.png)
.svg){kind=small}
Homemade Vegan Pesto | Recipe And Tutorial
Pesto has become a staple food in the UK but with so many shop-bought pestos containing cheaper alternatives to traditional ingredients I wanted to share with you a cheap and easy homemade Vegan pesto sauce that is full of flavour.
How to make Pesto Vegano
Pesto pasta has always been my quick go to tea for my kids, and is definitely served up once a week in our home. It's a handy low carb dressing for Italian food whether it's on pasta, homemade pizza, or salads.
Like most shop bought sauces in jars, shop bought pesto has lots of unexpected ingredients - especially sugar. A Which? report a few years ago showed that some pesto's in the UK replace traditional ingredients with cheaper substitutes. Sunflower oil is used instead of olive oil, grana padano instead of Parmesan and cashew nuts instead of pine nuts.
Even bamboo fibres, potato flakes and nut flour are being used as cheaper alternatives to traditional ingredients.
Raising my family on a plant based diet also eliminates the majority of shop bought jars as most of them have parmesan in. (Not so) Fun fact: Parmesan isn't even suitable for a Vegetarian diet.
This has been my go to organic pesto recipe for a while now. It's quick, easy, and cheap to make. It’s just so much more vibrant and fresh, and you can control exactly how runny or thick you want your pesto to be. Just be sure to add more olive oil until your desired consistency is reached.
What you will need
- 2 cups of fresh Basil (Best basil substitute is: spinach, kale, watercress or herbs, such as parsley, mint, sage or tarragon)
- 2 large peeled cloves of garlic
- 2-3 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice
- 4 tbsp. of Vegan nutritional yeast to give the cheesy flavour
- 3 tbsp. of pine nuts (Best pine nut substitute is: cashews and walnuts (and you can use sunflower seeds if you have an allergy to nuts)
- 3 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil (if you want to substitute some of the oil use vegetable stock or water)
- 1 pinch of sea salt
- A blender or food processor
- Optional: Sometimes a chuck a small handful of spinach in too to get a few extra nutrients in.
Method
- Pop your basil, garlic, pine nuts (or alternative nut/seed), olive oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and salt into your blender and mix for 20 second bursts, scooping down the sides in between.
- Repeat step 1 until the desired thickness and texture is reached. I always add in 1-2 teaspoons of warm water in to make it less lumpy and more of a whip.
- Taste your pesto and alter the flavour as desired (more lemon, salt, nuts etc)
- Now time to serve your homemade vegan pesto. I like to have a 'cookathon' meal prep day, so always make mine up and store in a jam storage jar in the fridge for convenience. (Will keep for 5-7 days)
How long does homemade pesto last ?
This Mother of Grom easy vegan pesto sauce will last up to 5 -7 days if kept refridgerated in an airtight container (screwtop jam jar.) At room tempertaure homemade pesto will last for 2 days and if frozen, it will last for 3-4 months.
Share if you care ....
MoG x
Mother. Blogger. Maker. Baker.
Queen of the Sandals and Breaker of Paper Chains.
Father of Grom
Father. SEOnsai. Builder. Mugician.
Gen Xer Prancer and Breaker of Dancer.
MoG x
Mother. Blogger. Maker. Baker.
Queen of the Sandals and Breaker of Paper Chains.
.png)