This Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto is such a versatile sauce with pungent wild garlic notes coming through beautifully! Wonderfully seasonal, wholesome & delicious. Perfect with pasta, stirred through soups & stews or as a marinade.
(with Vegan option)
Continuing my love affair with wild garlic, I present you this fantastic Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto recipe!
Its flavour is simply incredible and quite different from the store bought ones due to the use of wild garlic of course but also walnuts instead of more traditional pine nuts.
I absolutely love pesto and have a jar of homemade stuff in my fridge at all times with wild garlic variety being my number one during early spring and wild garlic season.
Jump to:
Why is homemade wild garlic pesto so great?
Pesto is super versatile and can be used in so many dishes either as a main player or flavour enhancer.
It is really quick and easy to make and doesn't require a lot of prep or washing up afterwards.
It keeps really well in the fridge but you can easily freeze it too.
It tastes better than shop bought varieties plus you know exactly what's in it!
How can I use wild garlic & walnut pesto?
There are so many ways of using this gorgeous pesto:
- You can stir it through pasta
- Add to risottos and other rice dishes
- Use it as a marinade as I have done in this Roast Chicken with Wild Garlic Pesto & Shallots
- Swirl it through soups (take a look at my Soup Recipes for inspiration). It will go beautifully drizzled over this Wild Garlic Soup.
- Use it as a dipping sauce or mix it with some mayo for use in sandwiches or burgers (like these delicious Easy Chickpeas & Carrot Falafel Burgers)
- Add it to stews and casseroles as flavour enhancer (as I've done in this Wild Garlic Pesto Chicken Casserole with Cheesy Dumplings)
- Spread it all over salmon fillet before baking & make into sauce as I have done in this Wild Garlic Pesto Baked Salmon with Gnocchi
How can I make it vegan?
Making wild garlic pesto vegan is really simple.
You can substitute parmesan with nutritional yeast which will provide that salty, cheesy umami flavour to compliment the garlic in pesto. It works really well in here but you can of course live it out.
What if I don't have wild garlic?
For those of you who cannot get your hands on wild garlic by foraging for it, are close to a really good farmers' market or use veg box scheme that provides it, you can simply substitute it with 2-3 regular garlic cloves and 80-100g of fresh basil or even parsley.
Your pesto will be different but definitely not less delicious. You could also experiment with different nuts (already mentioned pine nuts, hazelnuts or even almonds) and find the ones that suit you best.
Pro tips
- I like using some leftover fresh parsley stalks whenever I've got them handy. They add extra goodness but also help to preserve the lovely green colour.
- Add some lemon juice to your pesto for that extra zing and again to preserve the lovely green colour.
- Feel free to use less wild garlic and make up the amount with other herbs (basil would be great here).
- Once in jars pour a little extra virgin olive oil over your pesto to help preserve it that bit longer.
- Feel free to adjust consistency of your pesto with a little bit of water.
Storing & freezing wild garlic pesto
Your pesto will keep in the fridge for about a week or a bit longer.
Alternatively, freeze it in small portions for up to 3 months.
I find that freezing it in ice cube tray works really well as it gives you perfect little portions for when you need them.
How to make wild garlic & walnut pesto - step-by-step
Ingredient quantities & detailed instructions to be found in recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Toast walnuts in a dry pan for couple of minutes until fragrant but not coloured. Make sure you give a pan a little shake every so often.
Pop toasted walnuts in a food processor and blend them until they have sand like consistency.
Add wild garlic and parsley stalks (if using) and blend until mixture resembles paste.
If you are making vegan version, you would add nutritional yeast at this stage as well.
With food processor running, very slowly pour in the olive oil (trickle it in) which will help to emulsify and loosen up the garlic & walnut paste.
Add grated cheese (if using), salt & pepper and give your mixture one last quick blitz. At this stage you can also adjust consistency to your liking by adding a little bit of water.
Transfer to jars & cover with extra drizzle of olive oil to help and preserve your pesto in the fridge.
Have you tried my Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto?
Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought, share your tips, tricks etc. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away too and I'll try and respond as soon as I can.
If you’ve made this recipe please rate it too! Thank you in advance!
