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Don't mess with pine nuts because they are hella expensive and sometimes cause terrifying "pine nut mouth"? Well, my dearest mommy, this walnut pesto might just have a wee bit more swagger than classic basil pesto anyway. In about 5 minutes, toasted walnuts, herbs, lemon, and olive oil whirl together into a sauce that tastes like an Italian grandmother whispered ancient flavor secrets into your food processor.
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Listen, walnut pesto is not some weird modern internet experiment invented by a blogger running on 2 hours of sleep and leftover Yerba Maté (a.k.a. me), and it's not an AI fever dream that ChatGPT burped up either.
Italians have been making pesto with walnuts for ages, mostly because pine nuts can cost a small fortune, and also because walnuts bring a wonderfully rich, buttery, slightly sweet thing to the party that works ridiculously well with basil, herbs, olive oil, and lemon.
Now once you've got a bowl of this pesto sitting on your counter, it's impossible to not think about things you want to slather this green stuff on. Toss it into my vegan pesto pasta, drizzle it over vegan carbonara, or drag a piece of vegan garlic bread through it and watch a full loaf disappear and nobody knows how that happened.
Cool, cool, I genuinely love that for you. Now let's make the darn pesto already.
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🥰 Why you'll adore this walnut pesto recipe
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Like all my vegan Italian recipes, the cows and goats are staying right where they belong. No parmesan, 0 cholesterol, and plenty more like it in my extensive library of completely gluten-free vegan recipes.
⏰ Done Faster Than Your Pasta Water: Toast the walnuts, blitz everything in the food processor, drizzle in olive oil, and boom. Roughly 5 minutes later you're staring at a bowl of heavenly green pesto like "by golly… I meant to do that."
🛒 Cheap, Easy-to-Find Ingredients: Walnuts usually cost way less than pine nuts and there's not a morsel of Parmigiano Reggiano involved. Just simple ingredients, your wallet just sighed in relief.
✅ Tested Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, this one got poked, prodded, and lovingly bullied by over 1,000 recipe testers before it earned a spot on the blog.
🤫 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 🥰
🌱 Walnut Pesto Ingredients
Walnuts
Whole walnuts or walnut pieces both work great in this recipe, just toast them for a couple of minutes so the flavor goes from "hi" to "Hello! ma honey, Hello! ma baby, Hello! ma ragtime gal."
Basil Leaves
Grab the fresh basil leaves and discard the thicker stems so the sauce stays smooth and herby instead of tasting like you blended a tiny swamp.
Lemon Zest
Use a microplane to grab just the thin outer yellow peel so you get the fragrant oils and none of the bitter white pith.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Grab a legit first cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil because this is one of those recipes where kick-@$$ olive oil makes a noticeable difference. If the oil is boring, the homemade pesto will be kinda boring too, and you didn't show up on my blog longing for boring.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯 Variations
Spinach Pesto
Something even greener and fresher? Spinach pesto blends basil and spinach for a tasty sauce that's a bit cheaper to make and is great for you too.
Pistachio Pesto
Pistachio pesto has a tiny bit of heat from arugula and crushed red pepper flakes. It's one of my personal fave ways to do the whole pesto thingy.
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Sun-dried tomato pesto packs concentrated tomato goodness into a thick, spreadable sauce with a hint of red wine vinegar and garlic. It's pretty great, really.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖How to make walnut pesto
Pasta sits up a little straighter when there's a bangin' homemade sauce involved. Follow the step-by-step instructions below and you'll have walnut pesto on the table… assuming you don't chug half of it straight from the blender. But if you're in a hurry, the printable recipe card is waiting further down the page.
Step One
Walnutty Professor:
Place the walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir and flip them frequently for 2-3 minutes until they become fragrant and lightly browned. Transfer them to a plate and allow them to cool completely.
Step Two
More Herb Than a Cypress Hill Concert:
Add the cooled walnuts to a food processor along with the basil, parsley, oregano, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, black pepper, and salt. Pulse several times until the mixture is finely chopped and begins forming a coarse paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed so it processes evenly.
✅ If your heart whispers "add vegan parmesan cheese," you should probably listen to it and add a few grated tablespoons.
Step Three
The Oil Tenenbaums:
With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream so the mixture emulsifies and becomes smooth.
Step Four
Don't Abolish This Kind of Ice:
Add the crushed ice and process again until all the ice breaks down and the sauce loosens to a spoonable consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Lightly toasting the walnuts brings out their natural oils and aroma. This step really does deepen the flavor noticeably and helps the fresh pesto taste fuller and more balanced.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes!
A blender works great, or you can channel your inner old-school Italian chef self and pound the walnuts and fresh garlic in a mortar and pestle before mixing in the herbs and olive oil.
Use fresh herbs whenever possible because pesto lives and dies by that bright green flavor. Dried oregano is fine if needed, but dried basil and parsley are basically decorative green confetti and will make a truly sad pesto.
🧊 Refrigerating
Transfer the leftover walnut pesto sauce to a sealed glass container and refrigerate it for up to 5 days. A thin layer of olive oil on the surface helps reduce air exposure and keeps the color bright.
❄️ Freezing
Walnut pesto freezes well for longer storage. Spoon it into a small airtight container, then store the frozen portions for up to 3 months.
✌️You'll also love these vegan Italian sauces:
Learn to make plant-based red sauce masterpieces in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Walnut Pesto Recipe
Equipment
- blender (optional)
Ingredients
- ½ cup walnuts
- 2 packed cups basil leaves
- 1 packed cup parsley leaves
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ cup crushed ice
Instructions
- Place the walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir and flip the nuts frequently for 3-4 minutes until the nuts are fragrant and lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and let cool fully.
- Add the cooled walnuts to a food processor. Add the basil, parsley, oregano, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, black pepper, and salt. Pulse several times until the mixture is finely chopped and forms a coarse paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed so the mixture processes evenly.
- With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream so the mixture emulsifies and becomes smooth.
- Add the ice and process again until the sauce loosens to a spoonable consistency. Taste and tweak the seasoning if needed.
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