A delicious recipe for kale pesto, with both a vegan and vegetarian option. Perfect for use with pasta, in lasagne or as part of a salad.
Kale pesto has probably had more than its fair share of web space lately – perhaps most famously on Jack Monroe’s blog. Because of this I hesitated to even make it in the first place, let alone blog about it. But when I did make it (half a bag of kale and some walnuts were pretty much all we had in the house) I was amazed at how good it was, and even more amazed at how much the kids enjoyed it too. Little R was less keen as she’s attempting to go through a ‘no sauce’ phase at the moment (been there, done that, not planning to let her get away with the antics her big bro used to get up to!) but big R gobbled up a whole portion of pasta and kale pesto, and I stuck the rest of the jar in a lasagne the next day.
Since I originally posted this recipe back in 2014 I’ve experimented further with kale pesto and now usually make a vegan version. I’ll put both this new vegan kale pesto and the original recipe below.
How to make kale pesto
Kale pesto
Ingredients
For the vegetarian version
- 80 g walnuts toasted and chopped
- 80 g grated parmesan
- 3 garlic cloves
- 75 ml olive oil
- 80 g kale
- juice of 1 lemon
For the vegan version
- 80 g kale
- 80 g walnuts pine nuts or a mix of nuts and pumpkin or sunflower seeds
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 75 ml olive oil
- Juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast optional
Instructions
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Cut the tough stems out of each kale leaf.
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Shred and wash well.
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Put all the ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender and whizz up to a thick paste.
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Add salt and pepper to taste if desired.
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Serve with pasta, or keep in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container.
NB: this isn’t Jack’s recipe – hers is nut free so if you have a nut allergy in your family it’s definitely worth checking out. I adapted this BBC Good Food recipe.
Pin this kale pesto recipe for later
NB: recipe and photographs updated in May 2017.
I will definitely be trying this! 🙂
It is so good! Let me know what you think x
That looks easy and tasty! I’ll try it too 🙂
It is really tasty! Would love to hear how you get on.
I’ve been trying out lots of walnut recipes recently – love most of them – and sooooooo good for you!
Totally agree. My kids aren’t keen when they’re whole or chopped but this is the perfect way to get them to eat them!