You'll love this updated version of my Vegan Pesto. The addition of fresh lemon juice makes it bright bold and full of flavor, make it in under ten minutes, that's including prep time.
I'm a full-time vegetarian and sometimes I like to go vegan, and that's easy when the recipe is this quick and easy. I'm growing some beautiful basil and thought I would use it to make a vegan version of basil pesto because I'm trying to reduce dairy.
I'm guessing you want to know what I used to replace the Parmesan, I used nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast has such a bold nutty flavor and it rocks this recipe.
Everything goes into the food processor and you blend until smooth.
This Vegan Pesto is a staple in my home, it's nice to have on hand, it can be used so many ways....
on sandwiches
veggies
tofu
beans
and my all-time favorite pasta!
Vegan Pesto
- Prep Time: 8 min
- Total Time: 8 minutes
- Yield: about 1 cup 1x
Ingredients
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4 cups lightly packed basil leaves
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- juice from half a lemon
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Clean and spin basil leaves in a salad spinner or pat dry with paper towel.
- Place pine nuts, garlic, basil, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice in the food processor.
- Process while slowly pouring olive oil through the feed tube.
- Process until mixture is pureed, scraping down sides as needed.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl and season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
- Use right away or store in refrigerator or spoon into an ice tray and freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Pine nuts were used, but if you need to make a nut free version hemp seed is the perfect substitute.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Tablespoon
- Calories: 101
- Sugar: 0.3
- Sodium: 0.4
- Fat: 9.9
- Saturated Fat: 1.2
- Unsaturated Fat: 5.8
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 2.3
- Fiber: 0.8
- Protein: 2.2
- Cholesterol: 0
I made these 
Toss together the fruit with fresh lemon juice and zest. Sweeten with maple syrup, agave or cane sugar. I chose to sweeten with a couple tablespoons of agave, which created a lightly sweetened tart. If you like a sweeter tart, you may want to use a combination of agave and cane sugar or just simply sweeten to taste with cane sugar alone. Finally stir in flour to help thicken the juice as it cooks.
It's like magic in the mouth when the sweet juicy fruit mixes with the creaminess of the cheese and earthiness of the greens. And oh by the way this 
This Red White & Blue Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing can be easily made ahead in jars and served individually at summer gatherings.
Need a toast upgrade?
While the sauce is cooking, simply mix some ricotta with lemon juice, zest and some agave or maple syrup if you like.
Now the good part, spread and enjoy!
Allow dough to rise for 2 hours, deflate and let dough rest for 10 minutes, then divided into eight or 12 pieces.
Shape holes, cover and allow dough to rise for 30 minutes.
For the water bath I kept it simple and used water only. In some recipes honey or barley malt syrup is added to the water to aid in the caramelization of the bagels. When water comes to a boil, reduce to a soft simmer and boil bagels 2 to 3 at a time for 1 minute on each side.
Coat with toppings and bake 20 to 25 minutes.
This is a basic recipe for everything bagels, but you can easily change the toppings, add cranberries or raisins, simply make it your own. Be creative.
