Description
If you are looking for a hearty twist on your typical pesto, you must try this Walnut Pesto with Pasta recipe. It is a simple dish that brings big, unique flavor and texture. Even if you wouldn’t consider yourself a walnut or olive fan…you may just fall in love with this dish.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup green olives, pitted (Greek or Italian)
- 1/2 cup walnut halves or pieces
- 8 medium basil leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3/4 cup olive oil (and 1–2 tsp extra for pasta)
- 1 lb favorite thin spaghetti or linguini pasta
- Optional: grated Parmesan for topping
- Optional: grilled Italian Sausage
Instructions
You will need a large food processor or high-quality blender to make the pesto.
- First, prep your 8 medium-sized basil leaves by rinsing and patting them dry.
- Then add 1 cup of the pitted green olives (drained of juice), 1/2 cup of walnut pieces or halves, 8 basil leaves, 2 peeled garlic cloves, and 3/4 cup olive oil to the food processor.
- Blend into a paste. You can add additional olive oil to reach the desired consistency, but the pesto is intended to be more paste-like than oily.
- As mentioned, you can prepare this pesto ahead of time. The only step left is to boil a large pot of water and make your pasta according to package directions.
- Once your pasta is cooked and drained, add it back to the warm pot with 1-2 tsp olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking together.
- Dish the desired amount of pasta topped with a large spoonful of room-temperature pesto. You can add grated Parmesan cheese to the top as well.
Notes
- This makes a great vegetarian dish, although we love adding our favorite grilled Italian sausage to the recipe.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Category: pasta
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 368
- Sugar: 3.9 g
- Fat: 37.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 8.5 g
- Protein: 2.8 g