Vegan Pesto Recipe With Walnuts

Looking for an alternative recipe for pesto? This vegan pesto recipe with walnuts is it!

Made with fresh basil, garlic, walnuts, vegan parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper.

With just a few simple ingredients and less then 10 minutes of your time, you can create a crowd pleasing, flavor bomb of a pesto that can be used in endless ways!

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WHAT’S IN TRADITIONAL PESTO

Traditional pesto recipes typically include fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, parmesan cheese, and sometimes salt, pepper, and lemon.

Pesto is super heavy on the basil, has a strong garlic flavor, and is slightly nutty from the pine nuts. It is absolutely delicious when prepared properly.

VEGAN PESTO RECIPE WITH WALNUTS

For this recipe, you will keep most of the ingredients of a traditional pesto, with just a few, simple swap outs.

PESTO RECIPE WITHOUT PINE NUTS

Instead of pine nuts, we will be using walnuts. Why? Well, why not.

Pine nuts are absolutely delicious, but I wanted to create a pesto without them. Whether it’s the price point (pine nuts are expensive), an allergy, or just the desire to explore different options, having a pesto recipe with walnuts can be very helpful for many.

VEGAN AND DAIRY-FREE PESTO RECIPE

As mentioned above, pesto traditionally often includes parmesan. Luckily, with all of the fabulous plant-based parmesan options now on store shelves, creating a pesto that is dairy-free is super simple.

For this recipe, I went with Follow Your Heart’s vegan shredded parmesan. This brand has absolutely nailed this version of vegan cheese. It is super flavorful, has a balanced level of salt that tradition parmesan has, and has a wonderful texture. Highly recommend!

SUBSTITUTIONS FOR INGREDIENTS IN VEGAN WALNUT PESTO

Not a fan of walnuts? Feel free to swap out sesame seeds, cashews, pistachios, or almonds. All of these options would work great in this vegan pesto recipe.

You can also leave nuts out all together. The flavor won’t be quite as complex and the texture will be a bit different. But the pesto will still be delicious with the absence of nuts or seeds.

Can’t find or don’t like vegan parmesan. Feel free to use regular parmesan of course. But if you want to keep it dairy free you can go with vegan mozzarella.

Want to leave the vegan cheese out all together? No problem! The flavor won’t be quite as complex but you can substitute 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast for the vegan parmesan.

BENEFITS OF WALNUTS

Walnuts are an excellent option on any given day. They are a great source of healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Walnuts are also full of antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.

Walnuts actually have greater amounts of antioxidants than any other nut! Antioxidants are beneficial in many ways, including the ability to help lower bad cholesterol.

Compared to other nuts, walnuts also take the lead when it comes to levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are extremely beneficial for heart health!

Walnuts are also beneficial for gut health, healthy aging, brain function…the list goes on and on. Long story short…say yes to walnuts!

HOW TO MAKE WALNUTS LESS BITTER

Walnuts, although delicious, can have a slightly bitter taste. To make walnuts less bitter, simply place walnuts in water and allow to boil for 5 minutes. Then drain walnuts and run them under cold water to cool. That’s it!

HOW TO USE VEGAN WALNUT PESTO

This vegan pesto recipe with walnuts can be used in an abundance of ways! You can serve this pesto along side bread for a simple dipping sauce.

This walnut pesto can jazz up any Italian meal or easy weeknight dinner. Toss it over pasta, couscous, rice, potatoes, or zucchini noodles. This vegan pesto with walnuts is also perfect for a vegan pesto pizza!

You can also add it to vegan mayo or vegan cream cheese for a delicious sandwich spread.

Basically, sky is the limit when it comes to companions for this vegan pesto recipe!

VEGAN PARMESAN CHEESE

As mentioned above, wonderful vegan parmesan cheese options are now available on store shelves. One of my favorite plant based parmesan options is Follow Your Heart shredded parmesan. This version of vegan parmesan has excellent flavor and texture. Definitely a must try!

HOW TO FREEZE VEGAN PESTO RECIPE WITH WALNUTS

Yes! Pesto freezes perfectly! Which is fantastic when you want to prep your pesto ahead of time or have have leftover pesto.

You can freeze a large batch of vegan walnut pesto by placing spoonfuls in an ice cube tray. This allows you to choose easily grab the perfect amount of pesto needed on the fly!