Wild Garlic Pesto Recipe

A white ramekin with pesto and a green-patterned tea towel around it.

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Wild Garlic Pesto, a seasonal twist on the classic pesto sauce recipe that is incredibly delicious with a vibrant green colour and layers of deep flavours that spoil your taste buds. It's a super easy and quick recipe, which comes together in well under 10 minutes, and taste so much better than any store-bought pesto.

Prep Time10

Total Time10

Course: Sauce

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: people

Calories: 280kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

30 g wild garlic (1 packed cup)
10 g basil (¼ loosely packed cup)
85 ml extra virgin olive oil (⅓ cup)
20 g pine nuts (3 tbsp)
45 g parmesan (½ cup)
15 g pecorino (3 tbsp)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Finely grate the parmesan and pecorino.
Heat up a pan on a medium heat, add the pine nuts and toast them lightly for 2-3 minutes until golden.
Roughly chop the wild garlic and basil, then add everything to a blender.
Pulse briefly on a low setting to get a coarse, textured consistency.

Video

Notes

Pick young leaves for the best flavour, wild garlic can turn bitter once it flowers, so the best time to forage it is early Spring. Make sure to wash and dry the leaves well before adding them to the sauce.
Don't overblend the sauce, it will lose its vibrant colour and nice texture. Add more oil if you want a thinner sauce that is ideal for pasta. I like mine a bit ticker, as I prefer to use it as a spread instead.
To refrigerate, cover the sauce with a thin layer of olive oil to prevent oxidation. It can be refrigerated for up to a week in an air-tight container.

Nutrition