Vegan Almond Pesto

This quick and easy vegan almond pesto is sinfully delicious. Trust me, you will not know that it is vegan, it tastes super cheesy and nutty. Comes together in less than 5 minutes.

Course Dip

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword almond vegan pesto, pesto

recipe dip

Prep Time 5

Total Time 5

Servings servings

Calories 76kcal

Author Rachna Parmar

Equipment

1 Food Processor

Ingredients

2 cup basil leaves
½ cup almonds
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 cloves garlic
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

Instructions

This is a fairly simple recipe and all it needs is to assemble the ingredients. I lightly toast the almonds but you can use them raw too. If toasting them, you can air fry at 200C or 400F for 4 minutes. Let them completely cool before using them.
Wash the basil leaves well and dry them. Now take basil leaves, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, pepper and almonds in a food processor or blender. Pulse till everything is coarsely chopped.
Add in the lemon juice and pulse more. Finally add the olive oil slowly while the processor is running till your pesto has a nice sheen and is mostly smooth.
I leave the almonds slightly grainy. They taste so good and fresh. You can add more olive oil if your pesto is too dry.
Taste and adjust seasonings. Your delightful vegan almond pesto is ready to enjoy. You can store it in a bottle and refrigerate. It keeps well for a week.

Notes

1. Use fresh and good quality ingredients. Fresh basil, toasted almonds and good extra virgin olive oil makes this pesto sing.

2. Balance the flavours as per taste. The citrus from the lemon juice to balance the slight bitterness from the basil leaves. Use salt as per preference.

3. I would not advise to skip the garlic. It tastes so good.

4. You can store the pesto in an airtight jar for upto a week in your fridge.

5. You can skip nutritional yeast if you like but the flavour does alter especially the nutty cheesiness.

6. Add more almonds for a chunkier, grainy pesto and more greens for a smoother pesto.

Nutrition