I don’t about you, but until recently I had no clue what was in pesto sauce other than I liked it so much. I used to buy Trader Joe’s Pesto alla Genovese and slurp it up with pasta, crackers and the like. After going vegan and realizing the pesto is made with parmesan, I was looking for a vegan pesto recipe that had the same umami but no dairy. Pesto, at its heart, is simply herbs and nuts mixed with a little garlic and oil. And it’s a flexible recipe where you can vary the herbs, nuts and the portions and it’ll still come out okay. This vegan pesto recipe uses all raw ingredients and has nutritional yeast that replaces dairy, but you can’t tell the difference!

Vegan Pesto Recipe

I’ll write about Udo’s oil in a different blog, but I have been reading about this a fair bit in the context of endurance sports and I ended buying a bottle. I’m consuming a couple of tbsps a day and I’ll report back how I feel after 30 days. Until then, you can replace Udo’s oil with good old Olive oil. The herbs and garlic override the Udo’s oil flavor anyways, but this recipe is packed with Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids as well as Vitamin B-12 from the nutritional yeast.

2 cups of fresh basil and cilantro, chopped

½ cup of organic raw walnuts

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, sliced

¼ cup of Udo’s oil

3 tbsp of nutritional yeast

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the basil and cilantro until you have 2 cups of them. Depending on how much you like one over the other (I’m a fan of both), vary the proportions. Add all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until they become a smooth, light paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste. A squirt of lime gives it a tangy flavor too. Cover and store chilled for an hour. Be prepared for it to be gone the moment you serve it!

What’s your favorite vegan pesto recipe?

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