The best vegan pesto is cheesy, garlicky and loaded with freshness and flavor. Perfect with pasta or pizza and ready in 10 minutes.
If there’s one thing it’s important to have in your vegan recipe repertoire it’s a good vegan pesto.
Regular pesto is usually made with dairy parmesan and pecorino cheeses. Vegan pesto of course doesn’t use dairy cheese so we create the cheesy flavors with nutritional yeast, lemon juice, crushed garlic and other spices.
It’s super easy to throw together without notice and you can serve it with pasta for a 10-minute meal that will literally wow absolutely everyone.
It’s gourmet as heck while being ridiculously simple.
If you love pesto then also check out our vegan pesto pasta and our sun dried tomato pesto.
How To Make Vegan Pesto
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add pine nuts, walnuts, olive oil, crushed garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, basil, parsley, water and salt and pepper to the food processor.
- Process until smooth.
- Your pesto is ready to serve!
Ingredient Notes
Fresh basil and fresh parsley. We used a mix of fresh basil and parsley in this pesto as the parsley provides a lovely balance to the flavor.
Pine nuts and walnuts. We used a mix of pine nuts and walnuts for the same reason – the walnuts provide some balance to the stronger flavor of the pine nuts. So the overall recipe has a lovely flavor balance between strong flavors and mild so that no particular flavor is overpowering.
Olive oil and water. We added ¼ cup water along with ¼ cup olive oil. The water helps to create the perfect texture to the pesto without adding too much heaviness from more oil.
Nutritional yeast and other spices. The cheesy flavor comes from some nutritional yeast, lemon juice, crushed garlic and of course sea salt and black pepper to round off the flavors beautifully.
Serving Suggestions
While this pesto is awesome with some pasta it’s not the only place for it! It’s also divine spread on some crusty bread or on top of a delicious vegan pizza.
You can also have it along with your salad as a salad dressing or on top of your veggies.
Try this pesto on a delicious vegan pasta salad or spread it on some homemade vegan dinner rolls or vegan focaccia.
Storing Instructions
Store leftovers in the fridge where it will stay fresh for 5-7 days. It’s also freezer friendly for up to 6 months.
More Delicious Vegan Italian-Inspired Recipes
- Vegan Alfredo
- Lentil Ragu
- Vegan Spaghetti Sauce
- Vegan Vodka Sauce
- Vegan Eggplant Parmesan
- Vegan Baked Ziti
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Pesto
Ingredients
- ½ cup Pine Nuts (68g)
- ½ cup Walnuts (50g)
- ¼ cup Olive Oil (60ml)
- 1 teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
- ⅓ cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes (20g)
- 1 cup Fresh Basil Leaves Packed
- ½ cup Fresh Parsley Packed
- ¼ cup Water (60ml)
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Add pine nuts, walnuts, olive oil, crushed garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, basil, parsley, water and salt and pepper to the food processor.
- Process until smooth.
- Serve with pasta or on top of pizza or spread on delicious crusty bread. Also makes a great topping for salads or vegetables.
Video
Notes
- Storing. It lasts at least 5 days (and up to a week) in the fridge.
- Freezing. It’s freezer friendly for up to 6 months.
This is definitely the best pesto I ever had. Hubby and I prefer it to shop-bought stuff hands down, and it is much nicer balanced than pestos I have made myself in the past. A winner! Thanks for working it out so well, it is a perfect balance.
Awesome! So happy to hear that Lisca, thanks for sharing! 🙂
Absolutely delicious. I made a few tiny alterations due to what I had available but am now enjoying pesto salad wraps!!! Mmmm
Awesome! Thanks Nicola! 🙂
How long could I freeze this? And what sort of container should I use? It’s delicious! We want to have some for the winter!
Hi Bree, so happy you like it! You can freeze it for up to 6 months. You can use freezer safe containers and then let them thaw overnight in the fridge before use. 🙂
When you say parsley, are you referring to English parsley or coriander?
We are referring to the fresh herb parsley. When we use coriander/cilantro we call it cilantro. 🙂
So good! I subbed half of the nutritional yeast for vegan Parmesan. We gobbled it all up! Best pesto we have ever had, hands down. I love that you use walnuts too it’s a great way to hide a really nutrient rich food from picky eaters 🙂
Love it Bree! Thanks so much for the awesome comment and rating! 🙂
Hi Alison. I just made this and loved it!
I wanted to do something with my garden basil as it has started dying off at the beginning of winter. As a result, I have made a few batches, which I hope to preserve.
Can I freeze the extra batches, or should we use it up now? TIA.
Hi Lisa! So happy you liked it! Yes, it is freezer friendly. I’ll update the recipe to include that info. All the best! 🙂
This was so flavorful and tasty! I used starchy pasta water and it’s just so scrumptious
Awesome! Thanks so much for the great review. 🙂
This pesto is unbelievably good. Prefer this pesto than the shops!!!!!
Honestly, the easiest and best pesto I have made. Fabulous. Thanks so much. Your blog is so reliable. It’s my regular go to.
That is the best praise! Thank you so much Neil. 🙂
This was a huge hit for everyone and will be replacing a former non-vegan favorite. Even my picky one said it tasted “pretty much the same”, which is a rave review for him. We are currently competing over the leftovers (whoever can get there the fastest….)
Hahaha the race is on! So happy to hear that Jeanette, thanks a million for the awesome review. 🙂
I was wondering if this recipe is possible without the nutritional yeast?
Hi Norma, I think you could leave it out, you will lose a little of the cheesy flavor to it, but it would still work without it. 🙂
I forgot to give it my rating, 5 stars of course!
Thanks Tanja! So glad it was delicious. It will definitely be delish on pizza! Thanks for posting. 🙂
Thank you for this recipe and it is indeed the best vegan pesto. I ate it with pasta and it was delicious! I will make this over and over and next time I will spread it on toasted bread with some sliced tomatoes and then on pizza.
I can’t thank you enough.
This recipe looks great! I’ve just ordered some nutritional yeast so I can try it! the only thing is that I want to put it with pasta for my kids’ lunchboxes and their school is nut-free, so I wondered what you think the best substitute for the nuts may be-I was wondering about sunflower and pumpkin seeds? Many thanks for any suggestions!
Hi Emily, I think both sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds could work great, or maybe a mix of the two would be best. Let us know how it goes. 🙂
This worked really well! Great recipe! I substituted all the nuts for sunflower seeds as they seemed to have the mildest flavour and it was really tasty. I let my three school boys taste it and was a great hit with two of them, the other said it was too spicy! I think that was on account of the garlic which was quite a generous teaspoon! I may also add a little more olive oil next time to make it mix through pasta more easily. But thumbs up for the recipe!
Thank you, and mahalo Alison, for your wonderful and delicious Vegan recipes! I am using them at home and also sharing with friends who are trying to eat wholesomely. I am for one that likes simple recipes, and yours really help… The savory flavors is just what people are looking for, as they transition…???????????
Hi Tima! That’s great, so glad you are enjoying the recipes! Thanks for posting! 🙂