Easy Vegan Zucchini Pesto

Vegan Zucchini Pesto is quick, easy, and very delicious!

This Vegan Zucchini Pesto is super simple to make, and it’s perfect to use up any excess zucchinis. It’s also totally customizable and extremely versatile to use. You can serve this pesto with pasta or risotto, add some to soups or salads, spread on bread, or whatever way you love regular pesto.

Zucchini is such a wonderful vegetable. It’s growing in abundance in the summer time, so it’s really inexpensive this time around. And if you happen to have a garden with zucchini plants, you know it can be a real struggle to come up with recipes to use up all your wonderful produce.

Well, there are so many delicious ways to use lots of zucchinis. You can enjoy zucchinis cooked, baked, grilled, roasted, and even raw!

Spiralized zucchini can be a perfect summer meal, for example with tomato sauce and veggie balls, raw bolognese, or avocado sauce. Mini roll-ups or raw vegan lasagne are awesome too.

If you are not a big fan of raw zucchini, try roasting it! As antipasti or mixed with pasta or potato salad. Or add to your favorite stir-fry.

You can also hide some zucchini in porridge, soup, pasta sauce, or in burger. Zucchini bread and muffins are also always crowd pleasers. Top puff pastry, tortilla or pizza with some slices. Or add a large amount to summer quiche.

Or make pesto!

How to make Vegan Zucchini Pesto

It’s super easy to make this pesto!

Simply pop all your ingredients into a blender or food processor, and blend until completely smooth.

That’s it. Taste, if you need more salt, acidity, or garlic. And adjust consistency with a little water, if you want it thinner.

How to use Vegan Zucchini Pesto

You can use pesto just like any regular pesto:

• Mix it with pasta. Together with extra roasted zucchini, beans, and some vegan cheese it’s especially amazing.
• Serve soup with a scoop of pesto on top.
• Use it as a salad dressing for greens, boiled potatoes, and grain bowls.
• Spread it on pizza or puff pastry as a base sauce.
• Dip veggies and crackers in it.
• Add it to mashed potatoes, hummus, or risotto for extra flavor.
• Use it as a bread spread.

Storing Vegan Zucchini Pesto

You can store pesto in a fridge in a jar or airtight container for up to a week. To make sure it stays fresh it’s best to pour a thin layer of olive oil on top of the pesto.

Vegan Zucchini Pesto can be also kept in the freezer for a couple of month. I like to freeze these in ice cube trays, then keep the little cubes in a silicon bag. That way I can defrost exactly as much as I need.

CUSTOMIZE IT THE WAY YOU LIKE IT!

There are so many ways to put your own twist to this pesto!

• You can use roasted or grilled zucchinis, if you don’t like raw zucchini.
• Instead of or beside basil, you can also add other herbs or greens, such as parsley, arugula, spinach, cilantro, chives, or dill.
• Don’t like walnuts? Cashews, almonds, pine nuts, or hazelnuts are all delicious too. Or make it all nut-free and use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
• Lime juice or apple cider vinegar can be used instead of lemon juice.
• If you don’t have tahini at home, almond butter or cashew butter work great here too.
• Prefer an oil-free version? Simply omit olive oil here. Or add half an avocado, or a little extra tahini to the mix.
• You can definitely play around with the ratios here as well. Add more garlic, use less lemon juice, sprinkle with extra nooch…whatever makes the perfect pesto for you.

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