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Roasted Eggplant Pesto

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Roasted eggplant gives this vegan pesto a hint of smoky flavor while sun-dried tomatoes add a bright, tangy spark of flavor.

Roasted Eggplant Pesto

This week on the FatFreeVegan Facebook page, I’ve been offering my suggestions for Fourth of July dishes–salads that transport well, veggie burgers you can make ahead and heat on the grill, etc. You can add a pasta salad tossed with this aromatic pesto to the list of foods you can bring and that everyone–vegan and non-vegan, health enthusiasts and hedonists–will enjoy.

Traditional pesto combines basil with olive oil and, often, cheese, and vegan versions usually replace the cheese with nuts but keep the olive oil. As an oil-free vegan (OFV), I’m constantly looking for new ways to get the zesty basil and garlic flavor of pesto without the olive oil. I’ve made pesto with silken tofu, asparagus, white beans, and artichokes instead of oil with varying levels of success (asparagus is the prettiest, artichoke is the least flavorful), but I think I’ve hit on a new favorite. Though not the most attractive oil-alternative, roasted eggplant gives this pesto a hint of smoky flavor without overwhelming the other ingredients and makes a sauce whose consistency is more like traditional pesto than any of my other versions. Ground almonds and a little nutritional yeast supply a hint of cheesiness, and sun-dried tomatoes add a bright, tangy spark of flavor.

The recipe makes a good bit, so plan to use it for several days in different ways. Add it to pasta and toss in fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables for a delicious pasta salad that you can serve cold or at room temperature. It’s also a delicious spread for bread; spread it on a hearty whole-grain bread as a substitute for garlic bread or to perk up a sandwich (try it with Italian sausages–you will not be disappointed!) And this may sound odd, but I tossed a little with some chickpeas for a tasty, albeit messy, snack. A little goes a long way, so don’t be afraid to freeze the leftovers for later use.
Roasted Eggplant Pesto

Roasted Eggplant Pesto
 
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Look for sun-dried tomatoes that are not packed in oil but are still soft and flexible. If they seem overly dried out, you will need to soak them in hot water before using.
Author:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 large eggplant
  • 1/4 cup whole raw almonds
  • 2 sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 cups basil leaves, lightly packed
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • salt to taste
Instructions
To Do Ahead:
  1. Preheat oven to 400F. Trim off and discard the stem end of eggplant and cut in half lengthwise. Place cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with a silicone liner or parchment paper. Pierce the backs of the eggplant with a fork in a few places. Bake until completely soft and somewhat collapsed, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. This can be done ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use.
  2. At least 2 hours before using (and up to overnight), place almonds in a bowl and cover completely with water. Allow to soak at room temperature. Drain water before using.
Just Before Serving:
  1. Put the almonds, sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic into food processor and pulse to chop. Peel the eggplant and add it, the basil, and the nutritional yeast to the processor and process to a coarse puree. Add salt to taste and pulse to blend.
  2. Add a tablespoon to a serving of warm pasta (if the pesto is too thick to easily coat the pasta, add a little hot water to it), or use as a spread for bread or a dip for crackers or vegetables. Store in a covered container. For best color, either press a sheet of plastic wrap onto the exposed surface or spray with a light film of olive oil.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1/8 of recipe Calories: 52 Fat: 2.6g Carbohydrates: 6g Sugar: 2g Sodium: 13mg Fiber: 3g Protein: 3g

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Comments

  1. That looks yummy. My son wants to buy an eggplant every single time we are at the grocery store. I usually say “no” because I’m not very good at using them. Or if I buy them, they go bad. This would be the perfect way to use one for me.

    Reply

  2. Bless you! My CSA basket had an eggplant, and a boatload of basil. While I had some ideas for the basil, I was at a loss as to what to do with the eggplant. Thanks for the timely rescue.

    Reply

  3. Yes, I will stop wondering what I am going to do with this eggplant I have had for a week. I think I will put it on pizza dough and layer sliced vegetables over it! Thanks!

