I fell in love with this recipe in the winter, but I’ll be making it all summer long…
I love basil pesto and make a ton of it in the summer when I have basil growing outside my kitchen door, but in the winter, you have to pay an arm and a leg for enough basil at the store, so I searched for alternative recipes. I love arugula’s peppery bitterness on sandwiches and pizzas, so I started there. I found a recipe for arugula walnut pesto on The Live-In Kitchen blog and gave it a shot. I tweaked it a bit to my own liking; I added some salt, a little less garlic, a little more Parmesan and a little more oil to loosen it up a bit. I also didn’t toast the walnuts – toasted walnuts are yummy, but on weeknights I look for timesavers. I found I really love this pesto and have been making it at least twice a month. Besides the delicious flavor, I love the fact that you don’t have to pick all those little basil leaves, you can just pop open a bag of baby arugula and stuff them into a measuring cup – see another timesaver! I also love that this pesto keeps in the refrigerator much longer than basil pesto, which will oxidize and turn brown. The recipe makes close to 2 cups, so you can have some with pasta, slather some on sandwiches, serve some with grilled chicken…all week long!
Arugula Walnut Pesto: 3 simple steps!
Need a recipe for using some of the pesto – check out these pork sandwiches!
Thank you for spending some time in the cloud with me!! Hope you love the recipe! Tina ( :
| Servings |
2 cups
|
- 2 cups baby arugula packed in measuring cup
- 1 teaspoon garlic pressed or minced
- 3/4 cup walnuts
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2/3 cup olive oil
Ingredients
|
Rate this recipe!
|
- Combine arugula, garlic, walnuts, Parmesan cheese and salt in food processor or chopper.
- Pulse until roughly chopped.
- Drizzle in olive oil while food processor is running.
- Process until well combined.
Notes:
- Keeps well in refrigerator for up to a week.
- Freezes well.
- When tossing with hot pasta, use a few tablespoons of reserved pasta water to thin the pesto.
This looks yummy – will def try since we are the world’s biggest pesto fans! Also make with spinach some times instead of basil b/c it is so affordable and full of iron. Thx for the idea, Stephanie
Thanks for stopping by Stephanie! Glad u like!! Just tried an oregano, basil, lemon version – will have to try a spinach one soon! Have a great summer!!
The arugula pesto is excellent! Had it with orzo and my guests loved it, in a (homegrown) tomato sandwich was also very yummy, also tried it as a dip, very good too. Tomorrow I’m topping grilled fish with it. Very versatile and different than regular pesto. Thanks Tina.
So glad you liked it Kitty!! Makes me happy to know ( :
Thank you!!
Tina