

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