Oats Free Vegan Garlic Scape Pesto
Garlic scapes are the curly, bright green shoots harvested from hardneck garlic bulbs, and they bring a milder, grassy garlic flavor that makes this pesto genuinely special. Toasted pine nuts add a buttery richness, while fresh basil, lemon juice, and zest keep everything vibrant and alive. Nutritional yeast steps in to deliver that savory, cheesy depth you'd expect from a classic pesto — no dairy required. Every single ingredient here is naturally free from oats and oat derivatives, so there's no label-scanning or cross-contamination stress to worry about. The food processor does most of the heavy lifting, and the result is a thick, glossy, spoonable sauce that works beautifully tossed through pasta, spread on crusty bread, or dolloped over roasted vegetables. If you've never cooked with garlic scapes before, this is the perfect introduction — they're easy to find at farmers markets in early summer and absolutely worth seeking out.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- 6 oz garlic scapes (about 10–12 scapes), roughly chopped
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1–2 tbsp water, as needed
Instructions
- 1
Toast the pine nuts in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 3–4 minutes. Watch closely, as they can brown quickly. Transfer immediately to a plate to cool.
- 2
Add the garlic scapes, basil, toasted pine nuts, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and black pepper to a food processor. Pulse 8–10 times until the mixture is coarsely chopped and uniform.
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