Fresh, green and fast – arugula pesto is a bold choice for pasta and veggies.
Arugula Pesto with Pine Nuts and Pepitos
Bold arugula and tangly lemon combine to create a fantastic, bright sauce just in time for summer. Make it thicker to spread on crusty bread or thinner for pasta, grilled vegetables, or to use as a dip.
Be sure to taste your arugula before making this pesto. If the arugula is young, fresh with smaller leaves, it should taste amazing. If it is older, or comes in a larger leaf bundle, make sure it isn’t to bitter or peppery for your taste. If it is too spicy, you might try mixing it with another green to tone down the pungency.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Blend
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 medium cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons pepitos
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked coarse sea salt
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
- 3 – 5 ounces arugula
- 2 tablespoons mildly flavored extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (more to taste)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Sort through arugula and get rid of any funky looking leaves. Wash thoroughly. Shake off excess water or spin in a lettuce spinner.
- Using a cast iron skillet, toast garlic cloves, pine nuts, and pepitos over low to medium heat until just starting to brown and are becoming fragrant. Stir often to prevent burning. Pepitos may start to pop.
- Transfer warm nuts and garlic to food processor. Add salt, nutritional yeast, and red pepper flakes (if using). Blend until finely ground. Now is the time to divide the mixture in half if making only two servings (see notes).
- Add cleaned arugula, olive oil, avocado oil and lemon juice. Blend until a smooth texture has been achieved. You want more of an almost pourable sauce and not a thick paste (for pasta). Make thicker for spreading on bread or toast.
- Taste and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if needed. Add more greens and / or oil to achieve a smooth consistency.
- Spoon pesto over warm pasta and serve with fresh ground pepper and more red pepper flakes.
- Extra pesto can be transferred to a jar or container, pressed to remove any air bubbles or gaps, covered with a small layer of olive oil, sealed, and refrigerated overnight.
Notes
- If you love fresh pesto, but hate left over pesto because the greens have turned a bit gray, blend the toasted nuts, nutritional yeast, garlic, and salt together and divide in half. Save one half for making a fresh batch of pesto later with fresh greens.
- Never heat pesto. This makes it loose it’s fresh, green taste. Toss it with warm pasta in a serving bowl, not in a pan over heat.
- I like to heat the garlic with the nuts to take a bit of the raw garlic edge off. Place the raw garlic right in the food processor if you want a stronger raw garlic flavor.
Keywords: Easy, Pasta, Greens