Zucchini Pesto is a delicious way to use up your summer zucchini! There’s no cooking required, so you can whip up this flavorful sauce in just minutes.
Why You’ll Love It
It tastes amazing. Zucchini has a relatively neutral flavor, so it blends in seamlessly with the fresh basil, lemon juice, and garlic. It has a bright, refreshing taste that goes perfectly with your favorite pasta, pizza, sliced veggies, and more.
It’s nutrient dense. Classic pesto is already a healthy sauce, made with nuts and fresh herbs, but you won’t need to use as much oil or cheese in this recipe, because the zucchini bulks it up, instead. It’s a great way to lighten things up, without missing out on any of the classic taste or texture.
It’s allergy friendly. Pesto is naturally gluten-free, and adding cheese is also optional in this recipe, if you need a vegan or dairy-free sauce.
It’s easy to customize. Since there’s no cooking required, you can taste this sauce as you make it, and easily make adjustments. If you don’t love garlic, use less! Or if you prefer a more tangy pesto, add extra lemon juice or a touch of lemon zest.
Ingredients You’ll Need
One large zucchini is more than you need for this recipe, but you can saute the rest of it, if you plan on serving this zucchini pesto over pasta. It’s delicious with sauteed cherry tomatoes, too!
If you don’t keep walnuts on hand, you can also use pine nuts or almonds, or try sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds if you need a nut-free option.
Note: This recipe was originally posted as an oil-free vegan recipe, but I’ve also experimented with adding a touch of Parmesan cheese & extra virgin olive oil to the recipe over the past few years. Those optional additions are listed below in the printable recipe card, if you’d like to create a more authentic pesto flavor. Either way, it’s delicious!
How to Make Zucchini Pesto
1. Measure the zucchini.
Chop the zucchini into roughly 1/2-inch pieces, then measure out 1 heaping cup for this recipe, or about 5 ounces by weight. There’s no need to peel the zucchini for this recipe.
Wondering what to do with leftover zucchini? You can freeze it for a zucchini smoothie later, or add it to stir-fry or zucchini oatmeal.
2. Blend.
Add the zucchini, walnuts, fresh basil leaves, lemon juice, garlic cloves, and salt to the bowl of your food processor or blender. (You’ll get the smoothest results with a blender.) Secure the lid and start blending.
To help with blending, add in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the machine, as needed. (If you’re cooking pasta to go with this sauce, reserve some of the cooking water to use here– it will thicken it up a bit more.)
For an extra cheesy pesto flavor, add in a 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. You can also add up to 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, if you’d like the pesto to “stick” to pasta a little better.
3. Enjoy!
Once the pesto is blended, taste it and make any adjustments, as needed. You may want to add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of salt to help boost the flavor, or a pinch of red pepper flakes or black pepper, for a little extra spice. It’s easy to customize as you go!
Serve the pesto right away over your favorite pasta or zucchini noodles, or spread it over pizza, sandwiches, and more.
Leftover pesto can be stored in an airtight storage container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Or you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
Pro tip: Store the pesto in an ice cube tray in the freezer, then pop the cubes out and store them in an airtight container. The ice-cube-size sauce is easier to portion and reheat later!
Looking for more pesto recipes? Try Arugula Pesto or Broccoli Pesto for more veggie-forward ideas.
Easy Zucchini Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup diced zucchini , no need to peel
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ cup walnuts
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 to 4 tablespoons water , as needed to blend
Optional Add-Ins
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor or a high-speed blender, add the diced zucchini, basil, garlic, walnuts, lemon juice, salt, and 3 tablespoons of water. Blend until the pesto looks uniform, adding an extra tablespoon of water, if needed to help everything blend smoothly. Stop and scrape down the sides of the machine, if needed.
- For a more authentic pesto flavor, add in the optional Parmesan cheese and olive oil, then blend again. Taste the pesto, and season with extra salt (I add in an extra 1/4 teaspoon in this case) or a pinch of black pepper, if desired.
- Once the pesto is to your liking, serve it right away over your favorite pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and more. Leftover pesto can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this zucchini pesto recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it.
This sounds great Megan! I like pesto but get really turned off by ones that contain like 99% nuts, so I love that you put zucchini in as well. My favourite quick meals as of late have been veggies (I’ve been buying the frozen kind because they’re actually cheaper than fresh), in homemade marinara sauce with fish, like basa or cod. Something about nice warm cooked tomato sauce is so comforting in winter!