    Reply

  6. Susan – another winner for the pesto file. May I share this with my yahoo! (with attribution of course)?

    Reply

  10. This looks and sounds really good. Is there an alternative to the basil? I’m not a big basil fan but may have to give it a try anyway. Thank you. 🙂

    Reply

  11. This is a very tasty way to spice up pasta. My husband and I like a little kick to our pasta and don’t like nutritional yeast, so here is how I modified your excellent recipe for eggplant pesto. Instead of almonds, I substituted ~ 2 Tbsp of toasted pine nuts, added some dried red pepper flakes, and 4 cloves of garlic. A whir in the blender with the roasted eggplant and basil, then tossed it with pasta. For our tastes, we like a little more pesto than pasta and so the 8 servings were really 4.

    Reply

  12. What great 4th of July picnic fare! I bet it’s delicious cold. I’m thinking about slathering over roasted potatoes or making cold potato salad. What do you think? Thanks for the great recipe! And it’s gluten free, to boot!

    Reply

  13. Awsome I have a ton of eggplant from my garden I was trying to find something new to do with. If nothing else I can make this and freeze it.

    Reply

  14. This looks absolutely delicious! I love eggplant and basil. I’ll have to try this! I’ll bet it’s incredible on pizza too.

    I recently used a few tablespoons of soy yogurt in lieu of oil to make my lower-fat vegan pesto creamier. That worked well too and didn’t hugely change the flavor profile. The recipe is on my blog right now.

    Reply

  15. I make an almost-fat-free pesto using fresh tomatoes in place of the oil (along with basil, garlic, a small amount of toasted pine nuts, and a splash of lemon juice.) But I love eggplant so I’m interested in trying this spin too!

    Reply

  16. Awesome recipe! This is a great alternative to pesto made with oil. I added a few more sundried tomatoes and used it to sauce spaghetti squash. I also used it as a spread on bread and I can see how spreading it in a cracker would make an excellent snack! Susan, you’ve done it again!

    The serving size rang true with me (and I’m a big eater) so the caloric information is accurate for a meal.

    Thanks again for all of your wonderful oil free vegan recipes!

    Reply

  18. Looks delicious! Aubergine is one of my favourite vegetables and aubergine pestos I have in the past have been fabulous. Will def give this a go!

    Reply

  21. This looks fabulous! I love all kinds of things made with roasted eggplant, like caponata and eggplant caviar. I will definitely be bookmarking this to make in the future. I’ve also never roasted eggplant without oil, so this is quite inspiring!

    Reply

  22. I made this today and toasted up some ciabatta bread to spread it on. I didn’t use sundried tomatoes and it was still yummy! Do you think I can freeze some of this, since I’m the only one in the house that will eat it?

    Reply

  23. Finishing up Day 5 of being vegan and your website has been a fabulous find. I can’t WAIT to try this fantastic recipe, thank you so much!!!
    Please keep it up, I’ll be back for more! 🙂

    Reply

  25. Could there be a better vehicle for eggplant than baba ghanoush? I have my doubts whether anything can overtake the match made in heaven, but I’m willing to develop a new love affair! At least it has everything good – eggplant, almonds, sundried tomatoes, garlic, and basil.

    (And some day, my picky omnivore partner WILL eat eggplant!)

    I wonder if you ever add balsamic vinegar to your pesto? It’s an idea I got from some vegan cookbook (Vegan Brunch I think?) and IMO it works well.

    Reply

  26. I adore roasted eggplant and this recipe looks like a wonderful simple way to enjoy it’s lovely smoky flavour… it really doesn’t need oil does it.. I usually just roast the eggplant whole in the oven and it turns out so soft and full of flavour.. perfect for use in so many dishes… will be trying this for sure mmmm pesto and vegan YUM!

    Reply

  27. Already printed it out and am going to make it as soon as I can get my hands on an eggplant! Looks divine! Your photography is amazing! Stunning! Great job. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  28. I adore eggplant tapenade- and like your idea of adding almonds to roasted eggplant to make a pesto. Brilliant. I’ll be trying this! Thanks, Susan.

    Reply

  29. I guess I don’t much see the point in taking out a heart-healthy fat in exchange for the nutrionally-vague eggplant. I’d also swap out the almonds for walnuts, lightly toasted in a skillet. But that’s just me.

