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An easy dairy-free pesto recipe made with nutritional yeast, basil, olive oil, and nuts, and is perfect as a pasta sauce, on chicken, or on your favorite pizza. You’re going to be trying to find ways to include this vegan pesto sauce on everything!
Pesto is literally one of the best sauces known to man-kind.
I like to think of it as a miracle worker because I haven’t ever tried a food that was covered in pesto that I really didn’t like. Old bread? Smear some pesto. Bland zucchini noodles? Pesto.
This dairy-free pesto is perfect for someone who is on an anti-inflammatory diet or can’t have any dairy because we use other delicious flavors to give it that authentic pesto taste but without the dairy.
It’s also vegan and paleo approved, so anyone with a certain diet is able to enjoy this pesto. Naturally it is soy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free, and it can easily be made nut-free, too.
Pine-nut are also used in this recipe to help add some major flavor and texture to this pesto, but you can also use any type of seed as well.
This best pesto recipe is simple, flavorful, and full of good for you wholesome ingredients, which basically gives you the right to slather it on everything. Not kidding.
What’s in this dairy-free pesto?
We’ve got tons of fresh, flavorful ingredients in this dairy-free pesto. In fact, we used the basil from our backyard to make it even fresher, this is totally optional because most grocery stores offer fresh basil!
Ingredients in dairy-free pesto:
Basil – fresh basil is key for this recipe! The leaves will help give the pesto the perfect texture and the freshest flavor.
Nutritional yeast – don’t be frightened by the name! Nutritional yeast is just a deactivated strain of yeast that has a delicious parmesan flavor. It comes in yellow flakes and can be found in most grocery stores! I get mine at Whole Foods or on Amazon. **If you don’t want to use nutritional yeast, you can leave it out!
Lemon – adds the perfect bit of acid. Fresh lemon juice is best here!
Pine nuts – we used pine nuts in this recipe, but walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds would also work great!
Garlic – fresh garlic cloves gives this recipe a delicious flavor. You can also used jarred.
Olive oil – olive oil or avocado oil both work great! This helps give the pesto some fluidity.
Salt – every good pesto has a little bit of salt for flavor.
How to make dairy-free pesto
Making dairy-free pesto is really easy to do. So easy that people who don’t even know how to cook could do it!
All you need to do is place all of your ingredients in a high powered blender, like a Vitamix, or a food processor. You turn the machine on, blend it up, scraping down the sides as needed, and there you have it!
Easy homemade dairy-free pesto in a minute.
What to eat pesto with
- Use it on a toast as a spread, top with a poached egg, meat, or as a sandwich spread
- Throw a few dollops into pasta to make a delicious pesto sauce
- Mix a little into your scrambled eggs for some extra flavor
- Serve it over grilled chicken, tenderloin, fish, or even tofu!
- Add it to your favorite avocado toast.
If you make this recipe, be sure to comment below and let me know how it was! Also tag @erinliveswhole on Instagram and use the hashtag #erinliveswhole so I can see it and feature you!
If you liked this recipe, you’ll want to try these!
Dairy Free Pesto
An easy dairy-free pesto recipe made with nutritional yeast, basil, olive oil, and nuts, and is perfect as a pasta sauce, on chicken, or on your favorite pizza. You’re going to be trying to find ways to include this vegan pesto sauce on everything!
Ingredients
- 3 cups basil
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 cup pine nuts (or other nut or seed like walnuts or pumpkin seeds)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional – can replace with parmesan cheese if not dairy free)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender, like a vitamix.
- Process until well-combined and to desired texture, scraping down sides as needed.
- Taste and add additional lemon juice or salt if needed.
- Store in fridge for up to one week.
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