I love this recipe!!! Have you heard of Dorot herb cubes? The idea of freezing these reminds me of the Dorot herbs-they are at Whole Foods…I can’t wait to give this recipe a go! Have a great day!
I’ve never heard of those! Herbs in a cube sound very convenient, though– I’ll keep my eye out for them next time!
This is a perfect recipe for me today! This is exactly what I have left in my fridge – and I have been wanting to make some pesto to freeze! Thanks!
Yay! Hope you like it. 🙂
YUM! I love the idea of freezing the batch into cubes in the ice tray. That’s perfect for a single gal like me who is always cooking for one! I’m definitely going to do this. Thanks! 🙂
I’m freezing ALL of my sauces into ice cube trays now– it makes it so easy to prepare single-portion meals! Hope you enjoy it, too! 🙂
This looks amazing! I was bumming out a little bit the other day since I removed dairy from my diet nearly a month and a half ago and I remembered that pesto just wouldn’t be the same! This pesto looks much better than traditional pesto loaded with cheese. I love the addition of zucchini!
This recipe looks great! I don’t use oil, so this is perfect!
Made this last night with the intention of freezing some for later use but what little there was left ended up getting “finger spooned”. Love the addition of zucchini! Poured it over zucchini noodles and it was rich and delicious. Thanks!!
Thanks for the reminder about the ice cube tray freezing trick! I made this pesto with a couple differences. I didn’t have zucchini in the house, so I added 1 full cup of shelled edamame, and 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast. I also toasted the walnuts first. The result was a creamy, rich tasting and really delicious no-oil pesto!!!
I made some of this tonight. I was looking to use up some of my basil before it freezes tonight. I made the first batch with the walnuts as listed. It was good but my daughter is allergic to walnuts and I was out of them . So I made the second batch with some almonds in their place. I think it is even better than the walnut batch. I put some on some tofu shiratke noodles for dinner. It was really good. I will cover the basil again tonight so I can make another batch tomorrow. I need to go back to the store. I am out of nuts and lemons. This will be a good quick dish all winter long. I look forward finding different uses for it all winter.
Just made this. It was super easy to make. I used two large cloves of garlic and it was a bit too spicy so i just cooked the pesto a bit and the garlic flavor mellowed out. It was amazing and im so glad i now have a pesto recipe without oil!! Thanks!!
this was a great quick meal (served over raw zucchini noodles) for me and the wife, thanks!
Crazy idea on the ice cubes! (Crazy GOOD!) 😀
What else could I put this sauce on, other than the noodles?
Pesto sauce is a great sandwich spread, or on steamed or roasted veggies, or just about anything!
This pesto is absolutely amazing!
I adore it because it’s oil free and dairy free (as most pestos are not). Hubby and I have made this sauce two times this week. LOL. First time we used almonds in place of walnuts. And it was SUPER yummy! Unbelievably good. Then we made it again tonight and used the rest of the almonds (1/4 cup) and then pecans (1/4) and it was maybe even better than the first time (but could also be because I put in more basil leaves this time around). It seems hard to mess this recipe up. It’s so easy and so delicious (with probably any nut you decide to use). LOVE it. This is the pesto I will be using from now on. Amazing! Thank you so much!
I made this pesto this afternoon. It is simply wonderful and soooo tasty. Will definitely be making this again and it’s so easy to do. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Hi, I. Just left a comment on another one of your recipes and I just noticed this vegan pesto. I will have to give it a try. I’ve been using this one with boiled zucchini noodles, but I cut down the Evoo as it was a little much for my liking.
Just came across your website and you are totally motivating me to eat better so thank you. I definitely have to try this recipe. If I may,I’d love to share a favorite vegan pesto recipe with you that I found. I use it with my organically grown NJ garden zucchini. I just peel the zucchini in thick strips and boil in water for one minute. It’s nice to see eating healthy can taste really good and I never realized how good nutritional yeast can be in place of cheese. Enjoy and be well.
Vegan Pesto
1/3 cup pine nuts ( toasted I toaster oven or on the skillet)
2/3 cup olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Blend all ingredients in a food processor
the recipe sounds amazing! The Miracle Noodles though? notsomuch… I just read the ingredients list, and calcium hydroxide is poisonous and carcinogenic… 🙁 http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/calcium-hydroxide.html
felt wrong not to share <3
I don’t have lemon right now! Do you think lime would be okay or do you think I should leave it out?
