Pasta with vegan pumpkin seed pesto

8 Feb 2018

Finding a vegan pesto in the supermarket is hard. So I decided to make my own! I wanted to keep it cheap as well, so I used pumpkin seeds instead of cashews; they have a massive 30g of protein per 100g! That's awesome and they are also lower in fat than other nuts and seeds. So this is a really simple, inexpensive and delicious recipe to make on a weekday.

I've been really busy this week, and had very little time for cooking so I was looking for a really delicious and nutritious vegan weekday meal that's also high in protein and cheap. Something I could quickly make after the gym (as if I had time to go this week...) I felt like eating pasta but the pesto and sauce options in my supermarket were unsatisfying. Most, apart from not being vegan, were high in sugar and also tasted boring. And then I remembered that I made a pumpkin seed pesto before which was really nice. So I experimented and changed it around a bit, added some spinach for extra nutrition and taste and a good bunch of detoxing parsley. And voila, this dish was born, and it takes just 15 minutes to cook.

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If you want you can also squeeze a little bit more lemon juice on the pumpkin seed pesto pasta.

This little bowl of 100g of pumpkin seeds contains 30g of protein. I bought it in my local supermarket for £0.80, that's quite cheap if you compare it to lots of other protein sources.

Spinach and pumpkin seed pesto is a great combination, high in protein, nutrition and delicious.

Add a generous amount of parsley to it for extra deliciousness.

INGREDIENTS (2-3 portions):

Vegan pumpkin seed pesto ingredients:

Juice of 1/2 lemon
250ml water
100g pumpkin seeds
2 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 - 1/2 tsp salt
1 heaped tsp garlic paste

Other ingredients:

1/2 onion
150-200g spinach
Pasta
Parsley

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METHOD:

Cook enough pasta for 2-3 portions.

To a blender cup add the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 250ml water, 100g pumpkin seeds, 2 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 - 1/2 tsp salt (pesto needs a good amount of salt) and 1 heaped tsp of garlic paste (or a little bit more if you like garlic).

Blend until you get a smooth pesto. There is no need to soak the seeds if you have a decent blender.

Then finely chop up 1/2 an onion and sauté in a generous amount of olive oil (the oil helps to bring out the flavours better). Add 150 - 200g spinach and wilt.

Pour the pumpkin seed pesto over it and add a generous amount of chopped parsley and black pepper to taste.

Add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix everything together. Enjoy!

And if you like pesto, then try my vegan pasta with aubergine pesto.