This vegan pesto tomato mozzarella sandwich is simple, easy, but most importantly delicious and filling! A lot of people don't know about the pesto tomato sandwich and its glory, but we're here to shine a light on it.
Probably one of the most underrated food combos known to human (and dog) kind is the tomato, pesto, and mozzarella combinations. I mean we all know the glory that is pesto, and that it basically goes with everything but even the greats get better when they're combined with something else great!
For the mozzarella part of this recipe we used Miyokos Mozz, we were able to get it in Winnipeg which doesn't have the biggest vegan community so were sure that this recipe will be pretty accessible to most especially if you do a little digging in your local vegan communities! I've made School Night Vegans Mozz recipe before and it was delicious! But it definitely requires a high-speed blender which is going to run you a couple of hundred bucks so we decided to go the more accessible route, but please feel free to check his recipe out and try it on our sandwich!
The ever elusive vegan pesto is another part of the recipe I'd like to talk about. Most people don't even know that pesto isn't vegan in the first place, it has parmesan cheese in it, so we created a basic pesto recipe for this sandwich. Just because it's basic doesn't mean it doesn't taste good! The pesto recipe packs a punch of flavor! It's super easy to make you just have to blend all the ingredients together! We weren't too worried about consistency here because it was going inside the sandwich so we focused more on the flavor. We're in the process of developing a pesto recipe that combines flavor, texture, aesthetics, and might be nut-free so stay tuned for that!
Basil is the main ingredient in pesto. We have 3 full-fledged basil plants at our house right now that we cycle between to keep them healthy and our pesto stocks full. You'd be surprised how easy basil is to keep alive actually! I'd definitely recommend getting a basil plant for a couple of reasons. First, it's cheaper than buying basil any other way. Each of our basil plants cost us $5 and have lasted about 15 pesto recipes so far. Secondly, it's more environmentally friendly buying one plant and reusing it then getting basil in plastic packaging at the grocery store every time you need to use it.
Nutrition of Vegan Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich
Let's be real this probably isn't the meal you're going to eat if you want something super healthy and nutritious. This is the meal you're going to eat when you want something delicious and filling. But I think you may be surprised by just how much nutrition we're still able to pack in between these buns!
The nutrition information presented here is for all of the ingredients (including monk fruit sugar). I take all of the nutritional information from Cronometer a nutritional tracker website that provides you with a lot of great information, especially regarding micronutrients!
Nutrition Facts
2 servings per container
Serving Size1 servings
- Amount Per ServingCalories486
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat
28g
44%
- Sodium 690mg 29%
- Potassium 643mg 19%
- Total Carbohydrate
47g
16%
- Dietary Fiber 7.5g 30%
- Protein 16g 32%
- Vitamin A 76%
- Vitamin C 21%
- Calcium 10%
- Iron 57%
- Vitamin E 16%
- Vitamin K 111%
- Thiamin 619%
- Riboflavin 412%
- Niacin 151%
- Vitamin B6 272%
- Vitamin B12 1100%
- Phosphorus 16%
- Magnesium 17%
- Zinc 13%
- Selenium 35%
- Copper 40%
- Manganese 54%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Overall nothing to sneeze at! I get it, this vegan pesto tomato mozzarella sandwich definitely isn't the healthiest choice out there but we're definitely not telling you it's a health food. But if you are going to eat junk food, this is a pretty good alternative where you can still get a significant amount of vitamins and minerals!
I mean significantly more of your b vitamins then you need, lots of vitamin A and over half your daily serving is pretty good for a "junk" food! If you're looking for some a little more on the healthier side be sure to check out our healthy chocolate strawberry banana oatmeal recipe!
How To Make Vegan Pesto Sandwich
This sandwich is a two-part process unless you are able to find store-bought vegan pesto where you live, in which case you can skip part 1!
Part 1: The Pesto.
Step 1. Add all ingredients to a high speed blender/food processor.
Step 2. Pulse the blender for 30 seconds, making sure to occasionally scrape the walls down. Alternatively, just blend it all together for 20 seconds.
Step 3. Set aside.
Part 2. The sandwich.
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2. While you wait for the oven to preheat, on a cutting board slice mozzarella, bread, and tomato slices.
Step 3. Add the mozzarella to the bottom pieces of bread and put all of the pieces in the oven on the middle rack.
Step 4. Monitor closely and remove from oven when cheese begins to melt and the bread starts to turn golden brown. About 5 min.
Step 5. Add sliced tomato, chopped basil and, salt and pepper on top of the bread with cheese on it. Add 1 - 2 tablespoon of pesto to the other slice of bread.
Step 6. Put the pieces of bread together. Cut in half (or don't) and enjoy!
This vegan pesto tomato mozzarella sandwich recipe is one of our favs! It combines so many delicious flavors into one we can't resist it, and usually eat more than one lol
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If you try this recipe I’d love to hear from you! You can rate it, comment about it, sending me pictures about it, I don’t care how but I want to hear from you and see how you enjoyed it!
Kitchen equipment I used:
- Ninja High-Speed Blender – Okay honestly I was team magic bullet for the longest time (who remembers the youtube videos where people would see what they could grind in them?) But I upgraded because I needed more room and power and I'm so happy I did! This is a great alternative to the Vitamix at a fraction of the cost, highly recommend!
- The world’s sharpest knife set - my personal opinion but I have cut myself a bunch of times with them lol
- My bamboo cutting board - I love this cutting board. It's cheap but durable and it looks great so I frequently double it as a photo prop or serving plate.
- Measuring cups I wish I had - so I don't own these but they have a 5-star rating on over 1100 reviews, and they look great so I really want them!
Vegan Pesto Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich
Equipment
- Blender/Food Processor
- Measuring Cups
Ingredients
Sandwich
- 4 slices Italian Bread thick cut
- ½ pack Miyokos Mozz
- 1 medium Beefsteak Tomato sliced
- 1 handful Basil chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
Quick Vegan Pesto
- 1 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
- 2 tablespoon Raw Cashews or pine nuts
- 2 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tablespoon Garlic minced
- 1.5 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1.5 tablespoon Water
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Vegan Pesto
- Add all ingredients to a high speed blender/food processor.
- Pulse the blender for 30 seconds, making sure to occasionally scrape the walls down.Alternatively, just blend it all together for 20 seconds.
- Set aside.
Sandwhich
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- While you wait for the oven to preheat, on a cutting board slice mozzarella, bread and tomato into slices.
- Add the mozzarella to the bottom pieces of bread and put all of the pieces in the oven on the middle rack.
- Monitor closely and remove from oven when cheese begins to melt and the bread starts to turn golden brown. About 5 min.
- Add sliced tomato, chopped basil and salt and pepper on top of bread with cheese on it.Add 1 - 2 tablespoon of pesto to the other slice of bread.
- Put the pieces of bread together. Cut in half (or don't) and enjoy!
Pups Notes
- The pesto recipe doesn't need to be perfect because it's going on the inside on the sandwich so it might be easier to just blend everything together real fast!
- Make sure to watch your bread when it's in the oven because it can burn very quickly and there's nothing worse than burnt bread.
Leza
I’ve been propagating basil just so I can make this pesto all year round! I doubled the recipe this time and note to self, do not double the salt! Everything else, yes, just not the salt. 🤦♀️
Allison
Tried this sandwich today and it was to die for! Refreshing to have the tomato with fresh herbs on a nice summer day!
John
Ahhhhh amazing Allison! It definitely is nice to have during these summer heatwaves! Thanks for the comment and rating 🙂
Gail Holm
I haven't made the sandwich yet - tho it looks amazing. I did make the mozzarella cheese however and it is fantastic. I did half the recipe as smoky gouda and both of them are out of this world. So far I have only dipped taco chips in the warm cheese and is the best I have tasted since I've been going dairy free.
John
Hi Gail! That's so good to hear! School Night Vegan makes some of the best recipes so we're glad your enjoying our recommendation. Let us know if you end up making the pesto or the sandwich 🙂
Brittany
Sooo good!
John
Thanks, Brittany we thought so too!