Among all the food we enjoyed at Yasodhara ashram, the almond spread was everyone’s favorite and quickly became a popular topic of conversation during my stay.
When I got home and tried to recreate it I found it quite challenging to replicate.
I knew there was:
- almonds
- basil
- honey
- lemon juice?
Along with it’s characteristics:
- sweet
- slight zing at the end
- earthy
After 4 tries over a two week period and a life filled with dull tasting almond spread in every meal I had, I finally nailed the recipe.
(the secret’s in the apple cider vinegar)
Soaked almonds are also a must for this recipe. Soaking the almonds increases the enzyme content, and makes them easier to work with. I didn’t want to end up with a nut butter and soaking prevented that from happening.
Just look at how BIG that garlic bulb is. Holy moly.
Had to share.
PS: I used a regular sized clove for the recipe.
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Raw Sweet Almond Pâté
Vegan (option), Gluten free, Dairy free, Refined sugar free, Yeast free, Corn free
Easily my favorite recipe on the blog. Eat it with a spoon, stir it around with pasta, or use as a cracker or vegetable dip. Any way you enjoy it will change the way you look at almonds.
Yield: 1.5 cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil – worked out to be about 3 (40g) packs of basil
- 3/4 cup raw almonds, soaked over night, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 cup fresh parsley
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp raw honey or agave nectar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Directions
Place all ingredients in the bowl of your processor and pulse with the “S” blade just until chunky. You can either continue processing for a smoother spread; similar to pesto, or stop while there’s still chunks of almonds. I like it a bit chunky.
The spread is thick, still relatively chunky, and served best with crackers, a slice of fresh bread, or combined with a simple warm bowl of quinoa and fresh herbs.
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This recipe makes quite a bit of spread, so I kept 1/2 of it in a mason jar in the fridge and the other half in a plastic bag for 2 days from then when I’d realize I polished off the fridge batch safe keeping.
So delicious and simple. Juust the right recipe to welcome what is bound to be a hectic week!
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Great flavor combos! I’ve had a basil spread before that was a touch sweet from maple syrup. Sounds odd at first, but I’m with you -makes for something super yummy. Bet your version, with almonds, is even better!
Simple, beautiful, versatile…and SWEET
love it!
This looks so good! I love almond butter so I know I’d love this. I’ve never thought of this before!
It looks amazing! That color is so nice..
What an awesome color! It seems so versatile. Perhaps I’ll make a lof of bread in my bread machine to put with this!
This recipes sounds delicious! And your pictures are beautiful — the green color is so pretty!
ooo looks tasty! Passing this along!
Such an interesting recipe. I would have never thought of soaking almonds first. Great dish.
looks good!
Oh my goodness this looks divine!
I LOVE this!! And to say it’s your favorite recipe on the blog means I have to make it =)
I know, big statement, right? You gotta make it.
This sounds so flavorful! I love a good zing in a spread. What a huge garlic bulb!
Good luck with your week! I hear ya on the crazy. This looks and sounds amazing! Love the color…so vibrant!
your photos are beautiful! you make everything look SO delicious
A perfect substitute for cheese. Loving it. Gonna try this one!
I hadn’t even thought of substituting it for cheese. Brilliant!
Wow, that seriously looks good! I can really imagine scooping this up with a cracker, or spreading it on a sandwich. At first glance, I thought it was a bowl of ice cream!
http://cupcakes-music-fashion.blogspot.com
Oh MY Goodness
This recipe is genius! I cannot wait to try it out 
You are so creative 
I LOVE all of your recipes Leanne 
You are amazing at what you do <3
omg this looks fabulous!
Wow!! This looks great! I can’t wait to try it!! If it would have made it to the freezer:) do you think it would have frozen well?
It made it to the freezer for 2 days and froze really well. Defrosted well, too!
This spread looks so great!! I love your blog!
