Dairy Free Pesto Without Pine Nuts
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Made without pine nuts, this dairy free pesto is an affordable alternative to traditional basil pesto. Go ahead and make a batch of this delicious homemade condiment – it only takes 5 minutes!
Why This Recipe is a Favorite
This budget-friendly pesto recipe includes wholesome, fresh ingredients like basil, garlic, olive oil, and cashews instead of pine nuts.
You can use the dairy free pesto in a million ways! It’s amazing on pasta, sandwiches, wraps, and even in recipes like chicken salad and baked pesto chicken.
This is the recipe I follow at the end of summer when my garden is basically exploding with basil. It’s a fantastic way to prevent your fresh herbs from going to waste, and it freezes well for 3 months, so you can make as much you want.
It has all of 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!
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This came out AMAZING!
–Andrea
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!
Ingredient Notes
Who would’ve thought such simple ingredients would make the absolute best condiment of all time? Yup, it is so good, you’ll want to make it all year long!
- fresh basil leaves: My favorite varieties are Italian and sweet basil. They’re fairly easy to find at most grocery stores. Technically, any variety of fresh basil will work, but keep in mind that using purple basil will give the pesto a brown color.
- nutritional yeast: This dairy free parmesan cheese substitute can fool even the biggest cheese lovers. Look for it in the allergy friendly foods aisle of your grocery store. If consuming dairy isn’t a problem for you, make it the traditional way, with Parmesan cheese.
- nuts: To make pesto without pine nuts, I use unsalted raw cashews. They’re a delicious and more budget-friendly option than pine nuts. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a nut free pesto recipe, use raw, unsalted sunflower seeds.
Make it kid friendly: If you use raw garlic, the pesto will have more of a bite to it. Using blanched garlic will give your pesto a mild garlic flavor, which is a better option for kids and people with heartburn issues.
How to Make Dairy Free Pesto
This recipe is very simple to make, but you will need a food processor or blender.
- Add all ingredients except for the oil to the food processor. That will be added to the blended ingredients.
- Pulse a few times, until everything is chopped and combined.
- With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Adding the oil slowly is important - it transforms the pesto ingredients into a smooth mixture.
- Avoid over mixing, because you want a smooth pesto, but not a pesto smoothie.
Uses for Pesto
This condiment is really versatile! It can be used 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 for homemade pizza! The possibilities are endless.
Dairy Free Pesto Without Pine Nuts FAQ
Not at all. This recipe uses cashews, but you can even use sunflower seeds to make a nut-free pesto. Walnuts are another tasty option.
If it's kept in a covered jar or container in the fridge, homemade pesto will stay good for up to 5 days. To keep it fresh for up to 3 months, freeze it in a freezer-safe storage bag.
If you make this recipe, please give it a star rating and leave a comment below to let me know how it went!
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.
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