Simple Vegan Pesto Recipe on Food52 (2024)

I LOVE this pesto! I cannot even count the number of times I've made this. I freeze the extra in an ice cube tray so I have individual portions when needed. I put it on everything...fish, veggies, avo toast. I love cheese, but do not miss it at all in this recipe.

I love this pesto and it's so versatile. I used walnuts and pistachios and would recommend! Running low on basil? Add some baby spinach!

patw February 8, 2022

We love this pesto. We have a nut allergy so regularly substitute a combination of pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, and hemp seeds (sometimes all 3). We have also made this with arugula instead of basil and it was fantastic.

So good! Thank you, and vegan to boot! And thanks to all the reviewers. Your suggestions helped!

There isn’t many recipes I don’t like on this wonderful website , but this recipe has way to much oil . After I was done it basically tasted to oily ..way to oily I added more basil 1 garlic a few more nuts and more lemon juice . It’s an easy fix for a season cook. But if you need to follow a recipe decrease the oil amount with 1/3 of a cup if you like lemony which I do because it gives more flavor you can add 1 more table spoon ...taste has you go !

This pesto came out very well. I ended up adding about another 1/4 cup of walnuts since I may have added a little too much basil. It's a wonderful pesto and glad to have found it. The nutritional yeast is a great substitute for the parmesan cheese. Thank you!

This was so good. My whole family enjoyed it even the non vegans. I did however add more olive oil because I wanted it to duplicate our restaurant version. Thank you!

What a great recipe. I'm raw vegan and really wanted to explore how to make pesto without Parmesan. The only thing was I had to drizzle a little water while blending to get it all puréed. Still it has great consistency and I poured it over my salad. Yum!

Great flavor and color, but the pesto separated. I had to add oil (slow drizzle) before all was mixed up due to lack of no fluid. How do people manage that? Smaller batches I guess. . I did this in my Vitamix. Maybe will try doing it next time in CuisineArt. Comments/suggetions?

This is delicious! I am cutting back on superfluous dairy; I don’t miss the cheese at all in this. I made mine in the blender (my only food processor type thing is a mini chopper), which was fiddly, but manageable. I did my nuts/garlic in two batches, scraped it out, followed by the basil in batches. I layered everything back into the pitcher then proceeded with the recipe as written (adding a bit more XVOO, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, then blending a final time). The secret to not wasting ANY pesto is to use a narrow bladed silicone spatula to scrape every last bit out. If you don’t mind all that fiddliness, then don’t bother buying a food processor (I never used my old one and it didn’t make the cut when we moved).

Lmp March 7, 2018

I wanted to love this but sadly, after following the recipe mostly to a tee, this pesto came out SO bitter. Could it have been the walnuts? Even after adding parsley and more olive oil, I had to throw it out. 😢

This is really really really good. Rivals any non-vegan pesto I've ever had. I can't believe how much "cheesy" flavor the nutritional yeast adds. Thanks for the recipe!

Jen August 25, 2017

This is spectacular holy cow! Was just looking for a quick lunch, I didn't know I'd find my new favourite thing! I used cashews instead of pine nuts or walnuts because it's all I had on hand, and it really turned out fantastic! I even skipped the nutritional yeast because I JUST ran out, and it was still super good! Im so impressed! Thank you for this recipe!

This has been my go-to for years because a bag of nutritional yeast costs way less than good parm and lasts longer, too. Now that I have to be dairy-free, I'm doubly glad to have this recipe up my sleeve.

Delicious, followed recipe exactly and I'm in love with this pesto 😊 I put in on bow tie pasta, so yummy!

I didn't have *quite* enough basil, so I supplemented with some parsley and chives. Super yummy! With the nooch, I didn't add any extra salt.

Delicious w/ gnocchi! So delicious... I used toasted almonds as my nut, pineapple vinegar as my acid (I didn't have a lemon on hand), and added some red pepper flakes. I don't have a food processor, so I used my Vitamix and lost way too much pesto to the Vitamix, yet...it was so good I must just deal with the wonkiness of the Vitamix again, or perhaps this pesto will finally get me to buy a food processor. : )

I tried this last week and it was delicious. I just tried it again and it tastes so strange, almost inedible and doesn't have that bright green colour like last time. The basil is fresh from the garden, could it be the walnuts? Any thoughts?

Oh! Forgot to mention, I always make this pesto when my basil is starting to turn brown. I toss in the stems, too.... lots of flavor hiding in those.

This is YUMMY! I substituted toasted walnuts, as pine nuts were too pricey. I used just a few tablespoons of oil. This freezes beautifully. Once you thaw and slather on hot pasta, you could never tell it's been frozen.