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
You will need a food processor or high speed blender to make this 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.
If you like this you might like this vegan rocket pesto with tagliatelle recipe (on my vegan food blog Cook Veggielicious)
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!