Early September is a strange time of year. My mind thinks that I should now be sipping hot tea and breaking out the winter clothes, but my body can’t stop guzzling ice water and is still getting sunburned whenever I leave the house without sunblock. I can definitely tell there is a change in the air, but it hasn’t quite descended upon Tucson yet.
While I really want to be out picking apples and eating pumpkin pie by the truckload, I still have all this basil to use up! But, I think pesto is a great end of summer recipe because most people with basil plants are probably (hopefully) in the same predicament: they have a ton of basil and not enough time to eat all of it before it gets too cold for the plant to survive.
If you are feeling that way right now, pesto is the answer! Really, I can’t think of many times when pesto isn’t the answer 🙂 While I don’t follow a strict non-dairy diet, I do like to limit my dairy in-take and I love using nutritional yeast whenever I can. I would love to say that I experimented with this recipe over and over again and finally figured out that it was the most delicious when I combined the nuttiness of pine nuts and the creaminess of macadamia nuts, I really just happened to have both of them in my pantry and thought it would be a great idea to throw them both in.
And, sometimes in cooking you get lucky and the nuttiness of the pine nuts and creaminess of the macadamia nuts come together and make the most delicious Creamy Vegan Basil Pesto!
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Creamy Vegan Basil Pesto
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 cups packed basil leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for the basil, lemon juice and olive oil to the food processor and give a quick whir, about 10 seconds. Next add the basil leaves and lemon juice. Turn the food processor on and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Blend for 20-30 seconds until everything is combined.
Notes
Recipe makes approximately 2 cups of pesto. Pesto will keep in the fridge for about 5-7 days. This pesto sauce goes well with pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and much more!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Category: Sauce, Gluten Free, Vegan
Can the pesto be frozen?
Yes!
I just made this for your pesto quesadilla recipe and it was AMAZING! Thank you!
Awesome!! So glad you liked it!
Thanks for sharing your recipe! Homemade pesto is much better than store bought and it is so easy to make!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Since going vegan I have had a hard time finding a pesto recipe I enjoy. This recipe is a winner. I did roast the nuts first. When I finished my meal I wanted more!!!
Thank you
Awesome!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is the best pesto yet. I used ground almonds, I didn’t have Macadamia or Pine Nuts and I didn’t have quite enough basil so I topped it off with my mint and parsley. The lemon juice gave it a bit of oomph!
Thank you so much, Susan! One thing I love about this recipe is that it is so adaptable so you can basically use whatever you have on hand! 🙂
Your photography is BEEEEEEAUTIFUL! Looks yummy.
Thank you so much!! 🙂
Favorite Vegan Pesto! Absolutely delcisious!!
Thank you so much, Jessica! So glad you liked it 🙂
Hello everyone this is my vegan pesto basil 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5asi0QaFD1E
This is absolutely delicious. I’ve never ever done homemade basil pesto and as I’m commenting my boyfriend is helping me chop the macadamia nuts. Having this for the second time this month. I put mine in a chicken penne pasta and in sandwiches and I used it to bake chicken breast with the pesto. It’s so easy to make and so tasty! Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
Thank you so much, Brenda! I’m so glad you liked it! I love always having pesto on hand because it goes so well on so many different things!
Saw this while I was on vacation and loved your use of macadamia nuts. Sharing a pesto “formula” in my next cooking workshop and definitely going to list macadamia nuts now an a option for nut replacements. 🙂 Hope it’s cooled down a little there now!!
That color! Beautiful!
Thanks Nicole!
The colour of that pesto is incredible. I am obsessed with pesto at the moment and I would put it on almost anything if I could!
Thanks Dannii! I like to put it on everything too 🙂
I totally know what you mean, our heat index is over 100! I am over it! Fall please hurry!!! 🙂
Yuck! And I bet it is humid there too, I hope fall comes soon 🙂
You are SO right. When isn’t pesto the answer to all things?? It’s right up there with my favorite summer thing on the planet, and I’m definitely not above eating it year-round either! Love that this winner is vegan too!
Haha, it really is! I think it is great for all year round consumption 🙂
Ha! Yessss! This weekend I was in the same predicament. Our CSA had so much basil, they were giving away. So, you know, my eyes are bigger than my overstuffed freezer. I brought home a huge bag of it and proceeded to make pesto and chimichurri until I ran out of basil. I have a feeling there’ll be more basil this week. So I’m ready! Olive oil was on sale and nuts are stocked… including macadamia nuts (which I’ve not tried in pesto – thank you Izzy!!). Looking forward to giving this a go! Stay cool my dear!
Oh wow, lucky you! A basil chimichurri sounds amazing too! I almost bought a bunch of olive oil that was on sale too, haha! and now I’m thinking I need to go back and get it! The weather is finally cooling down a bit here so I’m very happy about that! I hope you are getting some cool weather too, Traci 🙂
Mmm basil pesto is one of my favorites! I could eat it by the spoonful, it’s just too good. Love this vegan version, Izzy!
Me too, Gayle! I put it on so many things and now I think I need to make more 🙂
I was so excited for fall, but it is currently 95 degrees outside. Insane! And I still have so much basil left in my garden. This will be a great way to use it all up!
the heat just needs to go away!! You definitely need to get to the pesto making 🙂
This looks delicious! A vegan pesto recipe is a staple 🙂 Pinning!
I agree, Medha 🙂
Early September is a weird time of year here too. You want to start breaking out the Fall stuff, but it’s still like 95 degrees! I’m loving this pesto and that you used macadamia nuts. I’ve never tried them in pesto before, but it sounds delicious!
I hope it isn’t too humid in Arkansas still! They are so good in pesto, you should give them a try 🙂