Creamy Vegan Pesto Pasta

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If you’re looking for an easy, simple, and low-effort meal that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner, enter this creamy vegan pesto pasta. This dish is packed with homemade basil pesto, creamy butter beans, chewy pasta, and tons of garlic. 

Now, pesto pasta is a classic dish, but on its own, there’s not too much fiber or protein, which is why I love throwing in a can of creamy butter beans. You can leave these out, but it makes the dish a lot more satiating and balanced!

This dish is packed with nutrients, with over 13g of fiber and 25g of protein per serving. Also, you just need a blender, one pot, and a spatula to make this dish, so there’s little to no kitchen cleanup required. 

Whether you make this for an easy weeknight dinner or a quick lunch, you can’t go wrong with pesto pasta. It’s a classic for a reason! 

Ingredients You’ll Need For This Vegan Pesto Pasta

Here’s your grocery list for this creamy vegan pesto pasta. 

• Fresh basil
• Olive oil 
• Cashews and pine nuts: I like using a mix of both, because let’s be honest, pine nuts are SUPER expensive. However, feel free to use all pine nuts or all cashews if you prefer. 
• Fresh garlic 
• Paccheri, rigatoni, or any tube-shaped pasta: If you’re looking for a good dried pasta brand, I love Seggiano pasta, it’s slow-dried and tastes phenomenal. 
• Butter beans: While these are optional, I highly recommend adding butter beans, or any type of creamy white bean, to bump up the protein and fiber content of this dish. Plus, beans, pasta, and pesto are just made for each other!!
• Cashew milk: Linking my homemade cashew milk recipe here. Feel free to use any type of creamy milk you have on hand. 
• Black pepper
• Kosher salt
• Nutritional yeast: Or use grated parmesan if you’re not dairy-free. 

Let’s Chat All Things Pesto 

But first, let’s get this straight! Pesto isn’t a recipe, it’s a technique that refers to crushing fresh herbs with oil, cheese, and a few other flavors. 

Most of us refer to Genovese basil pesto when we think of pesto, which consists of pine nuts, basil, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and garlic.

The reason I bring up the whole “pesto isn’t a recipe, it’s a technique” is because you can easily swap in other nuts and leaves to put your spin on this recipe. I’ll leave some of my favorite pesto combinations below, just use my homemade basil pesto recipe below as a rubric. 

• Spinach basil pesto: Swap out the basil for 3 cups of spinach and 3 cups of basil. 
• Arugula pesto: Swap out the basil for 6 cups of arugula. 
• Walnut basil pesto: Swap out the cashews and pine for 3/4 cup walnuts. 

How to Make Homemade Pesto

Basil pesto or any type of pesto is traditionally made using a mortar and pestle, but for the sake of saving time, I like using a high-speed blender (like my Vitamix). 

Simply add all of the ingredients into your blender and blend on low for about 1-1.5 minutes. The goal isn’t to make a paste but to grind the nuts and basil into tiny pieces which will mimic the mortar and pestle technique. And that’s all there’s to it! 

Store any leftover basil pesto in an airtight glass jar in the fridge for up to 1 week. I haven’t had the pesto oxidize on the top, but if you’re worried about it turning brown, drizzle a super thin layer of olive oil on top which will prevent oxidation. 

A Few Notes

Rounding up some pointers to making this green pesto pasta recipe perfectly! 

• Make the homemade basil pesto on the weekend. That way it’s super easy to whip up this dish during the week! 
• Use a large tube-shaped pasta. Paccheri and rigatoni or a large shell pasta shape is my favorite pasta for this dish as it catches the sauce nicely. 
• Use the same pot for both the pasta and sauce. No need to dirty another pan, just make the sauce in the same pot you used to cook the pasta. 

Even More Pasta Recipes

• Spicy Vegan Vodka Pasta
• Roasted Tomato Pasta
• Vegan Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese

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