Description
A creamy, flavorful, gluten and dairy free Vegan Pea Pesto Pasta! This recipe is quick, versatile, and can be NO-COOK other than the noodles if you wish. The secret ingredient for a higher protein dish is peas, though we promise you can't taste them in the final recipe (I'm not usually a big fan of peas...)
Ingredients
- 1 tsp + ⅓ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- 4 cloves garlic, minced if sautéing, otherwise whole is fine
- 1 cup green peas, cooked or thawed if frozen
- 1 heaping cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1 lemon, juiced
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 servings of Gluten-Free pasta of your choice - we prefer fusilli & you can find our favorite brand in the VgF Shop
- 3 cups fresh arugula
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
Instructions
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Optional: Heat a medium skillet to medium heat. Add 1 tsp olive oil. Toss in pine nuts, roast for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant and golden brown, while stirring constantly. Add splashes of water as needed to deglaze the pan.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
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Prepare pasta according to instructions on packaging.
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Meanwhile, make the pesto by add the remaining olive oil, roasted pine nuts and garlic, peas, basil, lemon juice, and salt to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
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Allow the pasta to cool for 5 minutes before adding in the pesto, arugula, and sun-dried tomatoes. Toss and serve. We enjoy this dish warm or cool.
Notes
If you enjoy a strong garlic flavor and need a particularly easy and fast version, you can skip the first step entirely. Simply add all ingredients (other than pasta) to the blender and voila!
I recommend using thawed frozen peas because there is no cooking involved -- it's just so much easier!
Make it your own: This delicious recipe can handle more garlic, more arugula, and more sun-dried tomatoes if you like! Load up on your favorite flavors to diversify.
Substitutions: Kalamata olives are a delicious alternative to sun-dried tomatoes if you can't find them (though we do prefer the tomatoes).
Helpful hint: We get our GF sun-dried tomatoes from Costco. The rest of the ingredients we generally purchase from Trader Joe's 😉
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Dinner, Meal, Pasta
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: Vegan pesto, dairy free pesto, one pot pasta recipe