Planet Veggie

As much as I love using fresh herbs, I’ve never had any success growing my own, the grow-in-a-pot ones from the supermarket don’t seem to last long and the ones in the plastic packets – once opened – only last a couple of days before going soggy and, although I’ve tried freezing them, they defrost as a soggy mess and get thrown in the bin. Therefore, I usually prefer to save my money and create less waste by not ending up throwing soggy herbs in the compost bin after only using a tablespoon or so of them.

But, at the end of last week, I bought some basil, chives and parsley with which to make a dressing for a dish I was making and so I had some left in the fridge and, as they hadn’t gone too soggy, I decided to make pesto with them (with the basil and chives, anyway – I didn’t fancy adding parsley to the mix). This decision especially pleased me as it meant I could try out the Violife Prosociano (vegan Parmesan) I’d bought a while back from Tesco. I could have made this pesto vegan simply by leaving out the cheese but where’s the fun in that, eh?

A word of warning – this basil and chive pesto is seriously garlicky so you might want to use one garlic clove instead of two but, if you’re a garlic fan and not expecting to be breathing over anyone who isn’t also going to be eating it, then fill your boots (or preferably your blender – I don’t advise making this pesto in a pair of boots).

You don’t need a posh high speed blender like my Froothie Optimum G2.1 to make this – as you can see in the photo, I didn’t blend it until it was smooth because my preference is to have a bit of texture to my pesto (pine nuts cost a fortune so I want to know they’re there, dammit) so you can pulse the pesto for as long or as short as you like until you get your own preferred consistency. If you do want a posh high speed blender like mine though, you can currently get free postage worth £10 by typing ‘FREE AMBASSADOR DELIVERY 3437‘ in the comment box when you order and your postage will be refunded back to your card.

As with any pesto, you can use this on pasta, in sandwiches, on oat cakes or as I did for lunch today in a toasted onion bagel with Violife vegan cream cheese and homemade pickled veg.

I’ve made this recipe as part of the #jumpstart17 campaign and, for more vegan pesto recipes, check out these ones below from my fellow food bloggers:

Pea Pesto by Thinly Spread
Rocket & Hazelnut Pesto by The Veg Space
Broccoli Pesto by The Petite Cook
Avocado Pesto by Greedy Gourmet

Disclosure: I am an Ambassador for Froothie and any links to their products in this post are affiliate links which, if purchased through, won’t cost you any more but will earn me a small commission. I only endorse products I am happy with and I have not been paid for this post. For more information about the Optimum G2.1 blender mentioned in this post, you can read my review here.