Easy Vegan Kale + Hazelnut Pesto
Super easy and nutritious vegan kale pesto, make it in your blender in just 5 minutes! It’s so tasty we can’t stop eating it!
We’ve been so grateful for the abundance of kale we’ve had this summer! We planted 3 varieties in spring and have had a pretty consistent harvest all summer long, I had to get crafty coming up with ways to use it all so I started making this dairy free kale pesto, which uses 4 cups! I’ve been making this pesto consistently for several weeks now, eating it every day, slathering it over eeeeveeerythang, and we still aren’t sick of it, I actually wake up craving it, STILL!!! I must be needing all those nutrients🤔
Kale Pesto Serving Ideas:
- Add to scrambles and omelettes (🙋♀️every morning!)
- Use as a pizza sauce
- Zoodles with pesto, yes please!
- Slather over toast or a sandwich
- It’s exceptionally delicious added to Trader Joe’s Cauliflower Gnocchi with ground beef, veg (like zoodles or broccoli), and a bit of shredded pecorino cheese
- Thin out with a bit more olive oil, water, veg stock, or mayo for a quick and easy salad dressing
- Sub for harissa in our Cauli Hummus
- Top roasted potatoes
- Add a smear to the bottom of your soup bowl before ladling it in
- Make a quick flavored butter
- Add to meatballs, loafs or burgers
- Top steak or kebabs
- Smear on a hard boiled egg for a quick snack
- Drizzle on caprese skewers/salad
Kale Pesto Ingredients + Substitutions
This recipe is very forgiving in the way of versatility, I’m sure you could sub out several ingredients with whatever you have on hand and it would still be delicious. Don’t have kale? Try beet greens! No hazelnuts? Sub walnuts, or even pumpkin seeds or hemp seeds to make it nut free! Not dairy free? Add 1/4 cup pecorino cheese in place of the nutritional yeast. Try adding whatever fresh herbs you have growing in your garden or that you have sitting in your fridge and need to use up. This pesto is your oyster and your options are endless! Let me know what you try and how it turns out, I’d love to hear your ideas!
Super easy and nutritious vegan kale pesto, make it in your blender in just 5 minutes! It's so tasty we can't stop eating it!
- 4 cups Fresh kale, packed (any variety will work)
- 1 cup Olive Oil
- 2/3 cup Roasted hazelnuts
- 1 1/2 lemons, Juice of
- 4 cloves Garlic (large cloves)
- 2 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp Capers
- 1 tbsp Fresh Za'atar oregano, or regular oregano
- 2 tsp Dried parsley
- 1 tsp Dried dill
- 1 tsp each, S+P
- 1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes
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Wash kale and tear from thick stems, discard stems or save for another use. Measure 4 packed cups of the kale leaves and save the rest for another use, such as a yummy salad.
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Add all ingredients to a high powered blender or food processor and blend until smooth, scrape down sides as needed, usually takes a minute or so and you're done! If you like your pesto thinner, feel free to add a little water or vegetable stock.
Makes about 2 1/2 cups of pesto