    Reply

  32. Thanks so much for this recipe! I had a housewarming party and made this as a dip and it was a HUGE hit!!! And NO ONE believed me that it was vegan and so low in fat and calories!! I’m already getting ready to make another batch to leave in my refrigerator as a snack 🙂

    Reply

  33. Just made this for lunch-YUMMY!!
    and I forgot to soak the almonds but still
    deeelisiocio!!
    I really love your blog-I’m not even vegan but I my friends
    are. I always go to your blog for receipes so I can see what I can
    cook for my friends. So thank you!!!

    Reply

  35. Thanks for posting an oil-free recipe.
    I am in transition to become a vegan especially for the health benefits.
    It doesn’t make sense to me to switch diet if i am still eating badly incorporating oil in every single dishes.

    And it is not going to get me back in shape after the birth of my son three months ago. I am presently following Dr. Furhman Eat to Live diet.He advocates the less oil as possible. There is a few recipes. I got lucky today to fall on your blog. It makes it easy to keep going on a heart-healthy diet.
    I cannot wait to see the changes a vegan oil-free diet will do to my silhouette and my energy level.
    Will try your eggplant pesto soon.
    Cheers!

    Reply

  36. This sounds great! Any estimation as to the total amount the recipe made? Are you considering 1 tbsp as a serving, therefore yielding 1/2 cup?

    Reply

    • It will really depend on the size of the eggplant you use, but when I made it, the whole recipe yielded around 2 cups, so a serving was about 1/4 cup.

      Reply

      • susan, that kind of information is really helpful . In creating recipes, it helps to say if serves 6 =1.25 cups or 2 cups etc..Perhaps you could add in future recipes

        Reply

        • The problem is, the info would be inaccurate. No matter how many cups it comes out to be when I make it, it would be different for everyone else making the recipe. Produce size varies and just cooking something for a different amount of time creates more or less liquid volume. People ask all the time for the exact amount a recipe makes, but I don’t provide it because it would be a very inaccurate estimate.

          Reply

  38. I made this for lunch yesterday and while it turned out great, I could still taste a little bit of the bitterness of the eggplant in the pesto. Do you think salting it and letting it sit for a while before roasting it would help?

    Reply

    • Some eggplants are more bitter than others, and salting will usually help, but that mostly works for eggplant that has been sliced or chopped before cooking. Something else you can try: If you notice that your eggplant has a lot of seeds once it’s roasted, scrape out the seeds and discard them. They’re the cause of a lot of the bitterness.

      Reply

  39. This turned out great! We added a pinch of paprika to spice it up a bit, and next time we might add an extra sun dried tomato or some lemon juice to give it some more tang. I might leave out the nut yeast to sprinkle on after as I find I want to put more salt on my food when I use it.

    I think this would be awesome as a layer in lasagna.

    Reply

  40. Because of you, my husband’s new favorite veggie is eggplant so thank you, thank you, thank you! Between this and the eggplant parmesan, he apparently doesn’t need anything else in his life. 🙂

    We found some chili flavored spaghetti to use with this and it turned out perfectly with a nice little kick.

    Thanks again!

    Reply

  41. Susan! This is the most amazing thing I’ve tried from your blog! I’ve tried quite a bit but this tops all.. scrumptious! Thank you.. amazing creativity.

    Reply

  42. I actually like this way better than the oil based recipe I use, and now I can have pesto more often (and I LOVE it) because it’s not a fat+carb calorie super bomb. Thank you!

    Reply

  43. We decided to have basil planted in several containers this summer. I was amazed at how much basil those plants produced! We made this recipe several times and LOVED it each time. I even turned my mom onto this recipe. Great idea with the roasted eggplant.

    Reply

  44. Hello Susan, I am a regular reader and love almost every one of your recipes I try. I have a private blog where occasionally I post about foods or recipes I love (along with many other topics) When I use your recipes I’ve included the link – is that okay with you? I don’t post the actual recipe or photo, just send the readers (friends and family) to your sight. I just want to make sure that follows your copy right rules.

