Microgreen Pesto (No Basil Needed)
Sunflower and arugula shoots make a pesto with more backbone than basil, and it doesn't go black in the fridge.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 0 min
- Total
- 10 min
- Serves
- 8
- Finish with
- Sunflower
Basil pesto oxidises fast. Microgreen pesto holds its colour for days because the leaves are younger and less prone to browning.
This is also the best use for greens that are near the end of their window.
Microgreen Pesto (No Basil Needed)
Serves 8 · 10 minutes · Snacks & sides
Ingredients
- 3 oz — sunflower microgreens
- 1 oz — arugula microgreens
- ⅓ cup — toasted pine nuts or walnuts
- 2 cloves — garlic
- ½ cup — grated parmesan
- ⅔ cup — extra virgin olive oil
- 1 — lemon, juiced
- ½ tsp — kosher salt
Instructions
- Toast the nuts
Three minutes in a dry pan until fragrant. Let them cool before blending or the pesto turns bitter.
- Pulse the solids
Blitz the greens, nuts, garlic and salt in a food processor until roughly chopped — don't purée yet.
- Stream the oil
With the motor running, pour the oil in slowly until it comes together into a loose paste.
- Finish
Pulse in the parmesan and lemon juice. Taste and adjust salt. Store with a film of oil on top.
What the microgreens are doing here.
Holds its colour
Younger leaves brown far more slowly than mature basil, so it looks right for days.
Body plus bite
Sunflower gives the volume and nuttiness, arugula supplies the pepper.
Never heated
Stir it into hot food off the heat — cooking pesto dulls both the colour and the flavour.
Variations and pairings
Dairy free
Skip the parmesan, add 2 tbsp nutritional yeast and extra salt.
Cheaper nuts
Sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts — fitting, given the greens.
Milder
All sunflower shoots, no arugula, for something kids will eat.
Thinner
Add water a teaspoon at a time to turn it into a drizzling sauce for grain bowls.
- Tossed through pasta
- On sandwiches
- Spooned over eggs
- With roasted potatoes
More microgreen recipes
This recipe is only as good as the greens on top.
We grow to order and hand-deliver across Broward within a day of harvest — never shipped, never warehoused.
Order fresh microgreens