Vegan Pesto Pasta with Zucchini, Chickpeas, Orange Pepper, and Tomatoes
This pesto pasta recipe is inspired by our neighbors who make some seriously amazing pesto. This is the vegan version that is equally delicious and oh so healthy. I absolutely love a good pesto and there are so many different pesto varieties, I don’t think I could ever grow tired of it! We usually make arugula pesto, so when our neighbors made a basil pesto, it blew my mind. I had forgotten how amazing fresh homemade basil pesto truly is. I was off to the kitchen to make some more! Fresh basil is so fragrant and flavorful that you don’t need many other ingredients to make a delicious pesto. Just a little olive oil, garlic, cashews (for texture), and vegan parmesan cheese. I love Violife parmesan cheese. It comes in a wedge and has the closest texture to real parmesan that I’ve found. If you don’t have any vegan parm, you could use some nutritional yeast and lemon juice instead. We always make this pasta with zucchini noodles, mostly because my kids eat more zucchini when it is in noodle form, and well when it’s summer our garden is overflowing with zucchini. I will fully admit that you can hide A LOT of zucchini in this delicious green sauce. We use the julienne setting on a mandoline to make our zucchini noodles, but you could use a spiralizer or buy zucchini noodles in the freezer section. Or the easiest option of all, you could just chop up the zucchini and throw it in the saute pan with the orange bell pepper and chickpeas. As always, you can experiment with this recipe and add your own favorite veggies. Pesto goes with almost anything, so go crazy. I love this recipe so much, next summer I want to grow like 5 basil plants so I can make it all the time. I hope you enjoy it just as much!
Vegan Pesto Pasta
A quick and simple plant-based vegan pesto pasta is loaded with veggies-zucchini, chickpeas, orange bell pepper, and tomatoes. The pesto is a delicious homemade basil pesto with only 6 ingredients! A kid-approved healthy pasta dinner.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Cuisine: Plant-based
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 6 ounces of whole-wheat spaghetti pasta
- 4 medium-sized zucchinis, julienne sliced
- 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup of grape tomatoes, cut in half
Basil pesto
- 1/2 cup of unsalted, unroasted cashews
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 4 ounces of fresh basil leaves (about 3 cups)
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup of vegan parmesan cheese, grated (I love Violife Parmesan)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the directions on the packaging. Add the zucchini noodles to the pasta pot for the last 2 minutes of cooking. Strain and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, add a tablespoon of olive oil to a small saute pan and crank the heat up to high. Add the orange bell pepper and chickpeas. Add the juice from one lemon to the saute pan. Cook on medium-high, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the lemon juice has cooked down.
- Make the basil pesto. Add the cashews and olive oil to a blender. Blend on high until the mixture is smooth, like peanut butter. Add the remaining pesto ingredients: basil leaves, garlic, and vegan parmesan cheese. Blend until well incorporated. You may need to scrape down the sides with a spatula a couple of times.
- Add the pasta, zucchini noodles, chickpeas, orange bell pepper, and tomatoes to a large mixing bowl. Pour the pesto on top and give it a mix until everything is coated in delicious pesto. Ready for eating!
Notes
Pasta keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Basil pesto can be made in large batches, pesto will keep in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
