Zucchini Basil Pesto Sauce (Watch Me Make It!)

I LOVE pesto. It’s my favorite Italian sauce for pasta, veggies, and even chicken.

Anything with basil and garlic in it is bound to taste good, right?

Most pesto sauce recipes are loaded with oil, cheese, and pine nuts, all of which can be clogging to our bodies if eaten in excess. I’m a huge fan of pine nuts and love the way they taste, but there are one of the most expensive nuts you can buy, so I wanted to share a recipe that uses walnuts instead.

This recipe also includes a “surprise” ingredient that you’ve probably never seen in pesto…zucchini!

Zucchini adds creaminess to the sauce and boosts its nutrient content.

I like serving pesto over top of zucchini pesto noodles AKA “zoodles.” (click the link for a “how to” demo!).

Oil-Free Zucchini Basil Pesto Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup diced zucchini (no need to peel it!)
1 handful fresh basil leaves (about 3/4 oz.)
2 garlic cloves (the recipe called for 4 cloves, but I found that to be wayyy too much, so I would use 2)
½ cup raw walnuts
3 tablespoons water (the recipe calls for a 1/4 cup, but I found that slightly less – 3 T works best)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

*I also added in about 2-3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast to give it a little more of a “cheezy” flavor, but you can taste test it yourself and decide whether or not you want to add that in!

Click here for the super simple directions from one of my favorite bloggers and fellow health coaches, The Detoxinista. You can also watch my How To video below!