Pesto rice in under 10 minutes (vegan)

Name: Vegan pesto rice
Prep time: 6 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 8 min
Ingredients: 2.5 ounces fresh basil (about 2 cups, thick stems removed); 2 big handfuls cilantro (about 1 cup, thick stems removed); 1 clove garlic (minced); 1 teaspoon white miso paste; 2 teaspoons lemon juice; 2 Tablespoons pine nuts (toasted, if you prefer); 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes; 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; Pinch of salt (plus more if needed); 2 cups brown rice (cooked & warm )

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Pesto rice is the perfect weeknight meal. It uses just 10 ingredients & takes about 8 minutes to make.

Eat it on its own, as a side dish, or as a base for delicious pesto rice bowls with your favorite toppings! Vegan & gluten-free.

Bowl of pesto rice by roasted chickpeas, lemons, basil, cilantro, pine nuts, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, and garlic.

When most people think of pesto, they imagine pasta. However, there are lots of delicious ways to enjoy that flavor-packed sauce.

One of my favorite ways is in pesto rice bowls. You just toss cooked rice with pesto, pile it into serving bowls, and load it up with delicious toppings.

It’s a meal that comes together quickly, which is perfect for warm weather months. And it can easily be tweaked to fit your preferences. So many delicious options!

Pesto is an excellent way to pack in those greens. Usually if a person wanted to eat over a cup of leafy greens in one sitting, it would require a lot of chewing.

But with pesto, it’s all broken down into a garlicky sauce. It’s easy to effortlessly load up with greens in your meal.

Maybe best of all, it’s a meal that comes together in under 10 minutes and takes little effort to make.

In this post:

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Ingredients
Step by step instructions
Making pesto rice bowls
Make it your own
Storage
FAQ
📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.

Fresh basil and cilantro: Basil is the standard leafy green in pesto. However, I like to use a combination of basil & cilantro. (If you’d prefer, you can use all basil.)

Pine nuts: Pine nuts are the standard nut for pesto. However, they can be on the pricey side. See the section titled “Make it your own” for less expensive alternatives.

Nutritional yeast & white miso paste: Traditional pesto usually has parmesan in it. However, for a dairy-free variety, I like to use a combination of miso paste and nutritional yeast flakes.

Miso paste gives rich, umami roundness and nutritional yeast offers that bold cheesiness that balances the grassiness of basil.

Extra virgin olive oil: Pesto can be as dry or oily as you prefer. Even with an oil-free recipe, there’s usually enough moisture in the pesto and wetness on the pasta or rice that oil isn’t strictly necessary for getting the pesto to spread. However, oil can help with the body of the sauce.

Plus, frozen rice like I’m using today doesn’t have as much moisture as the kind you’d make on the stove. So I added a Tablespoon in this version. If you avoid oil, feel free to omit it or use water instead to fill it out.

Garlic: Not everyone can tolerate raw garlic. So I don’t go too heavy with it in my pesto. If you’re really concerned about it, you could use roasted garlic which is milder. And if you’re not at all concerned about it, add more to your liking!

Cooked brown rice: While rice is easy enough to make, brown rice requires some wait time (at least 30 minutes’ worth). So I like to keep frozen rice on hand for bowl or stir-fry emergencies.

As I mentioned in my favorite vegan Trader Joe’s products post, their frozen organic brown rice is one of my must haves. The box comes with 3 packages of cooked brown rice inside that can be heated and eaten in just minutes. Homemade rice also freezes beautifully, FYI.

Step by step instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Put all of the following into a food processor:

Fresh basil
Fresh cilantro
Garlic
White miso paste
Lemon juice
Pine nuts
Nutritional yeast flakes
Extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt

Blend until completely broken down, stopping once to stir any ingredients that have gotten caught up on the sides of the bowl.

Big dollop of pesto on bowl of brown rice.

Spoon the pesto onto warmed brown rice. Stir completely, so that all of the rice is evenly coated.

Give it a taste and add more salt, if needed.

Making pesto rice bowls

Pesto rice bowl topped with roasted chickpeas, artichoke hearts, and cherry tomatoes.

Now here’s where the real fun comes in – making pesto rice bowls!

As with any bowl situation, it’s all about the toppings. Adorn your pesto rice bowls with any of the following delicious toppings.

Something protein dense

Grilled lemon tofu
Roasted chickpeas in the oven or air fryer
Vegan chick’n strips

Briny things

Jarred grilled artichoke hearts
Kalamata olives
Warmed Castelvetrano olives with lemon & garlic (Use olives without pits for bowl purposes.)

Cooked or raw vegetables

Quartered cherry tomatoes or diced summer tomatoes
Roasted or air fried asparagus
Roasted broccoli
Roasted fennel
Air fryer radishes
Steamed spring peas
Sautéed broccolini & kale
Roasted delicata squash
Caprese salad

Make it your own

You can make this pesto rice your own by varying the toppings or adjusting the pesto.

Replace the cilantro: Swap out the cilantro for an equal amount of basil. Or use a different leafy green like spinach, parsley, or kale.

Personalize the pesto: When blending the pesto, add flavorful ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, or artichoke hearts.

Replace the pine nuts: Instead of pine nuts, use pumpkin seeds (pepitas), pistachios, almonds, hemp seeds, walnuts, and cashews. Simply replace whatever nut or seed you like 1:1 with pine nuts.

Replace nutritional yeast: Use store-bought or homemade vegan parmesan. Just replace nutritional yeast with vegan parmesan 1:1.

Replace raw garlic: For a milder garlic flavor, use roasted garlic.

Storage

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The pesto rice will keep for 3 or 4 days. Reheat in the microwave.

Be aware that the color of the pesto will get duller green over time, because basil oxidizes once its broken up & touches the air. That won’t affect the flavor. It’s still good to eat. It just doesn’t look quite as pretty.

FAQ

How can I keep pesto from turning brown?

Blended basil tends to brown as it’s exposed to the air and oxidizes. So for the brightest pesto, make it fresh and use it right away.

If you’d like to make it ahead of time, you can help homemade pesto keep its bright green hue by putting a layer of extra virgin olive oil over the top of it. That keeps it from coming into contact with the air. Or cover it with plastic wrap touching it on top, like you’d do with guacamole.

How do you cook Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice?

The Trader Joe’s directions suggest poking a hole in the plastic packaging and then heating in the microwave. I don’t feel comfortable microwaving food in plastic, however. So I empty mine from its plastic wrap, put it into a microwave safe bowl, and heat for two minutes, stopping once to stir.

Do you have to toast pine nuts for pesto?

Toasting pine nuts before making pesto brings out their natural nuttiness. However, it’s not a requirement.

If you’d like to toast them, simply add the pine nuts to a dry (not oiled) skillet. Cook on a medium-low heat until golden brown. Be careful to stir often, as they’re prone to burning. Once they are nutty brown, remove them from the skillet, and add to the food processor to blend with the other pesto ingredients.

Comments

5 from 2 votes

Pesto rice in under 10 minutes (vegan)

Ingredients

Step by step instructions