Easy Nut-Free Pesto

This easy nut-free, dairy-free pesto recipe is made with pumpkin seeds and it’s so easy to whip up in the food processor.

It’s officially pesto season! More specifically, basil pesto season. I make pesto with various herbs all year round, but garden-fresh basil is something extra special. I’ve been making nut-free pesto for years, using pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead of the more traditional pine nuts. They’re way more affordable with the added benefit of creating a pesto that’s perfect for those with nut allergies.

If you love pesto as much as I do, check out Tofu and Pesto Bowls, Broccoli Pesto Scrambled Egg Bowls, and Cilantro Jalapeno Avocado Pesto Pasta! And if you love homemade sauces as much as I do, check out my Dressings, Dips, and Sauces page!

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients
• How to Make Nut-Free Pesto
• Storage Tips
• Substitutions and Variations
• Kitchen Tools You’ll Need
• Top Tip
• FAQ
• More Sauce and Dressing Recipes
• Ways to Use This Pesto
• Easy Nut-Free Pesto

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Easy: This recipe is super simple to prepare. All you need is a food processor and a few basic ingredients. No cooking required!
• Versatile: Possible uses for pesto are practically endless. Don’t limit yourself to pesto! Use it in salad dressings, dollop it over chicken or salmon, add it to a breakfast burrito or a sandwich.
• Allergen-Free: While many pesto recipes contain nuts and dairy, this recipe is nut-free and dairy-free.

Ingredients

Here is an overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this pesto. Scroll to the recipe card for the exact quantities.

• Basil: Basil forms a delicious herby base for pesto. It’s a classic choice, but you can experiment with other herbs such as parsley and cilantro.
• Pepitas: Pepitas are a type of pumpkin seed that have no shell. They can be found in most natural food stores, the natural foods aisle of most grocery stores, and even Costco. I purchase organic, roasted and salted pepitas in a large bag at Costco.
• Lemon juice: I always opt for freshly squeezed lemon juice in my pesto. Bottled lemon juice just doesn’t have the same flavour and will cause your pesto to taste flat. While many classic pesto recipes don’t have lemon juice, I can’t imagine pesto without it. It adds so much flavour!
• Garlic: Raw garlic is an essential pesto ingredient.
• Extra-virgin olive oil: Adds liquid and helps the pesto blend into a creamy, luxurious sauce.
• Salt and pepper: Adding enough salt is essential for making a super flavourful nut-free pesto, especially since this one doesn’t have cheese in it. I use fine sea salt or Redmond Real Salt.

How to Make Nut-Free Pesto

Making pesto is simple; the only piece of equipment that you’ll need is a food processor.

Place all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth, adding up to two tablespoons of water as needed to thin it out.

Storage Tips

Store this pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week. Because it contains a fair bit of lemon, it keeps much longer than pestos that don’t contain lemon as an ingredient.

For longer term storage, you can freeze this pesto for up to three months.

Substitutions and Variations

• Basil – instead of basil, you can use parsley or cilantro. If using cilantro, swap out the lemon juice for lime juice.
• Pepitas – use raw or roasted sunflower seeds instead of pepitas.
• Add cheese: If you don’t follow a dairy-free diet and you would like to add cheese to this pesto, reduce the amount of pepitas to ½ cup and add ¼ cup of finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese.

Kitchen Tools You’ll Need

• Food processor
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• Glass food storage container

FAQ

More Sauce and Dressing Recipes

Looking for more sauce and dressing recipes? Try these next:

Ways to Use This Pesto

Use this pesto in any of these recipes:

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