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Hella fresh basil, lightly toasted pine nuts, garlic, lemon, good olive oil all blended into a bright, herbal sauce that grabs onto rigatoni like "absolutely not, you're not escaping me." Wait, why is this easy vegan pesto pasta recipe straight-up ruining other pastas for me? Oh yeah, because it's fast, hyper-tasty and very well-tested.
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Blend up the quite frankly effortlessly creamy sauce, boil up some pasta, give it a good toss together with buttery beans and asparagus, and suddenly you've got a bowl that looks like it came from a tiny trattoria with 6 tables and a handwritten menu and a sassy waiter named Luca. I'm not saying you'll feel like a talented rising star chef serving it, but I'm also not not saying that.
Serve it with vegan garlic bread, some grilled vegan Italian sausage, or a few vegan meatballs for extra protein and tell me you're not thinking about it again 48 hours later.
Jump to:
🥰 Why you'll adore this basil pesto pasta recipe
✊ Vegan AF: All my vegan Italian recipes got no dairy lurking in the corner and no animal products sneaking into the blender. Hells to the no.
⏱️ Weeknight Speed Demon: You're looking at about 20-ish minutes from boiling water to twirling pasta like you own a trendy, hard-to-get-into trattoria. Minimal steps, minimal cleanup, maximum "dang I love pasta" vibes.
🛒 Normal Grocery Store Stuff: Nothing too weird, nothing you have to order from some mystical internet warehouse run by the world's most powerful bald guy. Just simple ingredients like basil, beans, garlic, regular pasta. You've seen them before, they're not exotic, but you can eat them even if you have a mullet. It's fine.
✅ Tested Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, I ran this through the global home-cook hive mind first. Not one of them started a revolt.
🤫 Learn the secrets for perfect vegan Italian meals
This guide to my most popular plant-based Italian recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🌱 Vegan Pesto Pasta Ingredients
A F*ck Ton of Basil
Fresh basil leaves deliver the signature flavor of classic pesto. Every time someone uses kale instead of basil, there's a nona somewhere shaking in her boots. I guess you can substitute part of it with baby spinach or arugula (because basil is kinda pricey), but ideally go all-basil for the best flavor.
Pine Nuts
I do not mess with Chinese pine nuts because pine nut mouth is real (look it up, it sucks) and I refuse to have everything I eat taste like loose change for 3 days. If you've got some left over pine nuts after making this, turn it into the butter for my blue corn pancakes and feel wildly competent. Or swap in walnuts or cashews if you want a perfectly tasty, budget-friendly option.
Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast is the cheesy cheat code that makes this homemade pesto recipe actually taste like it has a tiny bit of dairy in it. Flakes or powder, no preference, just use it.
If you've never messed with "nooch" before, it's pretty essential for my vegan nacho cheese and for boosting vegan pepperoni into more realistically meaty territory.
The Pasta
Calamarata, paccheri, and rigatoni are my personal faves because they're thick, tubular, and actually built to trap pesto in all those ridges and hollows. That said, spaghetti works, penne works, any kind of pasta shape you love works. If you are going to make this GF, I really love the gluten-free brown rice pasta from Tinkyada (and I am not even GF).
Asparagus
Asparagus is only worth the hype in spring. Outside of that window? It sucks. It makes you mad. And it should be packed up in a capsule and launched into the depths of space to rot in silence.
When it's in season, it's snappy and fresh and perfect with pesto. Any other time of year, grab green peas, kale, arugula, or blanched broccoli rabe and use those instead.
Canned Butter Beans
Butter beans make this pasta substantial. I also sometimes rock them to make white bean puree that I serve under my roasted cauliflower steaks.
This pasta can totally be made with other more common white beans. I usually keep cannellini beans in my pantry because they pull overtime in my vegan Alfredo sauce, pasta fagioli, and escarole and bean soup. Use chickpeas if you must. It's ok.
Vegan Parmesan
Vegan parm is a nice to have, but not a have to have for garnishing your pasta dish. I usually use my homemade vegan parmesan recipe because it's more economical, but Violife makes a great option.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
⭐️ Variations
If you already have some on hand, rather than making the pesto in this recipe, you can use any on of these fun pesto sauce recipes instead:
Spinach Pesto
It's a bit cheaper to make, but this 5-minute spinach pesto is probably my personal all time fave anyway!
