Super Greens Vegan Pesto Pasta

by Freya

Pesto Pasta is the staple of student diets. At least it was for us! It requires barely any cooking, it’s cheap to make and it feels like you’re eating something vaguely healthy. I used to eat it at least once a week, so I’ve eaten enough pesto pasta for a lifetime! Since my student days, I swore off cooking it ever again…until now! The way I used to make it was with a jar of shop-bought pesto and whatever veggies I had in the fridge at the time. Not exactly the most exciting meals! Of course, this is great in lots of ways; it’s super convenient and a great way to use up leftover vegetables. Perfect if you’re a student! The older I’ve got the more creative I like to be with meals. We thought it was time we gave the much-loved pesto pasta a bit of a spruce!

We’ve taken the humble pesto pasta to the next level! A delicious homemade pesto made with almonds, rocket and basil is what really makes this dish so much more special. The pesto is the perfect balance of creamy, salty, tangy and herby, which tastes amazing when paired with spaghetti. We’ve gone all out with the greens for this recipe. This dish is packed with all the good stuff! It’s got roasted lemony broccoli and asparagus, as well as little green peas and lots of spinach. This sort of meal would’ve been my idea of hell when I was younger, I hated ALL green vegetables, and now I can’t get enough of them!

You may think the idea of making pesto from scratch sounds like a bit of a faff, but honestly, it’s so simple to do! All you do is add all of the ingredients into a blender then blend together for a few minutes until smooth. The veggies only take 15 minutes in the oven, and whilst they’re cooking you put your pasta on to cook and make the pesto. All you need to do now is heat your peas on the hob for a few minutes and mix all the components together! It’s just as quick to make this recipe with a homemade pesto as it is to make using a jar of shop-bought stuff.

This dish is filled with lots of nutrient-packed vegetables, can be whipped up in just over 20 minutes, and also tastes amazing! What more could you want? This is the perfect meal to enjoy after work or serve to a big group of friends, along with a salad and some garlic bread. You can also use this pesto recipe with any of your other favourite veggies, or drizzled over a delicious vegan tart as we did on our Spring Vegetable Tart.

Super Greens Vegan Pesto Pasta

Delicious home-made vegan pesto pasta brimming with healthy greens. A comforting classic perfect for any weeknight meal.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 3
Calories: 570kcal

Ingredients

Pesto:

  • 1/4 cup of almonds
  • 3/4 packed cup of rocket
  • 1/4 packed cup of fresh basil
  • 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 a cup olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon juice

Pasta:

  • spaghetti
  • 10 asparagus spears cut into thirds
  • 1/2 a broccoli cut into florets
  • pinch of salt & pepper
  • drizzle of olive oil
  • big squeeze of lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup of frozen peas
  • 2 large handfuls of spinach

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
  • Place the broccoli florets and asparagus onto a baking tray and drizzle with the oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper and squeeze some lemon juice all over. Put into the oven and cook for 15 mins. You should also put your spaghetti on to cook now too.
  • Whilst the veg is cooking, make the pesto. In a blender, add the almonds, rocket, basil, nutritional yeast, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice and blend until smooth.
  • Now put the peas onto cook. Place them into a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes until the peas all float to the surface. Drain the water then set the pan to one side.
  • The tray of asparagus and broccoli should now be cooked and so should the pasta. Drain the pasta and return it to the pan it was cooking in. Stir in the broccoli, asparagus, peas and spinach. Then add in 1/2 a cup of the pesto, you can add more or less to suit your tastes. Heat everything on a low heat until the spinach has wilted. It’s now ready to serve with a wedge of lemon on the side.

Notes

*Calories are estimated per serving

If you gave this a go, we’d love to know how you got on! Write a comment, like, or share this recipe with your friends.

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