Nutritious and Simple #Vegan Basil Pesto
The addition of Nutritional Yeast to this dairy free recipe not only creates the wonderful parmesan tang that great pesto needs, but also gives you a great big vitamin B12 boost.* If you have never used it, nutritional yeast comes in delicate little yellow flakes, which melt on the tongue and taste like strong cheese. If added to a soup or sauce, it dissolves instantly, or you can sprinkle on top of complete dishes, as you would parmesan flakes.
Ingredients:
(Be adventurous and swap out basil for other green leaves, such as spinach or wild garlic, try other oils, and different nuts as preferred…)
2 cups basil leaves (packed in tightly)
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Salt and Pepper, season to taste
Equipment:
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Food Processor (or pestle and mortar)
Recipe:
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor, until desired consistency is reached. We prefer ours a little course, so that the nutty texture of the pine nuts is still present.
Lasts for at least a week in the fridge … but we have never had any around longer to know how long it could last … we love fresh pesto too much in our family 🙂
*Most supermarkets (in the UK at least) now stock nutritional yeast, but you can also buy it from health food shops or from international online stores like Amazon. I favour the Marigold brand.
I had not considered nutritional yeast in the place of parmesan. Fabulous idea. I love pesto but hadn’t figured out a good cheese replacement. Thank you!
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I was veggie before I went vegan and miss parmesan so much, but in this recipe it tastes just the same … I hope you enjoy 🙂
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This is a great option instead of the Parmesan! I look forward to trying it 🙂
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Wonderful – I hope you like it x
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This looks and sounds delightful.
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Thank you! 🙂
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Mmmmmmmm…….
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My husband loves cheese, but not parmesan. Unfortunately he’s allergic to cheese but I might try the nutritional yeast to see how he responds to that. 🙂
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I hope you enjoy x
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What an interesting substitute. I actually have nutritional yeast flakes in the cupboard which I bought as a B12 supp. and with all our basil seedlings growing like mad, I could try this. Thanks
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No problem, hope you like it 🙂
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I love using nutritional yeast as a sub for cheese but I had never considered using it in pesto! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you 🙂 It’s good on pasta bakes too x
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I have never tried nutritional yeast. I think that I’ll try it but won’t tell my husband!
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A lot of people are messaging to tell me they are going to do a secret swap of yeast flakes for parmesan …. let me know how it goes! 😀
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Sounds like a great way to get that B12.
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I cannot wait to try. Thank you for sharing!
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