Here is a super simple recipe for Spinach & Hemp Seed Pesto that I developed recently. Pesto is one of my favourite sauces for almost every meal. I love to put it on roasted vegetables, tofu, sandwiches, burgers, you name it.
However, I have a few issues with conventional pesto:
1) It is generally made with cheese. I modified that by adding nutritional yeast and hemp seeds to this pesto recipe. The cheese is definitely not missed!
2) Pesto is generally made with pine nuts. While delicious, pine nuts are outrageously expensive. So I like to replace them with an equally tasty, but much cheaper alternative: hemp seeds! This also makes this recipe nut-free. If you’re not concerned with eating nuts, walnuts are also a great substitution for pine nuts.
3) Pesto’s main ingredient and shining star is basil, right? Right. Basil pesto is delicious. However, the issue is that I rarely have large amounts of fresh basil on hand. What I do usually have stocked in my fridge is a package of baby spinach! Subbing the basil for spinach creates a less strong, but also very tasty pesto. Sometimes if I have basil or other leafy greens on hand (like kale or chard), I will put a 1:1 mix in my pesto with the spinach.
Spinach & Hemp Seed Health Benefits
Spinach (like all dark, leafy greens) is important for skin, hair, and bone health. It contains high levels of iron, magnesium, and calcium. Hemp seeds (which are technically a nut!) are a great plant-based source of protein and are high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids! They are also called Hemp Hearts. These are my favourite hemp hearts here!
I make a giant batch of this pesto, keep it in the fridge, and use it on everything: pizza, pasta, sandwiches, potatoes, tofu scramble… it’s honestly endless what you can use it on.
Try it out for yourself!
Spinach & Hemp Seed Pesto (vegan)
Ingredients
- 3 cups Raw baby spinach Sub basil, chard, kale, or a mix
- 2 large Cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup Hemp seeds Sub walnuts
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice Sub vinegar
- 1/4 cup Olive oil
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup Water
Instructions
- Blend everything in a blender or food processor until mostly smooth, leaving some hemp seeds and small pieces of spinach whole. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.
*Note: You can be creative with this pesto and change the hemp seeds out for a different nut or seed (such as cashews or sunflower seeds) and add different fresh herbs into the mix, like basil or parsley.
Let me know if you end up making this Spinach & Hemp Seed Pesto! Post a picture of it on Instagram and tag @Naturally_Makayla
If you like this recipe, you may also like this Chili Lime Hummus or these Roasted “Parmesan” Potatoes