Pistachio Pesto
With a tiny hint of spice, my pistachio pesto recipe is also hyper-creamy and extra good tasting.
Walnut Pesto
You know what are pricy as heck? Pine nuts. Good thing walnut pesto is here to save your bank account's dayyyyy.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Don't even care about making your pasta green? Well, with a hint of red wine vinegar, some sun-dried tomato pesto is such a legendary pasta upgrade. For realsies.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖 How to make pesto pasta vegan
Okay chef, if you're already boiling water and ignoring everything I'm saying, the easy recipe card is below. But if you'd like this to come out exactly how you imagined it instead of "close enough," read the next minute.
Step One
Boil George
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Once it's boiling, salt the water.
Step Two
Leave the Gun, Take the Pignoli:
While the water comes up to a boil, very lightly toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. You aren't even looking for color here. Just the pine nuts to warm and start feeling a little oily.
Step Three
Pesto Change-o:
Add the basil, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, toasted pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, water, and salt to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Set aside.
Step Four
Puff Puff Pasta:
Once the water reaches a rolling boil, add the salt followed by the pasta. Cook according to the package instructions, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Reserve ½ cup (120 ml) of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta in a colander.
Step Five
Garls in Charge:
Place a large sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the olive oil. After 90 seconds, add the sliced garlic and asparagus tips. Sauté for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently so they soften without turning golden brown.
Step Six
Bean Me Up, Scotty:
Add the drained butter beans, cooked pasta, and pesto to the pan. Toss continuously until everything is evenly coated with the vegan pesto sauce. Add the reserved pasta water a few tablespoons at a time as needed to loosen the flavorful sauce so it coats the pasta without becoming overly wet.
Step Seven
Rigatoni Montana:
Transfer to serving bowls and finish with basil leaves, chopped parsley, and grated vegan parmesan if desired.
👉 Top tips
- Don't Overheat the Pesto: High heat is basil's enemy. Keep things gentle, coat the pasta, and remove from heat immediately.
- Blend Until Completely Smooth: If your pesto feels gritty, that's not rustic charm, that's impatience. Stop to scrape down the sides and keep blending until it's creamy and emulsified so it lusciously coats the pasta instead of breaking apart.
- Add Pasta Water Gradually and Toss Actively: Do not dump the pasta water in like you're watering plants. Add a few tablespoons at a time while tossing until it reaches the consistency you want.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Use very fresh basil, avoid overheating the pesto, and toss it with the pasta over gentle heat. Excessive heat will dull the color and mute the fresh basil flavor.
Abso-freakin-lutely. Walnuts, blanched almonds, sunflower seeds, or cashews work well and still give you that creamy texture. Each nut shifts the flavor slightly, but the method stays the same. They can all be swapped in 1-1.
🥶 Refrigeration:
Allow the pasta to cool completely, then transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
🔥 Stovetop Reheating:
Warm the pasta in a saucepan over low heat with a splash of water or vegetable stock. Stir gently until heated through and creamy.
⚡️ Microwave Reheating:
Place a portion in a microwave-safe dish with a spoonful of water, cover loosely, and heat in short intervals, stirring between each round until evenly warmed.
✌️You'll love these vegan pasta recipes too
Learn to make plant-based red sauce masterpieces in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vegan Pesto Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
For the Pesto:
- 4 oz. basil leaves
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup pine nuts
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
For the Pasta:
Optional Garnishes:
- basil leaves
- chopped parsley
- vegan parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat.
- While the water heats, lightly toast the pine nuts for a few minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat.
- Place the basil, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, water, and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Set the pesto aside.
- When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the salt and the pasta. Cook according to the package timing, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- Place a large sauté pan, or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the olive oil. After 90 seconds, add the sliced garlic and asparagus tips and sauté for 60 seconds, stirring frequently so it softens without darkening.
- Add the drained butter beans, cooked pasta and the pesto. Toss continuously so the pasta and beans are evenly coated. Add reserved pasta water a few tablespoons at a time as needed to loosen the sauce so the pesto coats the pasta without the pasta being too wet and saucy.
- Transfer to serving bowls and finish with basil leaves, chopped parsley, and grated vegan parmesan if desired.
Notes
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Susan Margaret Ruddick says
absolutely delicious
Marj says
My fave pasta recipe from Adam so far!!!