Pesto of arugula and walnuts is an easy recipe full of tips. A fresh arugula-based sauce without cooking, like this celery and almond pesto, or this avocado pesto, this recipe too is suitable for seasoning a first course or bruschetta. When I find walnuts on sale, I often get them at Lidl, and I also prepare the walnut sauce, I love having different pestos and sauces ready in the fridge. In this recipe, you’ll find many tips for making a great arugula pesto, many variations, how to use it in cooking, how to pair it to soften the bitterness of arugula, and how to store arugula pesto.
To make arugula and walnut pesto, you will only need a good blender.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: No cook
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 152.60 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 2.14 (g) of which sugars 1.69 (g)
- Proteins 4.25 (g)
- Fat 14.33 (g) of which saturated 2.55 (g)of which unsaturated 0.39 (g)
- Fibers 0.67 (g)
- Sodium 317.18 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 50 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for making arugula and walnut pesto
- 2 bunches arugula
- 2.1 oz walnuts
- 2 tbsp Grana Padano DOP
- 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano
- 1 clove garlic
- 3.4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 pinches pepper
What you need to make arugula pesto
- 1 Blender
- 1 Jar 350 ml
How to make arugula pesto
Wash the arugula well and remove any stained parts, drain well, and peel the garlic clove.
Place the walnuts, cheeses, and garlic in the blender jug, and blend everything, giving intermittent pulses. When everything is reduced to powder, add the arugula, salt, pepper, and half of the oil. Blend the ingredients well, using a spatula to scrape down the sides. Add the remaining oil and blend for a moment more, until a thick cream is obtained.
With the help of a spatula, pour the arugula pesto into the jar.
Rosella Errante’s Tips
Arugula and walnut pesto keeps well in the fridge for 1-2 days. To extend storage to 4-5 days, just cover the surface of the pesto with oil. Instead of walnuts, you can make the pesto with an equal weight of almonds or pine nuts.
How to store arugula
Did you know that arugula stores well wrapped in a wet and wrung out terry cloth and placed in the fridge? If after a few days the cloth has dried out, wet it with a little water.
How to revive arugula
Has your arugula dried out in the fridge? No problem, immerse it in ice water and let it rest for about an hour.
Vegan arugula pesto
Instead of grated cheese, just use 2 scant tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
How to make arugula pesto less bitter
The presence of walnuts in the pesto will sweeten the bitterness of the arugula, as will the nutritional yeast flakes.
How to use arugula pesto
Arugula pesto should not be cooked and should be used raw, like Genoese pesto. Excellent for dressing gnocchi, paired with air-fried or pan-fried pumpkin cubes.
Delicious for topping black bread bruschetta, adding cooked pumpkin cubes and Parmesan cheese flakes, or with prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella.
Arugula pesto also goes well with roasted bell peppers and Grana Padano flakes.
