5 Minute Homemade Vegan Pesto

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There are few better things than a sauce that sits in your fridge that you can reach for as a dip, a spread, or a sauce for pasta, and for me, pesto is that sauce that never lets me down. It adds so much flavor to everything without being overpowering or too thick like a lot of sauces and dips that cause my an upset stomach.

Thanks to my brother gifting Christian and me a Click & Grow for Christmas last year, we have had endless supply of fresh basil growing in our apartment, and I jump at every opportunity to use it. Today’s experiment, however, was our first attempt at homemade pesto. And for the hell of it, after coming across a fresh bag of nutritional yeast yesterday in my kitchen clean out and wanting to use it, I opted for a vegan pesto replacing the usual parmesan with nutritional yeast, and opting for pistachios in place of pine nuts simply because I didn’t have any. I was confident this would work well as I have been a long-time fan of Trader Joe’s Vegan Kale Pesto.

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This recipe came out so delicious (cue my Italian chef kiss) with the perfect texture and taste, and will definitely be a staple in my fridge from here on out. You can always add in more red pepper flakes for more of a kick, real cheese for the melt-in-your-mouth taste, and pine nuts or almonds in place of pistachios. This recipe made about 12 ounces of sauce, so double or half accordingly.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves (I highly recommend getting a Click & Grow where you can grow three different herbs at once indoors with little to no effort - we currently have all three basil, but are planning on switching two of them out for mint and chili peppers for summer recipes once the weather warms up!)

  • 1 cup spinach

  • 1/3 cup unsalted pistachios peeled

  • 3 cloves fresh garlic

  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

  • Juice of half a lemon

  • 1 tsp of salt

  • 1 tsp crushed red pepper

  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

Place all ingredients into food processor and blend until all ingredients are combined and smooth. Store in refrigerator and enjoy.

foodMorgan JonesComment