Vegan Pesto Pasta with Green Beans
Pasta tossed with toasted almond pesto sauce and green beans. Dairy free! The pesto can be made, covered and refrigerated, up to a day in advance.
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Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 424kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole almonds, divided
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning pasta water
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves loosely packed
- 1 pound rigatoni, or your favorite pasta
- 8 ounces fresh green beans trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- red chile flakes, optional
Instructions
- Toast nuts. Heat oven to 300°F. Spread almonds on a oven-safe frying pan and toast until golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Cool completely. Chop 1/4 cup of the nuts for garnish and set aside.
- Start pesto. Combine remaining 1/4 cup of the cooled almonds, the oil, garlic, and salt in the bowl of a food processor (or Vitamix if you have one) fitted with the blade attachment. Start grinding the nuts on low speed until they start to break up then increase the speed to medium and keep processing until the mixture is a paste consistency.
- Add basil. Wash the basil leaves but don't dry—you want the leaves to be wet. Tear the larger leaves into smaller pieces and add to the food processor and pulse just enough to make a smooth sauce. If it is too thick, add a couple teaspoons of cold water. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Cook pasta and beans. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add rigatoni and cook according to package instructions. Add green beans during the last 3-4 minutes of cooking. Drain, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid.
- Toss. Scrape pesto into the pot you cooked the pasta in. Add the reserved water, pasta, and green beans. Toss to coat in the sauce.
- Serve. Taste and season with more salt if needed. Serve in bowls topped with the remaining chopped nuts and a sprinkling of chile flakes.
Notes
- Make-ahead. Pesto can be made up to 3 days in advance. Keep covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- Toasting nuts. Toast in the oven like the instructions say or on the stove top. Watch very closely and stir often if using the stove top method.
- Salting. Add a decent amount of salt to the pasta water. The water itself should taste like sea water. Yes, that salty.
- Cooking pasta. Don't overcook the pasta. Start tasting to see if it is ready about 2 minutes before the package says it should be. It should resist your bite but not be uncooked in the middle.
- Pesto. Pesto shouldn't be cooked over heat. It warms just enough with the heat of the pasta and pasta cooking liquid.