This simple and Easy Vegan Pesto recipe is fresh, oil-free, just 6 ingredients and takes just a few minutes to prepare. Healthy and wholesome with lots of fresh basil and pine nuts!
EASY VEGAN PESTO
I have always loved pesto. I love it even more with it is a healthy pesto, as well as being extremely simple and easy to make with only a few ingredients. This easy vegan pesto is oil-free, unlike traditional pesto, which has crazy amounts of oil.
This recipe comes from Emily Von Euw and her cookbook, The Rawsome Vegan Cookbook. As Emily describes it, “A balance of Raw and Lightly-cooked, Gluten-free, Plant-based Meal for Healthy Living”.
Emily’s blog, This Rawsome Vegan Life, is extremely successful and even though she is known for raw food, I love that this book has a ton of cooked recipes. I do not follow a raw diet, so this fits more into my daily lifestyle and eating. Emily is also known for her simplicity, which you all know I love and focus on as well with my own recipes.
Her book contains over 80 recipes, all accompanied with a beautiful photo, and very easy meals. They are all heavily focused on the simplicity and beauty of veggies. The meals are light, not heavy, so they won’t weigh you down. There are a ton of completely raw recipes and also a lot of lightly-cooked recipes. If you check out Emily on Instagram, you can get a pretty good idea of the type of food you would see in her cookbook! Light, fresh, easy and simple.
I was immediately drawn to this oil-free vegan pesto that I’m sharing with you today because I loved how easy it was and I LOVE basil. Oh, and I LOVE pasta and wanted something more on the filling side. This has a strong flavor from all of the fresh basil and bold flavor of pine nuts.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
- Fresh basil
- Pine nuts
- Garlic
- Pasta: I used gluten-free penne, but use whatever you like.
- Grape tomatoes
- Nutritional yeast
- Lemon juice
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN PESTO OIL FREE
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Cut all the tomatoes in half and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are bubbling and slightly wrinkled.
Step 2: Cook pasta according to the package directions.
Step 3: To make the pesto: blend all the ingredients until you reach the desired consistency. I wanted mine completely smooth. As noted above, I also added lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Add more salt if needed
Step 4: Toss pasta with the pesto and serve with the roasted tomatoes.
MORE VEGAN OIL FREE SAUCES
- Vegan Chimichurri Sauce
- Poblano Pepper Cream Sauce
- Texas BBQ Sauce
- Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Vegan Lemon Sauce
- Best Vegan Alfredo Sauce
- Creamy Chili Sauce with Pasta
Emily is allowing me to share this beautiful recipe for her cookbook with you all today! You can purchase a copy of her cookbook here!
Easy Vegan Pesto (Oil-free!)
Ingredients
- 1 dry pint (275g) grape tomatoes
- 2 cups (232g) uncooked whole grain, gluten-free penne pasta
- 2 cups (48g) lightly packed basil leaves
- 1/4 cup (60g) water
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 teaspoon himalayan salt
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 a lemon, or as much as you'd like, to taste
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Cut all the tomatoes in half and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until they are bubbling and slightly wrinkled.
- Cook the pasta according the package directions.
- To make the pesto: blend all the ingredients until you reach the desired consistency. I wanted mine completely smooth. As noted above, I also added lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Add more salt if needed.
- Toss the pesto with the cooked pasta and garnish with extra basil and serve with the roasted tomatoes.
Notes
The Vegan 8 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see my full disclosure policy here.
Oh I can’t wait to try this recipe! Love raw smoothies.
Emily has such a beautiful eye for capturing photos – I’ve always admired her style! Thanks for giving us this awesome opportunity Brandi 🙂
Thanks for hosting this giveaway, Brandi! You are still one of my faves! I love raw soups and dips, but a quick, raw dessert is always a winner in my eyes. Thanks again 🙂
Oh my goodness this recipe looks delicious!!! I can’t imagine what other yummy creations are in the cookbook! Thank you so much Brandi! You are doing such great work with your cooking! I was in a rut with my dairy-free vegetarian diet until I found your blog and your MAGNIFICENT RECIPES! Thank you so much for all the effort you put into this blog!
My favorite raw snack is definitely my mom’s dehydrated broccoli which we dipped in her homemade tangy tahini sauce! Yummy!
Aww Abby that was such a sweet comment, thank you so much!! I’m so happy you love my blog and are enjoying the recipes! Good luck on the giveaway on Emily’s cookbook!
I love salads especially with avocado.
I love going out to our garden and picking all the ingredients I need to make our meals for the day … Nothing like it!!!
Gazpacho is one of my favorite raw recipes. And that pesto is beautiful! I love that it’s not full of oil.
My daughter will LOVE this recipe!!! I’m making it for her tonight =)
Thanks for the recipe <3
You show two cups basil and then one cup basil
Yes, that is from her cookbook. That is because in the directions, you add the first 2 cups to the blender and the last cup as garnish at the end, if desired. I only used a small amount as garnish, personally.
Thanks for the review, Brandi. I don’t follow a raw diet either so I’m happy to hear that there are some cooked recipes in the book. I’m loving all of the new vegan cookbooks that are being released right now.
I am SO excited to step into eating Raw! So far my only experience with Raw are salads and salad dressings. I need this cookbook! 🙂
I love stuffing dry dates with things like coconut, nut butters, etc
I literally just checked this out from the library yesterday! So far everything looks delicious and easy to make…I’d love to own it!
Looking at the photo, I thought for sure there was an avocado in there! I’m looking forward to making this and would L O V E to win! We are new’ish Vegan’s and only have one cookbook so far.
I love vegan desserts, and this cookbook will help come up with ideas for whole meals from start to finish.
Thanks-Peggy
I’d love to win! I love the recipes you post on this site!
Hope I win!
sounds like a wonderful cookbook and that pasta looks amazing.
I love a raw strawberry cheesecake that a local restaurant makes. I would love to make it, but I am not that skilled in the kitchen. That’s why I am so thankful for others who can experiment and create recipes – excited to check out this new cookbook! By the way, the ingredients are raw cashews, pecans, dates, strawberry, agave, lemon, coconut oil, salt, and vanilla…if you want to give it a whirl. 😉 We tried your Creole Okra Corn Soup last night, and my husband said, “This is pretty good,” which means “Please make this again!”
Another great vegan cookbook to kick off the New Year!
My favorite raw recipe would be smoothies. I love mixed berries, a banana, kale, tb of PB and almond milk.
raw brownies!!
Love, love, love pesto pasta! Love the addition of roasted tomatoes!
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this where I wouldn’t miss the Parmesan cheese found in regular pesto. Thanks!
Would also love to enter the giveaway 🙂
Ah, Emily is amazing! One of my favorite bloggers! Her photography is just so stunning too! I’m so excited about her new cookbook (and not that she has time to post on her blog again! Hahahaha!)