Find me on social media
You can also come and say hello over on my Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Never miss another recipe by subscribing to our newsletter today.
More recipes you might enjoy
Vegan Cheese Scones (with Wild Garlic)
Wild Garlic Hummus
Cucumber Raita (Dairy-Free, Vegan)
Homemade Fresh Tomato Salsa (Pico De Gallo)
📖 Recipe
Wild Garlic & Walnut Pesto
Ingredients
- 100 g wild garlic washed and dried
- 50 g toasted walnuts feel free to use different nuts
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil (+ little extra for the jars)
- 30 g grated parmesan see notes
- small bunch of parsley stalks optional
- salt & pepper to taste
- juice of half a lemon optional
- water to adjust consistency if required
Vegan Option
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast to replace parmesan
Instructions
- Toast walnuts in a dry pan for couple of minutes until fragrant but not coloured. Make sure you give a pan a little shake every so often.
- Pop toasted walnuts in a food processor and blend them until they have sand like consistency. Add wild garlic, parsley stalks and lemon juice (if using) and blend until mixture resembles paste.If you're making vegan version you would add nutritional yeast at this stage as well.
- With food processor running, very slowly pour in the olive oil (trickle it in) which will help to emulsify and loosen up the garlic & walnut paste.
- Add grated cheese, salt & pepper and give your mixture one last quick blitz. At this stage you can also adjust consistency to your liking by adding a little bit of water.
- Transfer to jars & cover with extra drizzle of olive oil to help and preserve your pesto in the fridge.
Notes
- Nutritional values are approximate and per 125ml (½ cup) jar of pesto.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Substitute parmesan with nutritional yeast for vegan version.
- I like using some leftover fresh parsley stalks whenever I've got them handy. They add extra goodness but also help to preserve the lovely green colour.
- Add some lemon juice to your pesto for that extra zing and again to preserve the lovely green colour.
- Feel free to use less wild garlic and make up the amount with other herbs (basil would be great here).
- Once in jars pour a little extra virgin olive oil over your pesto to help preserve it that bit longer.
- Feel free to adjust consistency of your pesto with some water.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published on 2 May 2018 and updated in March 2019 with some more useful info and in March 2021 to add vegan option.
Linkies:
Cook Blog Share with Hijacked By Twins and Easy Peasy Foodie, Cook Once Eat Twice, Brilliant Blog Posts, Got to be gluten free with Gluten Free Alchemist
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
OMG! This looks AMAZING Jo. I adore pesto and walnuts are equally adored in our house. I will be making this for sure! Thinking I might also sub the olive oil for walnut oil..... Would that work do you think?
The colour is simply beautiful too.
Thanks for linking with #G2BGF. Great to have you on board x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Kate! 🙂 I do love the idea of using walnut oil for some extra nuttiness, why haven't I thought of that lol 🙂 x
jenny walters says
Gosh Jo this looks and sounds incredible as well as something you should always have in your fridge!PInned x
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Jenny! xx Now I've made my own pesto there is no going back to shop bought one, brilliant fridge staple for sure. 🙂
Rebecca Smith says
I adore pesto and this could easily be made dairy free with Violife Parmesan cheese. I've been looking for a simple recipe I can adapt and here it is, thank you. Oh, and thank you for linking up with #G2BGF xxx
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Rebecca! 🙂 Pesto is such a fantastic staple isn't it! That's a great tip about Violife cheese as well, thanks! 🙂 xx
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
This sounds so delicious. I really do need to get my hands on some wild garlic!x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Cat! I do love seasonal goodies only wish some of them were a bit easier to get hold of lol x
Debbie says
oooh I love the idea of this!! I went wild garlic hunting last year and ended up making a risotto with it. This is fantastic though - definitely going to try it 🙂 Thank Jo!!
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Debbie! Wild garlic is such a great ingredient and so versatile. Risotto sounds great! 🙂
Corina Blum says
This looks delicious Jo! I really hope I can get my hands on some wild garlic soon. I've never used it before but it sounds so delicious and it's perfect for homemade pesto. Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Corina! ? It’s such a fabulous ingredient and it made me want to try to make my own pesto and hummus which I would normally buy in a shop. I can only hope it will be in my veg box again soon before the season is over. X