As summer winds down, I’ve been busy, busy, busy preserving some of the beautiful harvest from our garden. During the months of August and September, you can find me in the kitchen canning, freezing and dehydrating as much as I can!

This year was a stellar year for tomatoes.  Even some of the heavy wooden stakes my husband put in to support the tomato plants cracked and fell over with the heavy weight of all those gorgeous tomatoes.  I’ve been canning loads of Roasted Garlic & Tomato Marinara Sauce and salsa.  As you can image, the house smells absolutely delicious!

Another thing I’ve been making a lot of is Lemon Basil Pesto.  My kids are absolutely obsessed with it!   If there isn’t a constant jar in the fridge, they start complaining!

Preserving can be a lot of hard work, but absolutely worth it for me!  I stare proudly into my stocked pantry at the end of the growing season and call my family over to admire it all!  “Look at all this beautiful food, kids!  We did ALL this!”   Yes, I seriously do this!  haha   It feels really good to be self-sufficient in this way!

The Lemon Basil Pesto I’m sharing with you today is a recipe we use fresh all summer long.  It’s also a recipe I use when I want to freeze pesto for recipes over the winter.  If you’ve never tried freezing your own pesto, you must try it!   There’s nothing better than the fresh taste of summer during the dreary days of winter!

I’ve already mentioned my big love for lemon basil, but you can also make this with your regular, sweet basil if you add a bit of fresh lemon juice.

 How to Use Lemon Basil Pesto

There are sooo many ways to use your fresh or frozen basil.  Don’t limit yourself to just using it over pasta!

• over pasta

• over zucchini noodles (hot or cold)

• in kale salad (massage the pesto into your kale, add veggies and you have yourself a delicious and healthy salad!)

• tossed with steamed baby potatoes

• tossed with steamed or grilled vegetables

• as a dip for crackers or vegetables

• in sandwiches (replace your mayo with pesto)

• in quesadillas or grilled cheese

• spread on toast or bread (better yet, make avocado & pesto toast!)

• as a topping for Quick & Easy Cashew Cheese (it’s so good this way!)

• as the dressing in a pasta or vegetable salad

• add a dollop to your pasta sauce or tomato based soup

Read more about Lemon Basil here.

Lemon Basil Pesto (Vegan & Gluten Free)

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups fresh lemon basil, packed & large stems removed  or sweet basil plus the juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 1 tbsp)

• 2 large garlic cloves

• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts

• 1/4 -1/2 cup olive oil (this depends on how you’ll be using it.  I use less olive oil if using it as a spread)

• 1/8 cup nutritional yeast (new to nutritional yeast?  You can read more about it here.)

• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions: 

In a food processor, process the basil, garlic, nuts, nutritional yeast and sea salt until coarsely chopped. Add olive oil and pulse until smooth.

Serve immediately or store in a sealed container or glass jar in the refrigerator.

If freezing, freeze individual portions in an ice cube tray until firm, then transfer to a plastic ziploc bag or freeze larger portions in a half pint glass jar with lid.

Enjoy!

–Jen

My Healthy Homemade Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Enjoy this post? Share & Like

Print Recipe

Lemon Basil Pesto (Vegan & Gluten Free)

Course

Sauces & Marinades

Prep Time

5 minutes

Servings

cup

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh lemon basil or sweet basil plus the juice of half a lemon (1 tbsp)
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup pinenuts or walnuts
• 1/4 -1/2 cup olive oil this depends on how you'll be using it. I use less olive oil if using it as a spread
• 1/8 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Course Sauces & Marinades Prep Time 5 minutes Servings cup Ingredients 2 cups fresh lemon basil or sweet basil plus the juice of half a lemon (1 tbsp) 2 large garlic cloves 1/3 cup pinenuts or walnuts 1/4 -1/2 cup olive oil this depends on how you'll be using it. I use less olive oil if using it as a spread 1/8 cup nutritional yeast 1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

1. In a food processor, process the basil, garlic, nuts, nutritional yeast and sea salt until coarsely chopped. Add olive oil and pulse until smooth
2. Serve immediately or store in a sealed container or glass jar in the refrigerator.
3. If freezing, freeze individual portions in an ice cube tray until firm, then transfer to a plastic ziploc bag or freeze larger portions in a half pint glass jar with lid.

Recipe Notes

Recipe by  jen @ www.myhealthyhomemadelife.com

Share this Recipe