A healthier and flavorful basil pesto sauce using vegetable broth and walnuts for an added boost of protein and less fat!
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who dislikes basil pesto. There’s just something about the mix of fresh basil and garlic that creates a savory, rich flavor combination that seems to fix all the problems in the world. Or at least, all problems are minimized for the 15 minutes you spend eating your pesto flavored dish.
I personally love pesto and tend to keep a jar of homemade pesto on hand in our freezer at all times to quickly add a fresh burst of herbs to our meals. Although pesto is most often paired with pasta for a deliciously, carby entree, <3M and I very rarely use pesto as a pasta sauce.
For me, the combination of pesto (an oil based sauce) plus the calorie dense pasta makes for a meal that is just too heavy to consume on a regular basis. Not only that, eating pasta at night weighs me down and disrupts my sleep which doesn’t jive well with my 5am wake-up calls.
In our kitchen, we make use of pesto in our everyday meals as a condiment or flavor enhancer —
- topping grilled fish and chicken
- tossed with roasted vegetables
- spread on a sandwich or panini in place of mayo, or
- mixed in a tablespoon at a time into a pot of quinoa
Since we do make use of pesto on an everyday basis, I’ve created a pesto recipe that lightens the load of the oil based pesto by swapping out part of the olive oil with vegetable broth and replacing the traditional pine nuts with walnuts.
As a result, the overall fat count is decreased by swapping in vegetable broth for part of the olive oil and the walnuts also bring in a few added nutritional benefits in comparison to pine nuts —
- bringing more protein to the pesto
- adding more polyunsaturated fat — the healthy omega-3 & omega-6 fats and
- decreasing overall sugar and saturated fat — the fat that has been rumored to be linked to heart disease
The result is a pesto that’s full preserved of its original basil flavor but nutritionally stronger than its oil-laden counterpart! These swaps also make for a pesto sauce that’s thicker and more spreadable than the traditional pesto sauce we all know.
Fear not though, my healthier basil pesto still works great and tastes the same when used in a traditional pesto pasta dish but again, it nutritionally fits better into an everyday diet — which is why I keep a jar of it as a staple in our kitchen!
This pesto is a one-pot dish that whips up in minutes, so grab your food processor the 8 required ingredients and have yourself a healthy, pesto flavored meal in minutes!
- 4 cups basil leaves, stems removed and discarded
- 2 large cloves garlic, smashed with peel removed
- ½ cup walnut pieces
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ½ vegetable broth
- ½ parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- Place the basil leaves in a food processor and pulse 3-4 times until roughly chopped.
- Add in the garlic cloves and pulse 3-4 more times.
- Add
in the walnut pieces and again pulse 3-4 more times until roughly combined. - With the food processor running on low, stream in the olive oil followed by the vegetable broth until well combined.
- Stop the food processor, remove the top and scrape down the sides.
- Add
in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and process on high until a loose spread forms and the ingredients are well combined. - Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days or freeze until ready to use.
[…] that usually means firing up the grill, throwing on our favorite meat (topping it with a bit of homemade pesto!) and serving it with a side of sautéed […]