I don’t know how I have lived all these years without knowing pesto sauce!!!
Until I moved to the United States I had no clue what one could do with all that sweet basil. I mean, yes, I did watch a couple of cooking shows boasting about the fresh sweet basil but all I could relate to it was the Margarita Pizza and that’s it! One more step and there was pesto noodles and that’s it again!
The more I discovered the many uses of pesto sauce, the fonder I grew of it. Ever since then, I have loved a good pesto sauce on almost anything from noodles, pasta, pizza, crescent rolls, sandwiches and even with crackers. I am sure I am missing out on more here.
A jar of pesto sauce has always been a important part of my grocery list, until I found out that I could make a batch of it at home myself. I know, right? I had been this person , growing basil in her garden for the last 2 years and hadn’t tried making her own pesto sauce. I feel silly even journaling this.
Anyhow, a couple of recipe searches on the internet and finally its was the Minimalist Baker’s recipe that inspired me to create my own batch of creamy , delicious and super easy pesto sauce.
This recipe is as simple as you can think of and needs readily available ingredients besides pine nuts and nutritional yeast to replace the traditional parmesan cheese. However, if you find vegan grated parmesan cheese, I think it would work just as well as adding nutritional yeast. The other ingredients required are fresh basil (and you most likely have your own growing in your garden), garlic cloves, salt, lemon juice and some good quality olive oil. I did swap the lemon juice with some apple cider since I didn’t have any in stock and the flavors turned out just fine. Add them in a blender and this creamy and flavorful batch of pesto sauce is ready in no time at all.
Vegan Creamy Pesto Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of fresh basil leaves with their stems removed
- 4 tbsp of nutritional yeast
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/3 cup of pine nuts
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice (original recipe) or apple cider vinegar (is what I used since I had no lemons at home)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- around 6 tbsp of water
Directions
- Wash and remove the stems from the basil leaves and peel the garlic cloves.
- To a blender or food processor, add all the above ingredients other than the oil and the water, and blend on high speed to get a pesto paste consistency.
- Make sure that you add the olive oil a little at a time as you scrape down the mixture from the sides of the food processor jar.
- Also keep adding water gradually to make sure that the paste has a thick sauce like consistency and not a runny one.
- Adjust the flavor and seasoning as needed by adding a little more salt or the nutritional yeast / vegan paremsan cheese for a cheesy flavor.
- That’s it! This easy vegan and creamy pesto sauce is ready for your creative recipes.
How long can this Pesto Sauce be stored?
As per the recipe, I have been able to store this sauce in an air tight container in the refrigerator, for easily upto a week. If you can’t wait that long to use it in your recipes, even better. 🙂
Some ideas for using Pesto Sauce in everyday cooking are:
- Of course pastas. Tossing some pesto sauce in some hot fresh pasta is one of the best uses of this amazing sauce.
- I like to use it to make sandwiches as well. Pesto sauce has all the right ingredients and flavours and can really spice up a sandwich. Here is a pesto and tofu sandwich that I made and I loved it!
- If you don’t always enjoy having a vegan cheese pizza, swap the marinara sauce and the cheese with some good amount of pesto sauce and top it with oilves, tomatoes and seasonl veggies of your choice.
- Pesto sauce also makes for a great crescent roll filling and a quick, no-sweat appetizer if you want to use it a dip with some classic crackers.
Enjoyed the recipe?
I’d love to know what you think. ❤
Nabomita ❤
From My Vegan Diary 