A delicious waste-free recipe, designed to use broccoli stems, which we often discard to get the florets. In reality, the stems are equally good, have a milder flavor than the florets, but are always rich in flavor and nutritional properties. In this case, I used them to make a simple pesto, along with walnuts and a couple of basil leaves… an excellent condiment for pasta, or a tasty idea to fill sandwiches or bruschettas. The pesto with broccoli stems and walnuts is prepared in a few minutes, just the time to cook the stems and blend everything with the mixer… try this recipe and you’ll see that from now on you won’t throw away any part of the broccoli!
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Waste-Free
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter and Spring
- Energy 93.42 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 4.57 (g) of which sugars 1.30 (g)
- Proteins 2.64 (g)
- Fat 7.70 (g) of which saturated 0.33 (g)of which unsaturated 0.03 (g)
- Fibers 1.89 (g)
- Sodium 108.85 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 60 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
- 2 cups cups broccoli (stems and leaves)
- 1/3 cup cups walnuts (shelled)
- Half clove garlic
- 2 leaves basil
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Tools
- Blender
- Pot
- Colander
- Nutcracker
Preparation
Wash the broccoli stems and cut them into pieces (1). I recommend removing about 0.5-1 inch from the base if you feel they are too tough.
Boil the stems in slightly salted boiling water for about 15 minutes, or until they are tender.
Drain them, stop the cooking by running them under cold water and let them cool.
Put the cooked stems in the blender, add the chopped walnuts, the garlic, the basil and a generous swirl of olive oil (2).
Blend until you get a cream, adding more oil if necessary.
Transfer the pesto into a bowl, adjust with salt and pepper and mix. Optionally, you can add grated Parmesan or lemon zest.
The pesto with broccoli stems and walnuts is ready; excellent for dressing pasta or spreading on crostini.
Advice and Notes
The pesto can be stored for a couple of days in the refrigerator, in an airtight container.
You can replace walnuts with almonds (with or without skin) or hazelnuts.
You can also add a few broccoli florets if you want a more intense color.
You can add a whole clove of garlic if you like, or omit it entirely if you don’t.
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