Basil-Kale Pesto (gluten free, vegan and made with healthy pumpkin seeds)

Basil-Kale Pesto (gluten free, vegan and made with healthy pumpkin seeds)

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This plant based pesto belongs in your meal prep rotation. You can serve it as a dip with crackers and vegetables or as a sauce with pasta, steamed veggies or just about anything. And, of course, it’s great on PIZZA!

This is definitely not your traditional pesto. In fact, I struggled with whether or not I should even call it pesto. Instead of being make with pine nuts, it’s prepared with pumpkin seeds. You will want to use green pumpkin seeds that do not have a hull on them. These are often called pepitas. Pumpkin seeds are a good source of healthy fat along with magnesium, iron, zinc and antioxidants.

My go to meal lately has been a big bowl of roasted or steamed veggies topped with this sauce. Let me know if you try it!

Basil and Kale Pesto

Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 0

Equipment

  • Blender

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

  • In a food processor of blender, combine the pepitas, garlic, salt, lemon juice and olive oil. Blend until smooth.
  • All the kale and basil leaves. Blend/process until smooth, adding water as needed to blend to the desired consistency.
  • Blend in the nutritional yeast at the end. Add additional salt if desired.

Notes

Soaking the pepitas improves the digestibility of the seeds. I soak them for a minimum of 2 hours and strain and rinse them before using. You can skip this step if you wish but you may find yourself adding a little more water if you are using dry seeds.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!