This is the perfect dish for a Diabetic. I hope you don’t mind me posting about it and credit and link it back to you? I was planning on doing a week’s worth of recipes that include nuts and this is the perfect way to start the week, just like an amuse bouche would be at the start of a meal.
Yes, it would be perfect for a Diabetic! Of course I don’t mind, link away!
Since you mention that this is your favourite recipe on your blog it must be amazing!
colourful spread lovely I haven’t had like this
Sweet baby jesus, I am totally making this. THIS just sounds deeeeelish! Thanks
I saw this. I made this. I love this.
Seriously, it’s soooo good! I used it on some steamed veggies. It would be great on a sandwich or in a grain salad. Or thinned down it could be a salad dressing. Or on chicken or fish. Loving it. Glad to hear it freezes well. Instead of parsley, I used a bit of cilantro and a whole lot of arugula. I’d say I used 4 parts basil, 2 parts arugula and 1 part cilantro. Turned out great!
Thank you thank you!!
I love the idea of using arugula! Glad you enjoyed it
This is so good! I’m linking to the recipe on my blog.
Hi, Leanne! I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now and it’s quickly become one of my favorites! I couldn’t resist finally commenting because I made this recipe and I adore it! It’s perfect. Thanks for sharing. I love the idea of so many of your recipes but often don’t have the ingredients – so I was excited to find one I have the ingredients for and finally make something! I also ordered my first box of quinoa flakes today…so I expect to be trying a few more of your recipes soon!
Thanks for leaving a comment, Rhoni! Glad you liked the spread. I still have a little bag from the second batch I made sitting in the freezer for a rainy day. Can’t wait to see how you like the quinoa flakes!
Hi Leanne! I love your blog! I’m hoping to make this tonight, but I forgot to start soaking the almonds before I left for work. Do you think it’d still be worth making if I just soaked the almonds for a couple hours before dinner?
Hi Hilary, I haven’t tried it with harder nuts so I can’t be too sure. Try to soak as long as you can tonight and then give it a whirl. You may just find that the spread is harder to spread because it’s a bit chunkier. You could try mixing in a tad bit of water so that when you leave the spread in the fridge overnight it will naturally get softer. Hope you enjoy it
Hilary! I love this recipe, Especially because of the great flavors you have used. Just wanted to know if I could use something else instead of apple cider vinegar.
Your blog is interesting. Glad to have found through foodbuzz. Already buzzed a coule of your recipes.
Leanne, where have you been all my life? Had I known that eating healthy could taste this good, I’d have changed my diet YEARS AGO! I’m eating this on brown rice right now. Yum!
haha I’ve been right here, right here! I’m so happy you liked the spread. Gosh, I could eat the whole batch in one go. That stuff is my FAVORITE!
All your reciepts sound soo good, do you know how many calories are in them?
Hi Kathryn – thanks! I’ve begun posting the nutrition information for each of my new recipes. If the nutrition facts were calculated, they will be at the bottom of the recipe either as a link to the full nutrition facts table, or written in text. If you find a recipe on my site that doesn’t have the details, feel free to input the ingredients to http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php to get an idea of the details of the specific recipe. I hope that helps!
I’ve been looking at your blog for a bit over a week now and I kept seeing these balls of green stuff on the side and wondering what it was. So glad I clicked because it looks fabulous! I’ll be trying this once basil comes back into season here. How do you think it will do on pasta?
Great blog here. I’ll be following you along your journey!
Hi Holly – glad you like the recipe! I’ve had the spread on pasta a bunch of times and love it! It’s really good if you mix it up with some avocado and serve it with pasta. Mmm!
This sounds amazing! A real must try!
I used this as pesto for spaghetti squash. Thank you for another incredible recipe!
Yum, that sounds delicious! Glad you liked the recipe, Laura!
so you mean to soak the amonds without dehydrating them? just use them still wet?
Yep, just soak them, drain them, since, drain and you’re good to go!