Dairy Free Pesto
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This 5 minute dairy free pesto recipe will quickly become your favorite healthy condiment. Grab a few simple ingredients and make a batch. You won’t believe how much flavor is in this basil pesto!
This incredible pesto recipe comes together in just a few minutes, with wholesome, healthy ingredients like fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, and cashews and without pine nuts.
You can use dairy free pesto in a million ways! It’s amazing on pasta, sandwiches, wraps, and even in recipes like pesto chicken salad and pesto baked chicken.
This is the recipe I follow at the end of summer when my garden is basically exploding with basil. I can’t let it go to waste, so I make a ton of pesto and freeze it.
Create all the delicious flavors of classic pesto, but without the dairy and pine nuts. This is a winner of a recipe that you are sure to love!
Why You’ll Love this Dairy Free Pesto Recipe
Here are just a few of the many reasons to make your own condiments.
- Super quick to make. Not only does it come together in like 2 seconds flat, okay maybe more like 5 minutes, but it’s budget friendly AND freezer friendly.
- Dairy free pesto is so versatile! Use it in dozens of different dishes — whatever your imagination can dream up.
Happy Kitchen Secrets
Here are my most important mom-tested tips for making this recipe! I’ve made this countless times to save you from a failed attempt.
- Don’t over blend your pesto or it won’t have the right texture. Every blender and food processor is different, so just keep an eye on it as you blend the mixture.
- Always taste your pesto before serving. You can add some more salt and pepper to the mixture if needed!
- If you’re not going to use all of your pesto in 5 days, freeze it. It freezes and thaws beautifully, so you don’t have to let the pesto go to waste!
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This came out AMAZING!
–Andrea
Ingredients
Who would’ve thought such simple ingredients would make the absolute best condiment of all time? Yup, this Whole30, Dairy Free Pesto is so good, you’ll make time and time again. Here’s a list of what you need:
- fresh basil
- olive oil
- garlic
- cashews
- nutritional yeast: This cheese substitute can fool even the biggest cheese lovers. It’s a fantastic product. Look for it in the allergy friendly foods aisle of your grocery store.
- salt and pepper
Substitutions and Variations
You can use any kind of fresh basil you can find, but my favorite varieties are Italian and Sweet Basil. They’re fairly common at most grocery stores. I’ve also used purple basil that I grew in my garden. The flavor was wonderful, but the color ended up a little brown, which was fine by me!
If you use raw garlic, the pesto will have more of a bite to it, and the garlic flavor will be more pronounced. If you’re like me and you love strong garlic, use raw. Using blanched garlic will give your pesto more of a mild garlic flavor, which is generally a better bet if you like garlic but don’t want the flavor to be too strong, if you get heartburn, or if you’re serving this to kids.
I make my pesto recipe without the traditional pine nuts. Choose raw and unsalted cashews as a delicious and more budget-friendly option. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a nut free pesto recipe, use raw, unsalted sunflower seeds.
Nutritional yeast has a wonderful cheesy flavor that’s so important here to making delicious pesto that’s Whole30, Low Carb, and Vegan. Pick it up at your local grocer, Thrive Market or on buy on Amazon. If you’re not worried about keeping things dairy free, you can add parmesan cheese to this recipe!
How to Make Dairy Free Pesto
Surprisingly, basil pesto is one of the easiest recipes to make. You just need to have a food processor or blender. Here’s how to make it:
First, pulse all the ingredients together except the oil. This allows the flavor of the basil to be more fully released and incorporated into the sauce.
Then, slowly add in the oil as you blend the mixture until it’s the desired consistency. You don’t want a basil smoothie, so don’t overblend.
Keep an eye on it and stop blending when the cashew pesto is smooth, but not creamy. Use as desired and enjoy!
Storing Pesto
Cover and refrigerate the pesto for up to 5 days. Alternatively, you can add it to ice cube trays and freeze into cubes. Once they’re frozen pop them out and add them to an air tight bag or container and freeze.
Ways to Use this Dairy Free Pesto Recipe
Pesto is great with veggies, eggs, wraps, pizzas, and sandwiches, but it’s also delicious served with proteins like shrimp and chicken. You can even use it in place of pizza sauce when you make homemade pizza! The possibilities are endless.
FAQ
Not at all. This recipe uses cashews, but you can even use sunflower seeds to make a nut-free pesto. There are plenty of other options out there!
Other Condiment Recipes
I’d love to hear about your experience making this recipe! Please leave a comment and rating below!
Dairy Free Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients
Basil Pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup cashews raw and unsalted
- 3 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoons pepper
Video
Instructions
- Add the garlic, nutritional yeast, basil, salt and pepper and cashews to a food process or blender. Pulse a few times to break everything down a bit.
- Turn the food processor or blender to a slow blend or low speed. Open the top and drizzle in the rest of the olive oil slowly. Blend until smooth, but stop before it gets creamy (I like when there's still a little texture in the pesto from the cashews).
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
2025 Update: This recipe is still a family favorite, and it’s been updated to simplify the cooking instructions and add extra recipe tips for our readers. We hope you love it as much as we do!
Can you use instant yeast?
Hi Meg, That’s a good question. Unfortunately, you cannot. Nutritional yeast is a special kind of deactivated yeast that can be eaten raw. Hope that helps! -Laura
Could you make this with a different nut, like walnuts?
Hi Sarah! Great question. I haven’t tried this recipe with walnuts, but I think that would work beautifully! Let me know what you think if you try it. 🙂 -Laura
I have used pinenuts and or pumpkin seeds with great results
Hi Ronda, That’s a great tip! Thank you for sharing! 🙂 -Laura
This came out AMAZING! I just added a little flax milk for creaminess on top of pasta
Hi Andrea! Thank you so much for sharing that. I love how you made it into a creamy sauce for pasta with just a little flax milk – genius!! 🙂 -Laura
Have you ever tried canning this pesto. I’m wanting to make some for gifts and jars would be so much nicer then a baggie 🙂
Hi Janine! That’s an awesome idea — I haven’t tried it myself (I’m not great at canning, lol!), but I would love to hear how it turns out if you try it! -Laura