    Thanks,
    Marinda

    Reply

  45. I made this yesterday and it’s delicious! Thanks Susan, flawless as ever!! My usual pesto is a flax meal, cilantro, garlic, lemon juice and pumpkin seed affair with a bit of s+p and some nooch – it’s great for dipping, on bread and on top of soup but it has never quite hit the spot as a traditional pasta sauce. This does!! Ta very much 😉

    Reply

  46. just made your roasted eggplant pesto…it was perfect on top of raw spiralized zucchini…i only soaked the almonds about an hour and it worked fine…just wondering why they needed to soak 2 hours or overnight?…i added more than 2 sun-dried tomatoes since i love them…all in all, easy, fast and even my carnivore, carb-less husband loved this meal….now just need to try on the kids!

    Reply

  47. I loved it! Than you so much!
    I personally didn’t put the yeast (It is not common where I live , I couldn’t find it) and added only half a clove of garlic since it comes from my yard and it’s super strong this year. I also added a couple of fresh peppermint and lemon balm leaves from my tiny spice garden and used spiced salt in order to put less of it and give it a little bit more sting.
    Since I don’t write often I also wanted to tell you that I love your website! I foud so many good recipies in it! The only problem with your site, and in general with American ones, is to convert everything into grams because is soo much time consuming and hard to get it right.
    If it was in ouces it would be much easier to convert but unfortunately “cups and spoons”, especially for nuts or non-liquid things, are different for every single item and sometimes I honestly don’t know how you people manage to know how you measure how much of every ingredient.
    If there’s a secret easy way out of it please let me know! (I don’t mean it sarcastically, any help is really appreciated to understand it better!)
    Thank you again!

    Reply

  49. OK, yum!
    Used my home-grown eggplant and tomatoes (dehydrated)
    Made it with pepitas since I didn’t have any almonds.
    Threw in an extra clove of garlic, because that’s how I roll!
    Turned out great!
    Thank you!!
    Tracy
    Newbury Park, CA

    Reply

  50. This was incredible, I just made it and the taste is heavenly. I love how we end up eating raw garlic which is so healthy.
    I translated to portuguese and wanted to know if it’s okay to share with your link to this post, thank you for creating this. My husband will be so surprised.

    Reply

  51. Hi,
    I love your recipes, this website is wonderful.
    another idea for pesto, if you haven’t tried already, is green peas,
    the green is quite fluorescent, but it has a great flavor and is a good replacement
    for the olive oil.

    Reply

  52. This sounds so yummy! I’m excited to try it this weekend. I am allergic to almonds so I was wondering if you think cashews would work in place of almonds…

    Reply

  54. And what exactly is a “large” eggplant? In today’s cooking arena, recipes are usually more specific, aren’t they? Pounds, ounces, grams, cups, etc. Please!

    Reply

  55. Sorry to seem so dense. I’m a new vegan and not used to cooking with some of these foods. When you say “one sun-dried tomato”, do you mean one strip (that’s how I seem them on the salad bars and in jars) or one whole tomato, sun-dried?

    Reply

    • Raw, with skins, unsalted. Sorry to have been so unclear. Are you new to this way of eating? You’re making me see that I shouldn’t presume we all are used to eating and cooking this way.

      Reply

      • Oh yes. VERY new! I have an eggplant in the oven right now but I have a feeling it’s too large for a half recipe. I never bought an eggplant before and the ones in the store ranged from huge to baby-sized. I found on the internet that 1 cup of basil was about 20 gms and that what I have to work with right now, so I figured I’d make 1/2 recipe with it.
        I’m enjoying learning all of this new stuff and experimenting in the kitchen again. I’m over 70 yrs old and have always been an Eastern European cook — with meat/potatoes or noodle dishes. Lots of dairy, etc. And my arthritis is already improving! Thank you for your help.

        Reply

          • Thank you for such a wonderful site. I have already made 3-4 of your recipes and they are wonderful. I can tell this will be my “go to” site for good food!

  57. OMG. I just made this. I blackened the eggplant over my gas stove for about 10 minutes and let them cool and peeled the skin off. Then followed the directions, although I’m guessing that I processed it a little too finely in my Vitamix. But the taste is scrumptious. This will be great on pizza and on steamed veggies and maybe even salad. So so so so so so good. Thank you Susan!

    Reply

  60. Just made this pesto and it’s absolutely amazing!
    Had the chargrilled aubergine pesto by sacla but it was so greasy it made my stomach turn.
    This is so delicious and by far the best pesto I have had.
    Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply