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Vegan pesto pasta is worthy of a romantic dinner date, but it’s easy enough for a Wednesday night. It’s also a great way to squeeze in lots of raw leafy greens at mealtime – by way of fresh basil.
With the inclusion of garlic, pumpkin seeds, and artichoke hearts, there’s no shortage of vibrant, satisfying flavors. Finish this entree with roasted or air fried chickpeas. Vegan.
Fragrant basil just smells like summer.
Even when the months of July and August are behind us, a big batch of pesto transports me to sunny days and bare feet. That’s why I love making it all year ‘round.
I make it in the summer when I can keep several pots of basil on my front stoop.
And I make it in the winter, when I can pick up a container of basil at the grocery store, by way of a local farmer with a greenhouse.
In addition to its time traveling attributes, pesto is a great way to stuff in some fresh leafy greens. Because while we usually think of greens-heavy meals as kale salads or piles of sautéed collard greens, basil is a dark leafy green vegetable too!
Throw in several handfuls into a food processor along with garlic, lemon juice, nuts or seeds, and a few other ingredients, and you’re there. Just add pasta.
Artichokes make any dish feel special
Speaking of pesto add-ins, one of my favorites is artichokes. For this recipe, they replace about half of the usual amount of basil in pesto.
Artichokes a pantry staple at my house – always at the ready for spinach and artichoke dip, fried artichoke hearts, Israeli couscous salad, and artichoke crostini.
They add so much flavor, and make any meal feel a little more special.
For this recipe, you can either use artichokes packed in water from a jar or can. (Great for an oil-free pesto!) Or you can use the kind packed in oil.
Keep in mind that if you use oil-packed artichokes, it will add more calories to the dish than what’s listed in the nutrition information in the recipe card.
Pesto without pine nuts
Pine nuts are standard in pesto. However, for this recipe, I use pumpkin seeds (also known as pepitas).
Pine nuts are pricey. If you’re going to spend so much on them, why hide them in a sauce?
Roasted pumpkin seeds are less expensive. And they have a cheesiness that works well in a dairy free pesto.
You should be able to find shelled pumpkin seeds in most grocery stores. They come in plastic bags, like nuts and trail mix. And you’ll usually find them with the other nuts, seeds, and salty snacks in the store.
If you don’t have any shelled pumpkin seeds, you can replace them with an equal amount of pistachios, cashews, almonds, walnuts, or of course, pine nuts.
Miso adds cheesiness
When making a dairy-free pesto, I like to add a small spoonful of white miso paste.
Miso paste is fermented soy bean paste. It comes in a tub. You’ll find it in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, often near the tofu.
It has a light sweetness to it and umami quality that fills out the flavor.
Umami is the 5th taste sense along with salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. It’s a savory richness that you’ll find in mushrooms, wine, or cheese. Usually pesto has parmesan in it, and I don’t use that. So the miso rounds out the flavor.
A container will keep in the refrigerator for a long while.
In addition to pesto, it’s nice in vegan cheeses like cashew queso, as well as miso soup.
If you would prefer not to use it, no worries. There’s only 1/2 teaspoon in this recipe. So it’s far from essential. You can simply leave it out. Or replace it with a big spoonful of nutritional yeast flakes or vegan parmesan.
What kind of pasta should I use?
For this pesto pasta, I used my favorite vegan pappardelle. (It’s also what I use in buttery garlic noodles.)
However, pappardelle is usually made with eggs. So finding a vegan version can be tricky.
Luckily, you can use almost any pasta that you like for this dish. I especially like fettuccine, penne, fusilli, farfalle, cavatapi, or spaghetti.
(Looking for more pesto ideas? Pesto is also great on roasted gnocchi, or stirred into rice.)
What should I do if the pesto is too thick?
Sometimes pesto just won’t flow quite as easily as you’d like through pasta.
So I recommend saving some of your pasta water before draining it. It has leftover starch in it that helps the pasta to cling to the pesto. And it’s good for thinning the pesto a little to help it spread throughout the noodles.
Toss the noodles with the pesto. Then if it’s not coating evenly, add a little bit of pasta water at a time. But go slowly and with a light hand. You don’t want it to be too watery and dilute the flavor.
How to make vegan pesto pasta
Start by boiling water & cooking pasta according to the package directions.
Roast chickpeas in the air fryer or oven with oil and spices.
While the pasta and chickpeas are cooking, make pesto.
In a food processor, combine the following:
- Basil leaves
- Artichoke hearts
- Shelled pumpkin seeds
- Lemon juice
- Garlic
- White miso paste
Drain the pasta.
Move the drained noodles to a mixing bowl, and toss them with the pesto.
Move the pasta to serving bowls, and garnish with roasted chickpeas.
Pro tip: If you have any artichoke hearts left in the jar or can, brown them in a little oil in a skillet, and use them as garnish as well.
Make it your own
Pesto pasta is rife with possibilities! Here are some options:
- Replace half of the basil with the green of your choice. Spinach or cilantro works especially nice.
- Instead of pumpkin seeds, you can use almost any nut or seed in the pesto. I recommend pine nuts, pistachios, cashews, or almonds.
- White miso paste adds umami and cheesiness. But you can easily replace it or add to it with a generous spoonful of nutritional yeast flakes or vegan parmesan.
- Canned or jarred artichoke hearts have liquid in them. So this pesto doesn’t require much in the way of oil to smooth it out. However, if you’d prefer a thinner pesto, you can add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to taste. Or thin it with pasta water.
- For a grilled flavor, use jarred grilled artichoke hearts instead of water-packed artichokes.
- Instead of roasting chickpeas, serve this pasta with chickpea cutlets.
What to serve with it
Pesto pasta goes well with any of these appetizers:
- Fried olives
- Tomato bruschetta
- Asparagus bruschetta
- Warmed Castelvetrano olives
- Fried squash blossoms
Round out your meal with any of these side dishes:
Vegan pesto pasta with artichokes & roasted chickpeas
Ingredients
- 8 ounces vegan pappardelle or other pasta
- 1 packed cup fresh basil leaves 1 ounce
- 6 artichoke hearts jarred or canned, drained and squeezed slightly to remove excess liquid
- 2 Tablespoons shelled pumpkin seeds pepitas
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice About half a lemon
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon white miso paste
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil optional
- 1 batch roasted chickpeas
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- While pasta is cooking, combine basil leaves, artichoke hearts, shelled pumpkin seeds, lemon juice, garlic, and white miso paste in a food processor until it is fully combined. Scrape down the sides, as needed, and continue processing until the pesto is mostly smooth.
- After the pasta is finished cooking, drain in a colander.
- Move the noodles to a large mixing bowl, and toss with extra virgin olive oil to prevent sticking (optional). Spoon the artichoke pesto over the pasta, and toss until evenly combined.
- Serve pasta topped with air fried or roasted chickpeas.
Notes
Nutrition
Content, recipe, and photos updated September 2020. Originally posted January 2017.
Allana says
looks divine! Curious….why you used pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts? I realize pine nuts tend to be pricey, and other nuts are usually used in lieu of them. I imagine walnuts or almonds would be quite good in this recipe; unless nut allergies are a concern.
Cadry says
Thanks, Allana! That’s a great question. Yes, I rarely use pine nuts for pesto, because they are so expensive these days. I save pine nuts to use as a garnish instead, where you can really taste them. I like to vary the nuts and seeds that I use in pesto. So I have other pesto recipes on my blog that use almonds and pistachios. And sometimes in life I use walnuts too (although, I don’t have a recipe with them on the blog.) Lately, though, I’ve been into pumpkin seeds, and so that’s what I used here. The only reason is that I think they’re tasty. You could definitely swap them out, though, for whatever tickles your fancy. 😀
Jenn says
I always use pumpkin seeds in my pestos. They do double duty for me: I think they lend a “cheesy” flavor which replaces the parmesan cheese that traditional pestos have and they also replace the pine nuts which I happen to be allergic to. 🙂
Cadry says
Both excellent reasons! 😀
Bianca Phillips says
Oooh delicious. Also, David is the best! I need to get Paul to take some notes from him. He has never once brought me cucumber water! 🙂
This pasta looks fantastic. I’d imagine we’ll be dining in on V-Day too. We usually do that or go somewhere super-casual and totally unromantic because we know it won’t be overpriced/crowded.
Cadry says
Haha! I’ll have David send Paul his Cliff’s notes. (Do those even exist anymore?)
That’s a good idea to avoid fancy places altogether on Valentine’s Day and go somewhere more low key with fewer crowds. It’s hard to justify paying a surcharge for a fancy restaurant meal on the 14th when you know how much further your money could go the very next day.
Shell says
Yay for pumpkin seeds! I think this meal looks completely delicious and it is a great idea for Valentine’s Day.
Yay for David, too. 🙂
Cadry says
I couldn’t agree more! 😀
Shell says
Cad, I have a few questions for you:
1. I shy away from pesto because I assume it has pine nuts in it. I love this pumpkin seed idea! Can you find shelled pumpkin seeds in the store? How are they packaged?
2. Where would I find miso paste? And what is it?
3. It looks like you have whole artichoke hearts in the bowl, so I was surprised to find you blend them. Did you include whole artichokes in the dish, too?
Cadry says
Great questions, Shell!
1. You should be able to find shelled pumpkin seeds in most stores. They are sometimes called pepitas. (Pumpkin seeds are the seeds with the shell, and without the shell, they’re pepitas.) They come in plastic bags, like nuts and trail mix. And you’ll usually find them with the other salty snacks in the store. Just look for the other nuts, and the pumpkin seeds should be there too. I looked around Hy-Vee tonight, and the only pepitas they had were in the bulk bins. That could be good if you just want a small amount. But I’ve definitely seen them in bags at other Hy-Vee locations. I think they sell them at Trader Joe’s too.
Lately I’ve been into slightly spicy pumpkin seeds from a company called SuperSeedz. They have a variety of flavors including plain, and the slightly spicy ones have just a little kick of heat. I used them in this pesto, and it added a fun something extra since I like a bit of heat. I’ve seen them at some locations of Hy-Vee in the health market.
2. Miso paste is fermented soybean paste. It comes in a tub, and you’ll find it in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. In Hy-Vee it’s in the health market by the tofu. It’s usually by the vegetarian stuff in any store or with refrigerated Asian ingredients. This is the kind I use. (Obviously, don’t buy this 6 pack. I’m just linking to it, so that you can see what the package looks like.) It’s usually around $9/tub. It lasts forever in the refrigerator. It’s great for making an impromptu miso soup, if you like that.
I add miso paste to the pesto to give umami. Umami is the 5th taste sense along with salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. It’s a savory richness that you’ll find in mushrooms, wine, or cheese. Usually pesto has parmesan in it, and I don’t use that. So the miso rounds out the flavor. That said, there’s only 1/2 teaspoon in this recipe. So it’s far from essential. You can definitely leave it out, and the dish will still be tasty. Since I doubt you’ll be using miso paste very often, I’d recommend skipping it in your case.
3. This is an artichoke pesto, and so I used half the amount of basil I usually do and replaced it with artichokes instead. Then the remaining artichokes in the jar are browned and used as garnish. (That’s optional. You could have the pesto without the artichokes on top.)
If you’d rather have a basil-centric pesto, I have a couple of other pesto recipes on my blog. Just use the search bar, and then you can replace the nuts with pumpkin seeds instead. Pesto is pretty forgiving. It’s hard to mess it up. You can tweak it to fit your preferences.
Shell says
This is very helpful! Thank you!
Cadry says
Oh, good! I’m glad! I had to laugh after I was done, because I basically wrote a second blog post. 😀
Dianne's Vegan Kitchen says
We usually skip restaurants, too. I can’t deal with those crowds! Although, I have found that no one eats out for lunch of Valentine’s Day, so if it falls on a weekend, we might go for a nice meal at lunchtime. This meal looks amazing!
Cadry says
You’re so right about the crowds. When a place is packed and loud, it’s a lot less fun and certainly not romantic. That’s a great idea about going for lunch instead! Good thinking!
Stephanie Dreyer says
I am super excited to try this – so many of my favorite things in one dish!
Cadry says
I’m glad to hear it! I hope you love it, Stephanie!