5 minutes Basil Pesto
Vegan basil pesto recipe that comes together in less than 5 minutes with handful of ingredients, basil, walnuts, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil.
Hello HTS Community
Here it is…. my 5 minute easy pesto recipe, that will take your sandwiches, pizzas, salad, pasta or soups from good to amazing.
I am not a fan of store bought pesto because it does not have that freshness and zing to it, probably because of the jar heating process. There is something about a fresh homemade pesto that can only be explained if you make it yourself.
Pesto comes from Italy and is traditionally made using mortar & pestle with pine nuts. The origins of this beautiful sauce lies in the Genoan cuisine, where agliata, a sauce popular in the middle ages made with a mash of garlic and walnuts. Basil, the most important ingredient in the modern world pesto, was introduced by Giovanni Battista Ratto in mid 19 century.
To make the vegan/ plant based version, just skip cheese (in this case parmigiano-reggiano) and keeps rest of the ingredients same. You can choose between pine nuts and walnuts as a base to go with basil and garlic. I am making mine using walnuts. Lemon juice adds the zing and olive oil brings it all together.
| Prep time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 0 minutes | Total time: 5 minutes |
Ingredients you will need:
- Walnuts- 1/3 cup
- Fresh basil leaves- 2 cups, tightly packed
- Garlic cloves- 2, large
- Parmigiano-reggiano- 1/4 cup, optional
- Salt- 1/2 teaspoon
- Extra virgin olive oil- 2/3 cup
- Black pepper- 1/4 teaspoon, crushed
- Lemon juice- 1 teaspoon
Steps to make basil pesto:
- Start with grinding walnuts and garlic in a mixer-grinder jar for about 8-10 seconds.
- Add basil, salt and black pepper, lemon juice, and grind, until it resembles a paste. If you want to add cheese, now is when you do it, and process for another 5 seconds.
- Now keep adding olive oil little by little, until the pesto has thoroughly blended.
- Store pesto in an air-tight container with a layer of olive oil on top (to prevent oxidization), and refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze for up to 6 months.