Traditionally pesto is made with parmesan cheese, so it’s off the menu for anyone avoiding saturated fats. It’s surprisingly easy to make yourself though. In this low in saturated fats vegan pesto I like using flaxseed oil which is rich in omega 3. You can also opt for cold pressed olive oil instead. I like adding nutritional yeast because it adds nutrients like vitamin B12 and it gives this pesto a slight cheese flavour as well.

It takes a bit of confidence to make a really good pesto because if you taste it when it’s freshly made it can be quite hot form the garlic and overall quite intense. It’s best left in the fridge overnight before you start using it. There is also nothing stopping you from fine tuning the flavour the next day.

Makes about 3/4 cup – Preparation time: 10 min

1 cup of fresh basil leaves
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
1-2 tbs flaxseed or cold pressed olive oil
2 -3 tsp nutritional yeast
salt to taste

1. Wash and tear up the basil leaves.
2. Add the leaves with the garlic into a blender and pulse blend until everything is chopped but not pureed.
3. Add the pine nuts and oil and again pulse blend until the pine nuts are fairly small.
4. Stir the nutritional yeast into the mix and add salt according to taste.
5. Place into an airtight container allowing a small film of oil to seal the pesto. Keep refrigerated.