This easy pasta recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make and uses hemp seeds in the pesto instead of nuts, making it a great nut free recipe. By adding hemp seeds to the pesto, you are getting added protein into your meal. You can enjoy this pasta for lunch or dinner and keep it as a leftover for the following day.Â
For this recipe, you will need:
- Pasta: use chickpea or lentil pasta to make this gluten free
- Tomatoes: Use grape or cherry tomatoes and if you have extra time you can roast them with olive oil for even more flavor
- Hemp Seeds: these add protein to the dish and a subtle flavor. No hemp seeds? You can use walnuts or sunflower seeds instead
- Garlic
- Nutritional Yeast: this is a great vegan option that adds a cheesy flavor to recipes and has a lot of B vitamins in it
- Salt
- Kale: this recipe uses curly kale but you can substitute in lacinato kale, spinach, or arugula (this can make the recipe a bit more bitter)
- Lemon Juice: you can use a mild vinegar like apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar instead of lemon juice to get a similar acidic flavor
- Olive Oil
- Pepper
Tips:
- You can top this pasta with an added protein of your choice like shrimp
- For variety, add in a ½ cup of peas, kalamata olives, some chopped artichoke hearts, or cooked asparagus when in season to the pasta for even more vegetables
- For spice variety, add in some fresh herbs like parsley or dill or top with some crushed red peppers
- Meal Prep Tip: make extra pesto to use on toasts, over fish, or for more pasta by doubling the pesto recipe. Extra pesto can be also added to the pasta if you reheat it the next day
How to Store:
- Store pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for two days and reheat in the microwave or on the stove. Extra pesto is good for 5 days in the refrigerator or freeze extra pesto in ice cube trays and transfer to a sealed container once frozen into cubes to use for up to 2 months.
Other pasta recipes to try:
Tahini Mushroom Chickpea Pasta
Kale + Hemp Vegan Pesto Pasta
Cooking & Baking Supplies
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 12 oz gluten free pasta
- 1 cup tomatoes, halved (approximately 8-10 tomatoes)
Kale Hemp Pesto
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups curly kale, chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook your pasta al dente (a little bit firm) according to package instructions and drain the pot leaving a little bit of liquid in the pot to make sure the noodles stay moist.
- While the pasta is cooking, cut your tomatoes in half and set these aside.
- Make the pesto by mincing your garlic first and then destemming your kale by removing the center stem from the leaves. Add all of the pesto ingredients into a food processor or blender and process until everything is mixed together well and pesto is smooth. Add extra salt or pepper to taste and then remove from the blender.
- Mix the pesto into the pasta and then top with the tomatoes and ENJOY!
Did you make this recipe?Tag @girlswhoeat!
