Need to whip-up a quick weeknight meal?
It doesn’t get much easier than this raw, vegan pesto sauce.
Simply throw everything into a food processor or blender, and in less than 5 minutes, you’ve got a delicious sauce on your hands–> perfect for serving over your favorite noodles or as a quick veggie dip!
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Oil-Free Vegan Pesto
makes about 1 1/2 cupsIngredients:
1 cup diced zucchini
1 handful fresh basil leaves (about 3/4 oz.)
4 garlic cloves (I love garlic, but feel free to use less)
½ cup raw walnuts
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to tasteDirections:
Throw all of the ingredients to a food processor or blender, and blend away!
I like my pesto smooth and creamy, so I used my Vitamix for a super-quick sauce– but if you prefer a chunkier texture, simply pulse it in a food processor until evenly broken down.
*Note: I added plenty of salt to this pesto sauce (a 1/2 teaspoon) because the flavor will be further diluted when eaten with raw or cooked vegetables. However, if you’re serving the pesto over a bed of salty pasta, or with cheese, you may want to reduce the salt content of the sauce to keep your final dish balanced.
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To make your weekday meals even easier, try this tip–> freeze your sauce into ice cube trays, for an easily portioned meal!
These cubes should last for months in the freezer, so you’ll have an easy-to-prepare dinner at your fingertips!
Enjoy!
@Detoxinista.com
These pesto cubes have made Austin’s dinners SO EASY to prepare lately. I simply grab 4 frozen cubes, and saute them with fresh veggies and a bag of rinsed Miracle Noodles.
Sometimes I add chopped, pre-roasted chicken, too, completely ruining the whole “vegan” factor… but, oh well.
You certainly can’t beat a delicious dinner that’s ready in 10 minutes!
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite quick meal? Any time-saving tips to share?
This sounds great Megan! I like pesto but get really turned off by ones that contain like 99% nuts, so I love that you put zucchini in as well. My favourite quick meals as of late have been veggies (I’ve been buying the frozen kind because they’re actually cheaper than fresh), in homemade marinara sauce with fish, like basa or cod. Something about nice warm cooked tomato sauce is so comforting in winter!
I love this recipe!!! Have you heard of Dorot herb cubes? The idea of freezing these reminds me of the Dorot herbs-they are at Whole Foods…I can’t wait to give this recipe a go! Have a great day!
I’ve never heard of those! Herbs in a cube sound very convenient, though– I’ll keep my eye out for them next time!
This is a perfect recipe for me today! This is exactly what I have left in my fridge – and I have been wanting to make some pesto to freeze! Thanks!
Yay! Hope you like it.
YUM! I love the idea of freezing the batch into cubes in the ice tray. That’s perfect for a single gal like me who is always cooking for one! I’m definitely going to do this. Thanks!
I’m freezing ALL of my sauces into ice cube trays now– it makes it so easy to prepare single-portion meals! Hope you enjoy it, too!
This looks amazing! I was bumming out a little bit the other day since I removed dairy from my diet nearly a month and a half ago and I remembered that pesto just wouldn’t be the same! This pesto looks much better than traditional pesto loaded with cheese. I love the addition of zucchini!
This recipe looks great! I don’t use oil, so this is perfect!
Made this last night with the intention of freezing some for later use but what little there was left ended up getting “finger spooned”. Love the addition of zucchini! Poured it over zucchini noodles and it was rich and delicious. Thanks!!
Thanks for the reminder about the ice cube tray freezing trick! I made this pesto with a couple differences. I didn’t have zucchini in the house, so I added 1 full cup of shelled edamame, and 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast. I also toasted the walnuts first. The result was a creamy, rich tasting and really delicious no-oil pesto!!!
I made some of this tonight. I was looking to use up some of my basil before it freezes tonight. I made the first batch with the walnuts as listed. It was good but my daughter is allergic to walnuts and I was out of them . So I made the second batch with some almonds in their place. I think it is even better than the walnut batch. I put some on some tofu shiratke noodles for dinner. It was really good. I will cover the basil again tonight so I can make another batch tomorrow. I need to go back to the store. I am out of nuts and lemons. This will be a good quick dish all winter long. I look forward finding different uses for it all winter.
Just made this. It was super easy to make. I used two large cloves of garlic and it was a bit too spicy so i just cooked the pesto a bit and the garlic flavor mellowed out. It was amazing and im so glad i now have a pesto recipe without oil!! Thanks!!
this was a great quick meal (served over raw zucchini noodles) for me and the wife, thanks!
Crazy idea on the ice cubes! (Crazy GOOD!)