Wow, is this ever delicious! We just made this for dinner and used spinach leaves instead of basil. Fantastic. Served it over spaghetti squash and extra walnuts. We licked the food processor and our plates clean. Even baby liked it! Thank you so very much!
Hey Megan!
Thank you so much for the awesome recipes, I am a college kid trying to find my way into a healthy diet and your recipes get me so excited for this new life style! I have been trying a new one every night and so far they have all been AWESOME! Just a quick question, out of your broccoli, zucchini, and avocado pesto sauces you have posted, which one is your favorite? I would love to make one in the coming days, but I am having a hard time deciding which one to buy the ingredients for!
Thanks and keep up the inspirational work, can’t wait to see the cookbook! 🙂
My favorite is this one, but that may just be because I’ve made it the most recently. 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I’ve had it for supper many times, but I have a quick question. Do you know of any good alternatives to using zuccini? When I moved in with my roommate I had this dish less and less because we split groceries/dinner and she is allergic to zuccini. Any help would be super appreciated 🙂
I have a feeling nearly any vegetable could work in this recipe, since it’s supposed to be green anyway! Maybe try some cooked broccoli or cauliflower?
Thank you. You are brilliant! I had never thought to substitute zucchini for oil. And it works. We all loved it with pasta and white beans. It tastes so good. 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe, Megan! I put together a little video showing how to make it, and of course, linked out to your site for the full scoop! https://detoxinista.com/2012/02/oil-free-vegan-pesto. You’re the best!
Great easy recipe, and freezing them? Genius! ??
wow. just wow. poured over store bought gnocchi. licked the plate clean.
I made this 2 years ago for my husband when we were dating and we LOVED it. I just remembered it and am going to use this recipe with my vegan cooking class next month!
Thank you for the inspiration! 😀
Love this pesto! I just enjoyed it over some spiralized carrot noodles from Trader Joe’s, and the flavor was perfect.
Hi!
Quick question about the walnuts- should they be soaked prior to blending? I was thinking they might break down easier but worried that they might absorb too much water and affect the flavor? Thanks in advance for your reply!
P.S. I own both your cookbooks and am so impressed with every recipe I try! It is one of the few clean eating cookbooks that doesn’t have difficult recipes, weird ingredients, or ridiculous portions per recipe (for instance, I enjoy that I can make a smoothie for one without leftovers). Keep up the great work!
Fantastic! And my kids loved it. Very quick and easy with regular ingredients. I served it over whole wheat pasta with steamed broccoli added.
Thanks, so much, for posting thia! I used to make pesto with olive oil, but have recently realized that it causes inflammation, for me, so I’m trying to find alternatives. Same thing with parmesan cheese. I never would have thought to use zucchini, as the base, but that’s brilliant! I will definitely be giving this a try.
Made exactly as written. Served over sauteed zucchini, mushrooms, onion, cubed chicken breast, and rice pasta. Divine. Thank you, Megan, for yet another healthful and delicious recipe!
Loved this recipe! It’s quick easy and tasty. Thanks so much for a lighter version of pesto that doesn’t sacrifice flavor.
Just made this pesto and I’m so impressed! It’s zingy and delicious. Looking forward to cooking with it tomorrow, assuming it makes it through the night without me attacking it with hunks of bread! 😋
Disappointed in this as it has no cheese, or oil…I modified it as that is disappointing
This is a great recipe to use up an abundance of zucchini.
Made this recipe today. Super easy and so yummy
I added a can of Great Northern beans and served it with a micro green and arugula salad. My husband loved it and that’s rare if there’s no meat! Thanks for this easy summer meal I can make with ingredients from our garden 😊
Absolutely delicious! I added a can of Great Northern beans to bump up the protein. Thank you for an easy summer meal with ingredients from our garden.
I loved this recipe! My partner requested that it be kept in our meal rotation. I prefer this pesto to the classic recipe; it will be my go-to pesto recipe from now on. It tasted exactly as you described: bright and refreshing. I added in the fourth Tbsp of water; I also used pecans in place of the walnuts, as that is what I had on hand, and I opted to add in the oil. Thank you for this recipe, Megan (and so many others)!
Absolutely delicious – a wonderful nutritious weeknight recipe. I served mine over whole-grain rotini with sautéed zucchini and tomatoes and garlic. I did cook my garlic ahead before adding it to the blender based on the review that I saw. I also added sautéed chicken. I am just thrilled with how nutrient dense and healthy this dinner is. Thanks!