I just love a good pesto. It adds elegance to pasta dishes, pizza, burgers, and more. Today a friend of mine gave me the most delicious smelling basil from her garden. It was beautiful and smelled amazing. Right after work, I rushed to the store to buy some pine nuts so I could make a dairy free pesto. Most pesto’s contain a cheese of some kind to give it depth and make it creamy. While it is delicious with the cheese, it most certainly can be delicious without. This simple recipe is so good you won’t even know the cheese is missing.
To make this sauce, you need a food processor or blender. Then you mix together 2 cups of fresh basil, 6 tbsp of toasted pine nuts, 1 clove of fresh garlic, some lemon juice, salt, and extra virgin olive oil. You toss them all in the processor and blend until smooth. So simple.
Now, if you aren’t a huge fan of raw garlic, you can mince it up and saute it for two to three minutes in a tsp of olive oil before adding to your processor/blender. If you do not want to afford pine nuts, walnuts are a great alternative as well.
Dairy Free Homemade Pesto
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 6 tbsp toasted pine nuts
- 1 clove fresh garlic
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Instructions
- If your pine nuts are not toasted, put them in a pan on the stove and toast on low heat for 5 minutes.
- In your food processor, add in all the ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Enjoy!
