This spicy green garlic pesto works beautifully as a seasonal pasta sauce or as a spread for sandwiches and wraps.
If you find green garlic at the farmers' market or are growing your own, use it to make this easy and flavorful green garlic pesto recipe. It is fresh and delicious and wonderfully spicy and it takes just minutes to make. A handful of basil tamps down the pungency of the young garlic bulbs and pumpkin seeds add delicious nuttiness while keeping this recipe nut-free. This is also a gluten-free and soy-free and vegan recipe.
If you love pesto sauces, you are probably already making delicious pestos with all sorts of greens, from this classic vegan basil pesto to fennel fronds pesto and carrot top pesto. Add to that list this yummy green garlic pesto.
Like all pestos this is an easy sauce to make and it comes together in minutes in a food processor. The challenging part could be finding the green garlic if you aren't growing your own as most supermarkets don't carry green garlic (at least not where I live). But you can find it at specialty foods and health food stores or at farmers' markets -- they look a lot like scallions, only with bigger bulbs. Look for greens that are fresh and green and not wilted or woody.
If you love garlic (I do!) this could be a sauce right up your alley. It is infused with garlic flavor through and through, although I do use a handful of sweet basil to tamp down some of the pungency. You might want to use more basil and reduce the quantity of the garlic green bulbs if you plan on feeding this to children.
Why you'll love this green garlic pesto
- The vibrant garlic flavor in this pesto is quite amazing. I love garlicky dishes and this sauce infuses your pasta, or anything you are adding it to, with that wonderful flavor of fresh, green garlic.
- Green garlic is a wonderfully healthy -- and seasonal -- food to eat. Spring is the season to harvest and eat green garlic. The young stalks and bulbs have the same benefits as the more mature garlic bulbs. They contain tons of allicin, a sulfur compound that is an antioxidant and can help reduce cholesterol and prevent inflammation in the body.
- The pesto takes just minutes to make. Just add everything to the food processor and hit the button. There's no cooking required.
- Everyone can eat this pesto because it's gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free and vegan. If you are on a low-carb diet add this to zucchini noodles or zoodles or to a bean-based pasta, like chickpea pasta or black bean pasta.
Ingredients for green garlic pesto
- 6 stalks of green garlic with bulbs. Look for fresh, green stalks that are not wilted or drooping or woody.
- ½ cup basil leaves. You can cut down on the quantity of green garlic and use up to 1 cup basil leaves if you want to make the pesto less spicy.
- ¼ cup lightly toasted pumpkin seeds. These are a nice and inexpensive substitute for pine nuts and work great especially if you want a nut-free pesto. Toast the seeds on a skillet for 3-4 minutes over low or medium heat, or just toast them in a microwave by spreading them in a single layer on a microwave safe dish. Zap for 30 seconds.
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast. This adds cheesy flavor to a vegan pesto. You can use a heaping tablespoon of white miso as an alternative or try adding a quarter of a cup of my vegan cashew parmesan cheese.
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste. I like some black pepper here but you can leave it out if you don't want more heat in the recipe.
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
How to make green garlic pesto
- Place all pesto ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor.
- Pulse the ingredients 5-10 times so they are coarsely chopped.
- Next, with the blade running, pour the olive oil through the feed tube until a coarse but homogenous paste forms. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water to break down the green garlic and to form a paste. Keep in mind that the garlic greens might take some time to process, so you would need to run the processor longer than you would for, say, a basil pesto.
- Check salt and add more if needed.
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate: You can refrigerate pesto sauce for up to a week.
- Freeze: Pesto freezes nicely in an airtight container. Eat it within four months.
- Defrost: Let the frozen pesto thaw completely before you eat.
Frequently asked questions
No. Green garlic is the young garlic plant that shoots out in spring from garlic pods planted in fall. The green, scallion like shoots are sold with not-yet-fully-formed garlic bulbs attached to them. Garlic scapes are the curling, flowering stalks of mature garlic bulbs and you can find them in markets in late spring and early summer.
You can make a garlic scapes pesto using this same recipe, but you might want to add a clove or two of garlic for more garlicky flavor as the scapes are milder tasting than the stalks and bulbs of the green garlic.
You definitely can. The reason I add in some is to reduce the pungency of the garlic. But if you like a spicier pesto you can skip the basil altogether.
Related recipes
Green Garlic Pesto
Equipment
- Small skillet or microwave safe plate for toasting pumpkin seeds
Ingredients
- 6 stalks green garlic (trim and chop the green and white parts)
- ½ cup basil leaves
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds (lightly toasted in a skillet or microwave)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place all pesto ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor.
- Pulse the ingredients 5-10 times so they are coarsely chopped.
- Next, with the blade running, pour the olive oil through the feed tube until a coarse but homogenous paste forms. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water to break down the green garlic completely and form a paste. Keep in mind that the garlic greens might take some time to process, so you would need to run the processor longer than you would for, say, a basil pesto.
- Check salt and add more if needed.
Recipe notes
- When you buy the green garlic make sure you get firm, fresh looking stalks with no drooping or wilting. Also make sure they are not woody.
- You can make a garlic scapes pesto using this same recipe, but you might want to add a clove or two of garlic for more garlicky flavor as the scapes are milder tasting than the stalks and bulbs of the green garlic.
- The basil reduces the pungency of the garlic. But if you like a spicier pesto you can skip the basil altogether.
- Refrigerate: You can refrigerate pesto sauce for up to a week.
- Freeze: Pesto freezes nicely in an airtight container. Eat it within four months.
- Defrost: Let the frozen pesto thaw completely before you eat.
Liz
Looks delicious! When you say 'green garlic' do you mean the scapes (the curly part when it's going to flower)? Or do you mean young garlic that looks more like green onions (white on the bottom)?
Thanks!
Vaishali
Hi Liz, I mean the young garlic that looks like scallions with the fat bulbs. You can make this with scapes as well!