Creamy Basil Pesto

My 15 year old daughter absolutely loves basil! She used to eat it on Margherita pizzas and she would eat basil pesto on anything she could. About 6 months ago, she was also diagnosed with Hashimoto’s. My husband and I immediately decided to start her on the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) because it had been working so well for me. We are hoping that making that lifestyle change now will help prevent her from having to go through some of the awful symptoms I have had.

It’s really hard for a teenager to make big diet changes. So, I try to make it easier on her by recreating her favorite foods whenever I can figure out a way. That is how this Creamy Basil Pesto came about. Usually basil pesto has pine nuts and parmesan. A creamy basil pesto would normally have heavy cream. All of these things make it so delicious, but noncompliant for those of us following AIP. So, I made some modifications and you almost can’t even tell the difference.

Since we can’t have dairy on AIP, I added nutritional yeast because it has a cheesy flavor. Just make sure it is non-fortified to keep it compliant. To make it creamy, I use coconut cream instead of heavy cream. If you’re worried about it tasting like coconut, I can assure you it won’t. The other flavors in the pesto cover up the coconut flavor. It is just what gives it creaminess.

This recipe is super easy to make. It really can’t get much easier. You don’t even have to chop everything because it all goes in the blender. I just remove the big stems from the basil and peel the garlic. Then, throw everything except the coconut cream in the blender and puree it for about a minute. I then pour the mixture into a saucepan and heat it on medium-low for 5 minutes. Then, add the coconut cream and heat for another 5 minutes or until it’s warm enough.

We like to pour this sauce over my spinach gnocchi. It would also be delicious on seafood, veggies or pizza. If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear what you used it for!

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