Vegan Pesto Sauce

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Vegan pesto sauce should be a simple sauce to make, after all, it’s basil, extra virgin olive, garlic, and pine nuts, however, with a few adjustments in ingredients and method, we can make a vegan pesto that you will want to put on everything. Walnuts make this pesto stand out as a vegan pesto. It is challenging to replace Parmesan cheese just by using plants. The walnuts bring creaminess and earthiness, and the one thing that I think is the most important is a gentle amount of bitterness and a hint of sharpness, these are the very same flavor profiles of Parmesan cheese.
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What You’ll Need…

  • Basil that is fresh as possible. This will deliver a maximum amount of flavor and bring vibrant green color to the pesto.
  • Walnut baking pieces are a perfect size and very cost-effective.
  • Extra virgin olive oil: the higher the quality the better, floral notes, wine of pepper, and a slight note of bitterness all shine through a great extra virgin olive oil.
  • Nutritional Yeast: brings that cheese flavor to the pesto.

Substitutions and Swaps

  • Nutritional yeast: can be replaced with vegan Parmesan cheese (although you may want to add a bit less depending on the strength of the flavor).
  • Walnut baking pieces: can be replaced with pine nuts very easily

How To Make Vegan Pesto Sauce

walnut pesto ingredients big
Pesto sauce ingredients.
walnut pesto with spoon
Combine, blend, and enjoy!

Chef’s Tips for Vegan Pesto

  • When picking the basil leaves, do not include any of the stem, or bruised leaves. Both of these will make the vegan pesto sauce turn brown faster.
  • The first step in this recipe is a little different than most. I feel that combining all of the ingredients in the blender minus the basil and blending to emulsify first helps to keep the basil greener.
  • Heat is the enemy of keeping the basil bright green, so the quicker you can puree the pesto the better.
  •  Pesto freezes great, so you can make a batch eat some, and freeze the rest. 
walnut pesto 1x1

Vegan Pesto Sauce

Course: Sauce
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Pesto, Sauce, Vegan
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Blend time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 7 minutes
Servings: 9 ounces
Calories: 211kcal
Author: Those Vegan Chefs
Vegan pesto sauce should be a simple sauce to make, after all, it's basil, extra virgin olive, garlic, and pine nuts, however, with a few adjustments in ingredients and method, we can make a vegan pesto that you will want to put on everything. Walnuts make this pesto stand out as a vegan pesto. It is challenging to replace Parmesan cheese just by using plants. The walnuts bring creaminess and earthiness, and the one thing that I think is the most important is a gentle amount of bitterness and a hint of sharpness, these are the very same flavor profiles of Parmesan cheese. 
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Equipment

  • 1 High Speed Blender

Ingredients

Instructions

How to make vegan pesto

  • Place the water, walnuts, garlic, salt, red chili flakes, and nutritional yeast in the blend, slowly start to puree the mixture, and slowly add the extra virgin olive oil, it should only take about 20 seconds to emulsify the extra virgin olive oil.
  • Add the basil leaves, puree until smooth, about 15- seconds, remove from blender, and cool in the refrigerator until time to use.

Notes

Nutritional values are an estimate.

Nutrition

Calories: 211kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Sodium: 131mg | Potassium: 97mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 580IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 1mg

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