Our sun-dried tomato pesto is a quick, yet delicious recipe for a rich, nutty, flavourful pesto that you can use as a spread, dip, or condiment for a quick pasta dish.
You can make it with most blenders, a few simple ingredients, and we even keep it dairy-free so that most people can enjoy it. This red pesto is a must-try!
One of our preferred ways to enjoy this pesto is as a spread on our flatbread pizza, together with olives, mixed salad leaves, and a drizzle of unsweetened plant-based yogurt.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Sun-dried tomatoes: better if you use sun-dried tomatoes that are preserved in oil. If you use dry sun-dried tomatoes, you'll need to add more water to my recipe until you get to the right pesto consistency.
- Garlic: to add some tanginess.
- Walnuts: they help replace the parmesan texture in this recipe. You can use almonds too.
- Nutritional Yeast: if you haven't tried nutritional yeast yet, this pesto is the perfect recipe to do so. Nutritional yeast adds a mild cheesy flavour and it is especially suited for pestos.
- Olive Oil, water, salt, and pepper.
How to make sun-dried tomato pesto
In a blender, add all the ingredients for the red pesto: sun-dried tomatoes, water, olive oil, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, and garlic.
TIP: if your blender is not very powerful, then cut the sun-dried tomatoes into smaller pieces before adding them to the blender.
Blend until you reach a pesto consistency. Depending on how dry your sun-dried tomatoes are you might need to adjust for water, adding a little more, until you reach the desired pesto consistency.
Tips
Be flexible with the ingredients: the quantities of oil and water you see below in the recipe box are just an indication. Depending on how dry your sun-dried tomatoes are, you migh need to add more or less oil and water.
For example, I make this pesto with sun-dried tomatoes that are quite soft because they are stored in oil, and so I don't need to add a lot of oil and water to turn them into a pesto.
But if your tomatoes are completely dry, then you might need to double or triple the quantity of water and oil in my recipe.
Storage
Store this vegan sun-dried tomato pesto in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
This pesto is suitable for freezing. You can put it in an air-tight container and freeze it for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator.
Recipe
Sun-dried tomato pesto (no dairy)
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup (130 grams) sun-dried tomatoes
- ¾ cup (75 grams) walnuts
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) olive oil
- 2 tablespoons (10 grams) nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoon (45 grams) water (adjust depending on how dry your sun-dried tomatoes are)
- ½ clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 twists pepper
Instructions
- In a blender, add all the ingredients for the pesto: sun-dried tomatoes, water, olive oil, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, and garlic.TIP: if your tomatoes are in oil, drain the oil first.TIP: if your blender is not very powerful, then cut the sun-dried tomatoes into smaller pieces before adding them to the blender.
- Blend until you reach a pesto consistency. Depending on how dry your sun-dried tomatoes are you might need to adjust for water, adding a little more, until you reach the desired pesto consistency.
- Serve on flatbreads, toast, bread, pasta, or as a dip.Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Full video on youtube @theplantbasedschool
Nutritional Values
If you liked this recipe, you might also like:
- flatbread pizza with sun-dried tomato pesto
- quick chipotle sauce
- homemade vegan melted cheese
Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below 🙂
Buon appetito!
Nico
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