Name: Vegan Cashew Basil Dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: ¼ cup (65g) raw cashews or unsweetened cashew butter; 2 cups (500 ml) fresh basil leaves, packed; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 2 teaspoon lemon juice; 1 pinch sea salt; 2-4 Tablespoons water; 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

Vegan Cashew Basil Dressing

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews

Author: Delphine Fortin
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 jar 1x
Category: Appetizer
Diet: Vegan

This easy 5-minute vegan cashew basil dressing will soon become your new best friend. Ready in no time, it elevates your salads and roasted veggies, and you can even turn it into a vegan cashew basil pesto version to serve with your pasta.

Ingredients

Scale

¼ cup (65g) raw cashews or unsweetened cashew butter
2 cups (500 ml) fresh basil leaves, packed
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 pinch sea salt
2–4 Tablespoons water

For the vegan pesto version, add:

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

If using whole cashews, place them in a bowl, cover with boiling water and let soak for 30 minutes minutes minimum or ideally 2 hours.
Drain, place cashews in a food processor (or cashew butter directly) together with basil, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Process until smooth, adding water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, to reach desired consistency and stopping to scrape sides of the food processor as needed.

For the vegan pesto version:

Add nutritional yeast to the other ingredients (minus the water) and process until nearly smooth. You want to keep a thicker and chunkier texture than you would have for the dressing.

Notes

To store: Transfer pesto to a mason jar with lid on, then chill up to 2 days.