Whether you are growing your own basil or you plan to buy some, this vegan pesto is simple to make and comes with freezing tips to have enough pesto all year round. Enjoy with your pasta, potatoes, pizza, crusty bread, salads, or sandwiches!
For the past years, we've been growing our own basil plants for mainly two reasons: it makes for great natural pest control for our vegetable plants, and our family loves pesto! In early summer, we can start harvesting our pesto, and we much prefer doing this in bit batches, so we prepare a big jug of pesto that we freeze to keep for the coming months.
Once the basil plant starts to flower, the taste of the leaves changes, so we leave it to dry to keep the seeds for next year. This is how we have an unlimited supply of basil and, of course, pesto!
If you have basil plants, a little trick I use to harvest the basil is trimming one of the main stems to a point where you find a set of side shoots, allowing the main stem to grow into two stems.
I learned this trick from a friend a few summers ago, and my basil plants are now so much bigger!
Once you have your basil whether that's from your own plant or store-bought, let's check out how to make a delicious vegan pesto.
Ingredients
- Fresh basil leaves. You'll need fresh basil to make your pesto. There are different types of basil, so make sure you're using a basil plant that has big leaves. You can also make basil with purple basil, which we've tried before, and the taste is very similar.
- Olive oil. We use extra virgin olive oil to make our fresh pesto.
- Pine nuts. I use pine nuts for my vegan pesto to keep this recipe as original as possible. Now, I know pine nuts can be very expensive, so you're more than welcome to use other types of nuts. If we don't have pine nuts, we normally add cashews or Macadamia nuts.
- Yeast flakes. This is our substitute for the parmesan that goes in the classic pesto. Nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor to the sauce. Check out some substitutes for nutritional yeast if you don't have this ingredient.
- Garlic.
Cooking Method
First, you'll need to separate the leaves from the steams of your basil. To make pesto, you can use the whole plant, but we prefer to only use the leaves. Then, wash and dry all the leaves with a paper towel.
Add all the ingredients to make the pesto in a food processor or blender. We normally make a big batch when making pesto so we can freeze it, and our food processor works best for that. If you are making a smaller batch, a smaller blender will work fine.
Incorporate the fresh basil, pine nuts, yeast flakes, garlic cloves, and olive oil.
Blend all the ingredients, and if needed, keep adding some more olive oil while blending the pesto. You may need to stop a few times to scrape down the bits left on the sides of the blender and make sure all the leaves are finely chopped and incorporated into the pesto sauce.
Now, you can use this pesto to make some of your favorite recipes, such as Trenette al pesto or you can freeze it to stock up on pesto for the upcoming months.
If you want to freeze the pesto, transfer the sauce into an ice cube tray. Depending on the size of your tray, you'll be able to fit more or less sauce in each space.
Fill up all the ice cube tray cubes and seal with some more olive oil. Then leave the ice cube tray in the freezer overnight so the pesto completely freezes.
Once frozen, you can transfer the homemade pesto to a Ziplock bag and freeze it for up to six months.
To thaw the pesto, simply take one or two cubes, depending on the amount of pesto you need, leave it to completely thaw at room temperature, or place it in a frying pan at low heat to thaw the vegan pesto slowly.
Vegan Basil Pesto (With Freezing Instructions)
Ingredients
- 5 cups fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ½ cup yeast flakes
- 2 garlic clove
- ¾ cups extra virgin olive oil
- A pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
- First, you'll need to separate the leaves from the stems of your basil. To make pesto, you can also use the stems, but we prefer to only use the leaves. Then, wash and dry all the leaves with a paper towel.
- Add all the ingredients to make the pesto in a food processor or blender.
- Incorporate the fresh basil, pine nuts, yeast flakes, garlic cloves, half of the olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Blend all the ingredients, and if needed, keep adding some more olive oil while blending the pesto. You may need to stop a few times to scrape down the bits left on the sides of the blender and make sure all the leaves are finely chopped and incorporated into the pesto sauce.
- Now, you can use this pesto to make some of your favorite recipes, such as Trenette al pesto or you can freeze it to stock up on pesto for the upcoming months.
Freezing Instructions
- If you want to freeze the pesto, transfer the sauce into an ice cube tray. Depending on the size of your tray, you'll be able to fit more or less sauce in each space.
- Fill up all the ice cube tray cubes and seal with some more olive oil. Then leave the ice cube tray in the freezer overnight so the pesto completely freezes.
- Once frozen, you can transfer the homemade pesto to a Ziplock bag and freeze it for up to six months.
- To thaw the pesto, simply take one or two cubes, depending on the amount of pesto you need, leave it to completely thaw at room temperature, or place it in a frying pan at low heat to thaw the vegan pesto slowly
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Nutrition
How to use Pesto
Our kids love pesto, and because is made with fresh ingredients and packed with protein and good fats from the nuts, we try to make it quite often and combine it with different ingredients. Some of our favorite ways to use pesto include:
- Pasta, of course! Trenette al pesto is one of our favorites as we can use green beans and potatoes from our garden. Also, this pasta dish with broccoli and avocado is a favorite at home.
- To add as a base to your summer tarts, like our cherry tomato tart.
- Smashed potatoes with pesto. We love making some crispy smashed potatoes and serving them with some pesto on top.
- With roasted veggies. During the colder months, we prepare a tray of roasted veggies, and our kids love it when we make some pesto on the side. Normally, for this, we use frozen pesto that we made during basil season.
- As a pizza topping. Yes! You can add pesto as a pizza topping; it goes amazing, adding some saltiness and fantastic flavor to your slice of pizza.
- Sandwiches. Ever tried making a pesto sandwich? We love making them for a beach day, adding some pesto, some vegan slices, and fresh tomatoes, so yummy!
- Salads. Enjoy some pesto on your favorite salads. We love adding a dash of pesto on this zucchini salad, just makes it even better!
FAQ
Yes, you can. We don't use them as they are normally quite thick, but if you buy your basil from the supermarket, the sticks will normally be thinner and perfect to use.
If you are not freezing your pesto, it can be saved in the fridge using an airtight container for 1 week. Make sure the pesto is properly submerged in oil.
Pesto color can vary depending on the ratio you use for nuts and basil. We like using a lot of basil, to make use of our bushy plants while other people add more pine nuts.
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