It’s so easy to make your own homemade nut-free vegan pesto and makes just about everything taste better.  Use it as a sauce on pasta or to add extra flavor to soups, sandwiches, stir-fries, or tofu scrambles. 

Noodles covered in vegan pesto with a fork lifting up some noodles.

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Whenever you have fresh basil (or any other herbs) you can make a big batch and freeze it to be used later so you always have some on hand. 

🍃 What is vegan pesto made of?

Pesto is a bright green sauce made from chopped fresh herbs.  Traditional pesto usually has parmesan cheese, but you can easily swap it out for nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan cheese.  Basil is most commonly used, but you can use cilantro, kale, arugula, spinach, or a combo of any of them.

🧾 Ingredients and substitutions

  • Basil – This is the primary herb in all pesto.  You can also make pesto out of cilantro, parsley, kale, or spinach for alternative flavors and extra nutrition.
  • Garlic – Give it flavor, however, you can omit or reduce it if you don’t like it.
  • Nutritional Yeast – nutritional yeast aka Nooch gives vegan pesto a cheesy flavor without adding any dairy. It is a light yellow flaky powder with a cheesy flavor.  Full of vitamins and a great source of B-12 for those who follow a vegan diet.  You can find it at most natural food stores and large grocery stores. You can also swap this out for vegan parmesan cheese.
  • Salt – for flavor.
  • Olive Oil – Use a good quality oil, like dark extra virgin olive oil for the best-tasting pesto.  You can use any other neutral-flavored oil that you would like in its place if you would like. 
  • Lemon Juice – to help the pesto maintain its bright beautiful color.  The acid in the lemon juice will keep it from oxidizing.
  • Red Pepper Flakes – (optional) but if your family likes a little spice to their meals, a dash or two makes it great.

🔪 Helpful tools 

A food processor is the easiest tool to use when making pesto, but if you don’t have one you can also use a blender or an immersion blender.

🥄 How to make vegan pesto

Step 1 – Put all of the ingredients into a food processor except for the oil.

Step 2 – Turn on the food processor and slowly add about 1/2 of the oil.

Step 3 – Stop and scrape the edges and then blend again slowly adding the remainder of the oil.

Step 4 – Keep in an airtight container or freeze.

Vegan pesto blended up in a food processor.

🥜 How to make it nut-free?

Traditional pesto recipes use pine nuts, but nuts are not necessary for pesto.  They provide a depth of taste and texture to pesto but are definitely not a requirement.

If you want that nutty taste without nuts, you can also use seeds instead like raw pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or hemp seeds.  Just swap out the seeds equally for nuts.

My family is very fussy about nuts, so I find that it’s easiest to just leave them out of the pesto completely and it still tastes great!

If you want a vegan pesto with nuts see my basic vegan pesto recipe.

An ice cube tray filled with an easy pesto recipe ready to freeze into cube to be used later.

🥡 Storage and freezing 

I use basil or pesto in a ton of my recipes, so I make a big batch every few weeks and freeze it.

Freezing – Ice cube trays are great for freezing the perfect amount of pesto.  I freeze the pesto in these trays, then pop the cubes out into a freezer bag.  When I make soup, stir-fry, or anything that needs some fresh herbs, I just take out a cube or two and toss it in.

How long will pesto last in the freezer? Frozen pesto will keep in a sealed freezer bag for about 3 months.

Refrigerator – Pesto will keep well in the fridge for 5-7 days in a sealed container.

A pile of noodles with pesto on them.

🌟 How to use vegan pesto 

A plate filled with creamy pesto sauce over pasta and a fork full of the pasta over the dish.
Creamy Vegan Pesto Pasta Sauce

✨ More vegan sauces

📌 Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!

📋 Nut-Free pesto recipe

Noodles covered in vegan pesto with a fork lifting up some noodles.
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5 from 6 rating

Nut-Free Vegan Pesto

Yield: 8
Prep: 5 minutes
Total: 5 minutes
Author: Monica Davis
An easy way to make a nut-free vegan pesto.  Although this recipe is dairy-free, this pesto still has a rich and cheesy flavor.
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups basil, (substitute as much as 1 cup spinach for basil)
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup olive oil, (high quality)
  • 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt , or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice, (optional to maintain color)

Equipment

Instructions
 

  • Put all of the ingredients into a food processor except for the oil.
  • Turn on the food processor and slowly add about 1/4 cup of the oil.
  • Stop and scrape the edges and then blend again slowly adding the remaining 1/4 cup of oil.
  • Store in an airtight container or freeze.

Notes

  • Use ice cube trays to freeze pesto.
  • Pop the pesto out once it is frozen and store it in a freezer bag.
  • Keep frozen until ready to use.
  • If you will use it within 7 days, keep it in the refrigerator in a sealed container.
Serving: 2tbsp, Calories: 146kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 15g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 146mg, Potassium: 74mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 317IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 13mg, Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!

*This recipe was originally published on March 17, 2017.  It has been updated on April 4, 2020, to include new images and improved instructions and information.