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.
Walnut Pesto with Pasta Ingredients
The ingredient list is short for this recipe. For the pesto, you will need walnuts, Italian or Greek green olives, fresh basil leaves, fresh garlic cloves, and olive oil. The pasta selection is up to you, so if you have a favorite thin linguini or spaghetti-style pasta preference, use that. I love to find fresh pasta at the farmer’s market for this dish.
Time-saving tip, buy pitted olives!
How to Make this Walnut Pesto
This is my favorite recipe to make for dinner guests because it is so easy yet unique. You can make this pesto hours ahead of time and then only have the pasta to prepare right before dinner. The hardest part is finding your favorite olives that are already pitted.
I use my large Kitchenaid food processor to make the pesto, although you could use a high-quality blender. 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 out 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.
Serving Suggestions for Walnut Pesto
- Although this recipe is a great vegetarian dish, we love to grill our favorite Italian sausages from Porter Road to accompany the walnut pesto and pasta.
- Sides that work well include this Simple Italian Salad or this Roasted Asparagus with Pancetta.
- We love these Crate and Barrel Pasta Bowls for serving this pesto!
Walnut Pesto with Pasta
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 5-6 1x
Ingredients
- 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
