Arugula Pesto with Almonds

Arugula pesto in a class jar on a wooden tray.

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My take on Arugula Pesto is bright, peppery, lemony, and comes together in just a few minutes with a handful of ingredients. This recipe is versatile. Toss it with pasta for an easy meal, slather the pesto on crostini, add it to a cheese board, or fold it into a salad dressing.

Prep Time10

Total Time10

Course: condiment

Cuisine: Seasonal

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Author: Luay Ghafari

Cost: $10

Equipment

Small food processor - Affiliate link

Ingredients

⅓ cup Almonds - Use toasted almonds, whole or sliced
2 cups Arugula (packed)
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 Garlic clove
1 tbsp Lemon zest - From 1 lemon
2 tbsp Lemon juice - From 1 lemon
⅓-½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Honey - Optional

Instructions

Toast your Almonds (Optional). If you are using untoasted almonds, toast them in a 300F oven for 10 minutes.
Load and Pulse. Add the arugula, toasted almonds, Parmesan, garlic clove, lemon zest, and lemon juice to a food processor. Pulse until everything is finely chopped.
Add Oil. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil until the pesto is smooth and emulsified.
Adjust the seasoning. Season with salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust as needed. If your pesto is too bitter, you can balance it out with a little honey.
Store or Serve. At this point, you can store your pesto in a glass jar in the fridge. Or toss with short pasta and finish with freshly grated Parmesan and a little extra lemon zest before serving.

Notes

Refer to the post above for step by step photos if you need them.

Key Ingredient Notes:

Fresh Arugula: The star of the show. It gives the pesto its signature peppery bite. Baby arugula works well if you want a slightly milder flavor. Or you can use bunched arugula, which is more mature.
Almonds: Toasted almonds add nuttiness and body. You can swap them for walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds or cashews.
Parmesan Cheese: I like to use Parmigiano-Reggiano. It adds saltiness and richness. I do prefer to grate it myself before adding it to the blender, but you can also use pre-grated. I don’t recommend using that fake Parmesan that is shelf-stable! Pecorino can work too for a sharper finish. Or if you want to keep the recipe vegan, use some nutritional yeast.

Storage Tips:

You can make it in advance and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. It’s a great prep-ahead sauce for pasta nights, sandwiches, or grain bowls. It should last in the fridge for 5 days.
Store the pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I prefer glass over plastic as plastic Tupperware may stain. A thin layer of olive oil on top can help protect the surface from oxidation.
Arugula pesto freezes very well. You can freeze it for up to 3 months for the best quality, but I have used 6-month-old frozen arugula pesto just fine. Portioning it into small containers or cubes makes it especially convenient.

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