Pepita Pesto: A Dairy-Free Parsley and Cilantro Pesto

By What Are Pepitas Editorial Team · Updated 2026-09-14 · Part of Pepita Seed Recipes: Roasting, Seasoning and Sauce Guides

Pepita pesto is the dairy-free version of the classic, built on hulled pumpkin seeds rather than pine nuts and on parsley and cilantro rather than basil alone. Without cheese, the sauce has to get its savoury depth from somewhere else, and three things supply it: toasted seeds, a slightly higher salt level, and acid added at the end. Get those balanced and nobody misses the cheese.

The other reason to build pesto on hulled pepitas instead of whole seeds is colour and texture. Hulled kernels are deep green and grind into a smooth, creamy paste, so the finished pesto stays green and coats pasta evenly. Whole in-shell seeds give a browner, grittier result - pleasant in its own way, but a different condiment. Compare the two approaches in pumpkin seed pesto, find the measured card at pumpkin seed pesto recipe, and browse the rest under pepita recipes.

Exact Ratios

The base ratio is 2 parts herb to 1 part seed to 1.3 parts oil by weight, plus acid and salt to taste. For a standard batch that means 120 g of soft herbs, 60 g of toasted hulled pepitas, 80 g of olive oil, 12 g of lemon or lime juice, and 4 g of fine salt. That makes about 260 g of pesto, enough to dress 400 g of cooked pasta with some left over. Scale it linearly; the ratio holds at double and at half.

Herb ratio is the other place people improvise, and it matters. Use more parsley than cilantro: 70 g of parsley to 50 g of cilantro gives a savoury base with a bright top note, while reversing the ratio produces a pesto that tastes flat and slightly soapy after a day in the refrigerator. Strip the woody lower stems from the parsley but keep the thin upper ones, which blend fine and add body. Basil can replace up to 30 g of the parsley if you want a sweeter, more classic profile.

Toast matters here in a way it does not in a basil pesto. Because there is no cheese to round things out, the toasted seed is carrying most of the flavour. Toast the 60 g of hulled kernels in a dry pan over medium-low heat for 5 to 6 minutes, shaking every 15 seconds, until they are evenly light gold and have started to pop. Cool them on a cold plate for 5 minutes before they go anywhere near the herbs, or you will wilt the parsley and lose the bright green colour.

Blender versus Mortar

A food processor is the most practical tool. Put the cooled seeds and garlic in first and pulse 8 to 10 times until they are a coarse meal, then add the herbs and pulse another 8 times, scraping down once. With the motor running, drizzle the oil in over about 20 seconds and stop as soon as the pesto looks cohesive. Total run time should be under 60 seconds; longer than that and the friction warms the herbs enough to dull their colour.

A mortar and pestle gives a better result if you have the time and the quantity is small. Work the toasted seeds to a coarse paste first, add the garlic and a pinch of the salt, then add the herbs a handful at a time, crushing rather than stirring, and finally work in the oil a spoonful at a time. It takes about 8 minutes for a 120 g herb batch. The texture is chunkier and the herbs stay brighter, because a stone bowl never heats the way steel blades do.

An immersion blender is the weakest option here and needs some help. Use a tall, narrow container only slightly wider than the blender shaft, add 20 g more oil than the recipe calls for, and let the toasted seeds soak in that oil for 20 minutes before you start. Blend in 15-second bursts with the motor rested between them, about 90 seconds of run time in total. Cleanup is easier than with a food processor, but the texture comes out slightly coarser, which suits a pasta toss better than a sauce you plan to spread on bread.

Freezing, Storage and Serving

Pepita pesto freezes better than a cheese pesto, precisely because there is no dairy to turn grainy. Spoon it into small jars leaving 15 mm of headspace, pour a 3 mm layer of oil over the surface, and freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator rather than at room temperature. In the refrigerator, a covered jar keeps 6 to 7 days with that same thin oil layer on top, which slows the darkening of the herb surface.

Beyond pasta, use it thinned with 10 to 20 g of water or extra oil as a dressing for grain bowls, stirred into bean soups at the end of cooking, or spread on bread before grilling a sandwich. Because it has no cheese, it holds up to heat better than a dairy pesto: you can add it to a pan of roasted vegetables for the last 2 minutes at 400 degrees F without it turning bitter, which is not something you can safely do with a cheese-heavy pesto.

If the pesto loosens too much when you toss it with hot pasta, the problem is usually water rather than oil. Drain the pasta well, add the pesto off the heat, and use the starchy cooking water a splash at a time, about 15 g for a single 100 g portion of dried pasta, until the sauce clings. Tossing over direct heat will drive the water off but also dulls the herb colour within about 30 seconds. If you are starting from a whole pumpkin rather than a bag of kernels, how to cook pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin covers the first stage.

• Ratio: 120 g herb, 60 g seed, 80 g oil
• Toast seeds 5 to 6 minutes, cool 5 minutes
• Food processor total run time under 60 seconds
• Mortar method: about 8 minutes for a 120 g batch
• Freeze up to 4 months with a 3 mm oil cap
• Refrigerate 6 to 7 days; stir the oil cap back in

This page is part of the Pepita Seed Recipes: Roasting, Seasoning and Sauce Guides guide.