Whether you're looking for a healthier, dairy-free or vegan pesto sauce recipe, preparing pesto from scratch puts you in control of the ingredients and helps you avoid those nasty additives in ready-made sauces.
So, today, we want to share our easy and healthy recipe for tofu pesto, a low-calorie and plant-based pesto made with silken tofu instead of cheese and oil.
Silken tofu is a soft, smooth type of tofu with a higher moisture content than firm tofu. Because it's watery, it adds bulk to sauces while keeping the calories and fats low.
Plus, silken tofu turns incredibly creamy when blended, making it the perfect substitute for cheese and oil in homemade vegan pesto.
Besides tofu, our vegan pesto recipe includes classic ingredients like fresh basil, fresh garlic, and nuts, plus a little lemon juice for freshness.
Instead of traditional pine nuts, we used cashews, gently roasted for extra flavour.
When blended, cashews yield a silkier texture than other nuts, perfect for keeping this oil-free pesto creamy — and great for making this vegan cashew mayo, too!
What is tofu pesto?
Tofu pesto is a creamy, vegan variation of traditional basil pesto sauce. It's made using silken tofu as a base instead of cheese and oil, combined with fresh basil, garlic, and nuts.
How do you make tofu pesto sauce?
To make vegan basil pesto with tofu, blend together silken tofu, fresh basil leaves, garlic, nuts, and salt until smooth and creamy. Use traditional pine nuts or opt for walnuts/cashews for a twist.
You can also add:
Lemon juice to balance the flavours, add freshness and keep the homemade pesto from turning brown;
Nutritional yeast for a savoury, “cheesy” taste and extra nutrients (protein, fibres, and vitamin B12);
Extra virgin olive oil for a richer pesto sauce.
What kind of tofu is best for tofu pesto sauce?
Silken tofu is the best choice for preparing vegan pesto because it has a smooth and creamy texture that blends well into the sauce.
You can find silken tofu either refrigerated or shelf-stable, in the Asian food section of grocery stores.
Do you press tofu before making tofu pesto?
Tofu pesto is made with silken tofu which doesn’t need pressing before use. Silken tofu is already soft and moist which contributes to the pesto creamy texture.
Even if you’re using firm tofu for pesto, it’s not necessary to press it first (just drain excess water), as you want to keep the moisture in for a creamier pesto sauce.
Tofu pesto ingredients swaps
It’s super easy to customise this vegan pesto recipe with different ingredients. For example, you can substitute:
Basil with herbs like fresh parsley, coriander/cilantro, and mint or greens like spinach, kale, arugula, and watercress;
Garlic with chives, shallots, or spring onions;
Cashews with pine nuts (traditional), almonds, pistachios, or walnuts; for a nut-free pesto, use pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, or sesame seeds — even sesame seed paste as in this basil tahini pesto or tahini lime dressing;
Silken tofu with firm tofu (no need to press it first) — though it won’t blend as smoothly into the pesto sauce;
Half of the tofu with avocado, steamed broccoli or zucchini or thawed frozen green peas.
Is pesto with tofu healthier than traditional pesto?
Vegan tofu pesto sauce is a healthier alternative to traditional pesto as it's prepared with silken tofu, which replaces high-calorie ingredients like cheese and oil.
Compared to store-bought pesto, our vegan tofu pesto is lower in calories with fewer fats and saturated fats, lower in salt, and higher in proteins.
What can I use tofu pesto sauce for?
This vegan cashew pesto sauce with tofu is perfect stirred into pasta—try it in this mushroom spinach pesto pasta.
But tofu pesto is such a versatile sauce you can also use it as a:
Dressing for a potato salad, green salad or pasta salad as this quinoa pasta salad;
Dip for vegetables, breadsticks and crackers like these chia seed crackers or buckwheat crackers;
Spread for burgers, sandwiches like this spicy chickpea sandwich, or wraps like this lavash wrap;
Topping for pizza, flatbread, bruschetta, soups and grain bowls, like in this sweet potato quinoa bowl;
Filling for ravioli pasta, quiches, and stuffed vegetables.
Ingredients
| Silken Tofu | 100 g |
| Cashews | 40 g |
| Large Garlic Clove | 1 |
| Lemon Juice | 1 tsp |
| Fresh Basil | 60 g |
| Salt | 1/8 tsp |
Step 1
Roast the cashews in a hot skillet over medium-low heat for 5 minutes until fragrant and lightly browned, then leave to cool slightly.
Alternatively, roast in the oven at 120°C for 10-15 min.
Step 2
Add the roasted cashews and peeled garlic to a food processor and blitz them until finely ground.
Step 3
Pluck the basil leaves (discarding the stalks) and rinse them, then squeeze well to remove excess water.
Carefully rinse the silken tofu under running water to wash off the brine liquid (which may have added salt or a slight off taste).
Drain the tofu well and add it to the food processor along with the basil and lemon juice.
Step 4
Blend all into a smooth and creamy pesto sauce, scraping the sides of the blender bowl a few times between pulses.
Season the tofu pesto with salt to taste — we recommend a good pinch of salt (1/8 of a teaspoon) to 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
If you like, you can add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for a richer pesto or a splash of water to thin it out to your desired consistency.
Step 5
Your healthy silken tofu basil pesto is ready!
The default ingredients yield one small jar of tofu pesto sauce, about 200 g (7 oz, 3/4 cup) enough to make a creamy tofu pesto pasta for 4 people.
Use it right away for pasta or other recipes (lots of tasty ideas in the FAQs!), or store the tofu pesto in the fridge for 4 days or freezer for 3 months — more tips below.
Tips
You can use a handheld blender stick instead of a food processor: place all the ingredients in a narrow bowl and blitz until smooth (the pesto will be a little chunkier).
Add 1/2 tablespoon of fortified nutritional yeast per serving for a boost of protein and vitamin B12 and a more savoury, "cheesy" taste.
To Store Tofu Pesto
Fridge: transfer the tofu pesto to an airtight container or jar and keep it for 4 days. To prevent browning, smooth the surface and drizzle it with lemon juice or olive oil.
Freezer: freeze the tofu pesto in ice cube trays until solid, then transfer the cubes to a freezer bag and keep for 3 months. Leave to thaw in the fridge before use.
Like this recipe?
You can use silken tofu for other healthy vegan sauces like tofu hollandaise sauce or add it for creaminess to dishes like this tofu courgette risotto and silken tofu corn soup.