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Sneaky Pea Pesto Pasta

Pea Pesto Pasta close up
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★★★★★

5 from 1 review

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

Units Scale
  • 1 tsp + 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 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
  • 1/2 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
  • 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil

Instructions

  1. 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.

  2. Prepare pasta according to instructions on packaging.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 😉

Keywords: Vegan pesto, dairy free pesto, one pot pasta recipe

Find it online: https://vibrantlygfree.com/pea-pesto-pasta/