I love the idea of pesto being healthy. Unfortunately, most store bought pestos are full of fat, sodium and preservatives. That meant I needed to make my own. I decided to create mine a little different than the traditional pestos containing basil. I LOVE spinach so this is how mine is different. I also decided to add in some peas for a very mild sweetness. The result….a very hearty pesto that is delicious and you can feel good about eating! I find myself dipping into it so much I have to refrain from eating the whole bowl at once!
This Vegan Spinach Pea Pesto is absolutely delicious, dairy-free, oil-free, gluten-free and ready in just a few minutes.
Spinach Pea Pesto
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh packed spinach
- 1 cup cooked peas
- 1/4 cup pecans (lightly toast them if desired)
- 2-3 large cloves of garlic
- Juice of 1 lemon and 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano spice or use 1 teaspoon dried Italian spice mix
- 2-3 tablespoons of water, depending on desired thickness
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until thick and creamy. Taste and add any additional salt/spices, if desired. Process again until super smooth, at least a minute or two. Should be silky smooth and delicious! Serve with homemade tortilla chips, veggies or over pasta. I love this as a dip and also warmed up over pasta, it is delicious!
- Optional Homemade Garlic Tortilla Chips:
- Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Stack 4 whole wheat tortilla chips on top of each other. Cut in halves, then fourths. Sprinkle with sea salt and garlic powder. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
As I am not one to write reviews when I’ve made changes, I’ll preface this with the only change I made was to add a few extra cloves of garlic. We are a garlic loving family, especially raw garlic with the added kick. I’m not vegan, so I used a Parmesan blend cheese. I also used pine nuts and I roasted them, as instructed…literally two minutes on medium on the stove top, shaking often until they are golden. Don’t dig into this and expect PESTO to jump out at you…because *real* pesto is really oily. This is NOT oily, nor does it need to be. It’s nutty, with a sweetness from the peas. The spinach (raw) is undetectable in flavor, but it holds the dish together. I am slowly warming up to lemon in my food (just an Alicia thing) and the lemon is part of what makes this a tasty, sassy dip. I really really like it, but I won’t call it pesto. To me, pesto is oil and fatty (bad fatty). This a beautiful blend of subtle ingredients that blended together create a dip that gives a *POP*! Some might prefer more salt (my husband is an over salter), but I’d caution against it depending on what you’ll be using to dip into it. This is a dip I’ll bring as a hostess gift (who has time to make specialty dips when entertaining?) or just something to impress my friends with. Love it Brandi!
OK, now my changes! I am using this as a pasta topping, so I’ll be adding some chicken broth to water down the thickness, I’ll put it over bow tie pasta and bake with Parmesan blend cheese (if I had nutritional yeast, I’d use it) until melted. Sounds yummy!! Smells even better :).
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much and your addition with the white wine to make it as a sauce also sounds delicious!
This looks awesome! Thank you!! 🙂
Thank you! If you try it, let me know 🙂
So, I tried this today with my raw zucchini pasta. Loved it! I don’t really cook so raw recipes are my go-to meals.. (Oven doesn’t like me very much. Ha!) Can you make a really easy marinara sauce next time? 😉
Keep posting raw receipts! Love your blog!
Best,
Anna
Thank you so much Anna for the wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you loved the recipe and my blog, means a lot to me, thank you!
Oh, and yes, I will work on a marinara 🙂
I made this tonight to go with pasta, and it was absolutely delicious!
Awesome Zoe! Thank you so much for that feedback and letting me know, I really appreciate it. I’m so glad you loved it!
Let me start this review by saying I HATE PEAS! I have been a pea hater since birth! So tell me how you magically got me to LOVE THIS RECIPE?! This is such a creative idea and the flavor was wonderful. So bright and creamy and delicious! We ate it as a dip with tortilla chips, as a spread on a veggie burger and over quinoa spaghetti. All three ways were delicious. The reason I tried this recipe even though it had peas is because I have loved everything I have ever made of yours so I trusted you wouldn’t steer me wrong! Thank you Brandi!
Awww thank you so very much Diana! When a self-professed pea hater loves my recipe, I do a happy dance and you know it’s good then! Haha! I love this pesto and I’m so glad you love it too!! I love it with chips the most too, thank you so much Diana!
Fantastic! Do you think fresh spinach could be substituted for frozen, for the sake of simplicity?
I once made a larger batch of this pesto, increased the garlic and blended it with some vegetable broth. It makes a great thick soup. Thank you for your recipes.
Hi Hannah! So glad to hear! I would thaw the frozen spinach first, then squeeze out the excess water, otherwise it will make the pesto more runny and bland.
Hi Brandi, Any substitutions for nutritional yeast? What brand of whole wheat tortillas you buy? Thx
The nutritional yeast gives depth of flavor, like parmesan cheese does for traditional pesto. So, if you leave it out, you will need to add some other spices like garlic and onion powder, maybe a little tahini and extra salt. I would just add to taste 🙂
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