Easy Homemade Basil Pesto (5 Min, Vegetarian)
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Feeling guilty about throwing away all those basil leaves you’ll never use? Well don’t, make easy homemade pesto instead! It’s really easy, takes five minutes and tastes great.
It can even be stored for two weeks in the fridge. And if you’ve just made our tomato and mozzarella dish and are feeling particularly enthused towards Italy then you can place the pesto next to it and pretend it’s the Italian flag. Brilliant huh?
Health Benefits – Easy Basil Pesto
Basil is often called the king of herbs for a reason; as well as being full of flavour and fragrance it’s also stacked with surprising health benefits.
It’s high in vitamin A and manganese, and has been proven to provide protection against unwanted bacterial growth and can even act as an anti-inflammatory too (Brilliant Basil). Who’d have thought it?
Ingredients
- 1 cup basil, fresh
- ¼ cup vegetarian parmesan, grated (make sure to use a non-animal rennet version if you’re vegetarian. ¼ cup = ca. 25g)
- 3 tbsp walnuts
- 1 clove garlic
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 5 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Chop the basil leaves and nuts and place in a large glass.1 cup basil, fresh, 3 tbsp walnuts
- Grate the garlic and cheese (if using) and add to the mixture, along with the salt and pepper.¼ cup vegetarian parmesan, grated, 1 clove garlic, ¾ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper
- Add the oil and mix well with a spoon. Alternatively you can use a hand blender or food processor to mix everything together.5 tbsp olive oil
- If necessary, transfer to a smaller glass for storing, and pour on a little more oil to seal the pesto.
- Cover in cling wrap and it should keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.
Most of the Whole Foods Market 365 cheeses (including shredded and grated Parm) is made with microbial rennet. However, beware of their prepared basil pesto sauces, they all contain Romano cheese which is made with animal rennet.
Hi Ellesse, awesome to see they’re finally making it with microbial rennet. Yes indeed, pesto is almost always a trap, got to be careful with that one. Thanks for the heads up!
Parmesian is not vegetarian, it had rennet in it. Rennet comes from the outline of a calf ‘s stomach. A good substitute is Romano cheese. 😉
Hey Luke, you’re totally right. You may have noticed we write to make sure to use a non-rennet version in brackets, but thanks for the heads up anyway. I’ll make it a little clearer in the text. Cheers!
Could you give please name a brand whose Parmesan cheese is vegetarian? I have searched for days with no luck.
thanks
Hi Venkat – are you in the EU? If so, parmesan has to have animal rennet, unfortunately – by law. Instead you’ll have to look for a more generic ‘hard cheese’ – for example there’s a really tasty Danish one called Them Krystal that uses non-animal rennet. If you’re outside of the EU then I think it’s a case of asking in local shops 🙂