Delicious kale pesto made with pepitas, lemon juice and parmesan cheese. This sauce is perfect for brightening up pasta and is easily made vegan by omitting the cheese.
You can definitely put me down as a kale fan, but when I first heard that kale pesto was a thing, even I was sceptical. I mean why would a person want to make pesto out of kale when basil pesto is already such a beautiful thing?
Luckily, I was presented with an opportunity to change my mind one day while I was grocery shopping and Sunflower Kitchen was doing a sampling of their amazing pestos including their kale pesto.
After tasting them all we ended up with a container of kale pesto in our cart and lives were forever changed.
This recipe for is inspired by our love for Sunflower Kitchens kale pesto and the fact that I had both kale on hand and a craving for pesto.
How to make kale pesto
First, wash your kale and trim the leaves off the stems.
I used green kale because it's what I had, but I also really love black kale when I can find it and I think it would be awesome in pesto too.
Give the kale a light dice and toss it into your food processor along with the garlic and the sea salt.
Pulse the kale for a few minutes until it has begun to break down into small pieces.
using a spatula push down the sides of the pesto into the middle of the food processor then add the pepitas and lemon juice.
Pulse the mixture for another minute or 2.
Add in the oil and give the pesto another good whiz
When the mixture is starting to look like pesto add in the parmesan cheese then mix through with a spatula.
Transfer your pesto to a small mason jar and use on pasta, sandwiches or anything else you like to eat pesto on.
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If you like this kale pesto, you might want to check out some of our other homemade sauce and dip recipes:
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Kale Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch green kale - (about 7 ounces)
- ½ cup pepitas
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- ½ lemon (juice of)
Instructions
- Remove the kale from the stems then give it a light chop.
- Add the kale, garlic, and sea salt to the food processor then pulse until the kale is minced fairly finely.
- Add the pepitas and lemon juice to the mixture and continue to pulse until the pepitas have been ground.
- Stir the parmesan cheese into the pesto then store in an airtight container like a mason jar.
Notes
* nutritional information is calculated by online tools and may not be 100% accurate.
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