First of all, I LOVE pesto. Kai always used to say that he wasn’t the biggest fan of pesto, which I couldn’t believe! So whenever he was away for work, or we’d go out to a restaurant to eat, I’d use those opportunities to get my pesto fill!

HOWEVER, since making this recipe a few times, he has definitely changed his tune! He even ASKS me to make it sometimes now.

This recipe is paleo friendly, nut-free, and vegan, so there is no dairy (Parmesan cheese) or pine nuts. Honestly, I don’t even miss either of these in the recipe, it’s so good on it’s own without them! I find a lot of people put waaaay to many pine nuts in their pesto and I personally find the flavor very overpowering and it takes away from the rest of the basil-y/oil-y goodness.

Since I didn’t add any Parmesan cheese to this recipe, I did add some nutritional yeast to give it a nutty and cheese-y flavor.

what do I need to make this paleo nut-free pesto?

• Fresh basil
• Spinach
• Garlic
• Lemon juice
• Nutritional yeast
• Sea salt
• Olive oil or Avocado oil
• Red pepper flakes

• 2 cups packed basil leaves
• 3 1/2 cups packed spinach
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup of avocado oil

Notes:

• If you’re looking for a more traditional pesto, feel free to add some pine nuts to the recipe and it will turn out just as good!
• The nutritional yeast is used to give a dairy free “cheese-y” flavor to the recipe, you can replace this with Parmesan cheese if you are not dairy sensitive
• I prefer to use spinach in my pesto, but you can use a combination of different greens for this recipe if you like, depending on what you have on hand
• Pesto can also be stored in your freezer for up to 6 months!