Vegan Basil Pesto

This is an quick vegan pesto recipe with fresh basil, oregano, parsley and more. You can use it as a pasta sauce, a pizza sauce, on grilled vegetables with gnocchi, on burgers and more! It yields ~1 cup. For the best flavor, make it right before you want to use it.

A few things…

• ・Sautéing whole garlic cloves in the olive oil before adding it to the blender accomplishes two things. First, it cooks the garlic through a bit, and takes some of the edge off of it. And second, it helps infuse the olive oil with some of the garlic, as well.

• ・No need to take the fresh basil or parsley leaves off the stems for the vegan pesto. Pack your measuring cup with stems and all. You’re going to pulverize those babies in the blender, so don’t worry about it.

• ・With the fresh oregano, I would recommend ripping the leaves from the stem. Sometimes, oregano stems can be woody, which is less desirable for the overall texture. Use your judgement.

• ・Standard pesto sauce has a hard Italian cheese in it (like parmesan or pecorino romano), and that usually brings the salty component to the flavor. Here, we are relying on nutritional yeast and salt, because there is no cheese. If you taste the vegan basil pesto and it feels like it is missing something, add a little more salt and see where it lands. I’ve found it usually does the trick.
• Discover additional UVK recipes, like Kale Pesto Sandwich with Seitan and Apples, Vegan Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Sunflower Pesto Pasta Salad with Artichoke Hearts, Grape Tomatoes and Black Olives, and more.

And then, let’s get blending, and start slapping this homemade vegan basil pesto sauce recipe on everything that needs a fresh Italian flavor fix!

Vegan Basil Pesto

3 whole garlic cloves

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup fresh basil, packed

3/4 cup flat leaf parsley, packed

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt (see note above)

1. First, you’ll flavor the oil for the vegan basil pesto. In a small skillet, add garlic cloves and olive oil. Set the heat to HIGH. When it just starts sizzling, turn heat down to low. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until it is golden on all sides without burning or browning it (~3 minutes–stirring it around). Turn off the burner and set skillet aside to cool.

2. When garlic and olive oil has cooled a bit, add to a blender with all the rest of the ingredients listed above. Blend until smooth. Taste, and adjust flavor, if needed (salt? lemon juice?). Use this vegan basil pesto as a condiment, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, coating for veggies going on the grill, and more. Be creative!