Spinach Pesto

Spinach Pesto is a great sauce for pastas, sandwiches & so much more!

Jump to Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Homemade Spinach Pesto

Happy Friday guys! So another week has come to and end, it’s crazy how time is flying. It’s mid March already and it will be Easter in no time. Sometimes I wish I had the power to stop time. If I did have that power I would totally stop the time because it’s running way too fast for me to catch up! Anyway it’s end of the week and by this time we all want to whip up something real quick for dinner, I mean elaborate dinners are reserved for weekends but on Friday, I am for sure looking for shortcuts!

Pasta is one dish which always comes to my mind when I think of making something quick. It’s easy to throw together especially when you already have some pasta sauce in your refrigerator. I know everyone has pasta sauce in their refrigerator but not me. I used to buy them but then I realized that I do not make pasta every week and so I was never able to use these sauces before their expiry date and they would eventually end up in the trash can. To minimize wastage, I now make pasta sauces at home as and when needed plus homemade is always better just like this spinach pesto!

Spinach Pesto Homemade

Pesto is my favorite pasta sauce, I fell in love with it the first time I tried it. I will confess that I had never tasted pesto in India and had it for the time first time in US. The very first pesto that I tried was obviously the most common basil pesto. I loved it so much that I wanted to smear the sauce over everything I could get hold of from breads to pasta to noodles to rice! Now I am out of that obsession phase but the love affair of course still continues.

Traditionally pesto is made with basil but you can make it with a lot of other things like spinach, cilantro, arugula, parsley, spring greens etc. The same applies to nuts, traditionally pine nuts are used but you can use walnuts, almonds, pistachios! I think pesto is one of the easiest sauces to make , I mean all you have to do is mix everything [except olive oil] together in a food processor, like this.

Spinach Pesto Recipe-Step-1

And then pulse while adding olive oil slowly to the mixture till everything comes together like this.

Spinach Pesto Recipe-Step-2

And that’s it! Spinach pesto is ready to be tossed into anything you fancy!

And I just realized that this is once again a green recipe, perfect for St. Patrick’s Day! 😀

Spinach Pesto Recipe

* You can use walnuts in place of pine nuts in the recipe.

* The leftover pesto can be frozen. Just thaw it before using in your recipes.

* The regular parmesan cheese that you get in stores in not vegetarian but since I’m a vegetarian I got the vegetarian version from Whole Foods. Just read the pack before buying.

Spinach Pesto

No ratings yet
Servings: 1 cup
Spinach Pesto is a great sauce for pastas, sandwiches & so much more!

Ingredients 

  • 3 ounce baby spinach leaves [3 cups firmly packed]
  • 2 garlic cloves big
  • cup pine nuts
  • cup parmesan cheese shredded [i used vegetarian parmesan cheese]
  • cup olive oil
  • 1.5 teaspoons garlic salt
  • teaspoon white pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • salt to taste
Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Instructions 

  • Wash the baby spinach leaves and let them dry.
  • In a food processor, add spinach leaves, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic salt, white pepper, salt, black pepper and lemon juice.
  • Pulse to combine everything together.
  • With the machine running, add olive oil gradually into the mixture till it's all creamy and well combined.
  • Check seasoning and adjust to taste.
  • Transfer pesto to a bowl and refrigerate till ready to use.

Nutrition

Calories: 1101kcal, Carbohydrates: 12g, Protein: 20g, Fat: 111g, Saturated Fat: 17g, Cholesterol: 22mg, Sodium: 4092mg, Potassium: 743mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 8235IU, Vitamin C: 27.7mg, Calcium: 490mg, Iron: 5.5mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Your feedback is valuable!Please share your comments, ratings, and any suggestions or adaptations below to help us improve and make our recipes more successful.

 Spinach Pesto

Spinach Pesto Collage-nocwm


Hi, I’m Manali!

Bringing you easy, delicious vegetarian & vegan recipes! Eating veggies can be fun, you just need to get creative in the kitchen with the right set of ingredients!


Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




22 Comments

  1. This spinach pesto looks SO delicious, Manali! I am such a sucker for anything green or spinach!! Pinned 🙂

  2. I totally agree, Manali…pasta is one of our go-to meals around here, too. It’s easy and tasty…and we usually try to keep some pesto in the freezer, too. I can’t say I’ve ever had spinach pesto, though. What a unique twist! Once we get through all of our basil pesto, I might have to give this a shot…I bet it would taste awesome on a nice piece of toasted country bread, too. 🙂 Have a great weekend!

  3. What a delicious idea of making pesto! Loved it, Manali!! Yes, time flies—I too feel the same. Happy Weekend! 😀

  4. with mothers day approaching soon, i am sure u have made many mommies happy. Every kid loves pasta and this is a great way to sneak in spinach in their diets:)
    Beautiful colour yaar 🙂

  5. I’m a lover of a good pesto – I eat it with everything, on toast with poached eggs, in pasta, in salads.. even in soup! So this spinach pesto recipe is perfect for me Manali. I must give it a try.

  6. Such a beautiful color of green. Perfect pesto to have stored in the fridge whenever you need it!

  7. Haha, we’re on the same wavelength Manali! I just made spinach pesto a couple of days ago to toss in the freezer! I think my recipe was a bit different though, i’ll have to try yours next time!

    1. haha we are always on the same wavelength I guess..remember the mint hot chocolate mix and popcorn? 😛 Looking forward to your recipe!

  8. I love making pesto with spinach! Especially when it’s not summer and I don’t have herbs growing out back – makes it much easier with the spinach!

  9. So delicious and healthy! Love homemade pesto, and the color is so gorgeous, Manali! pinning!

  10. I’ve never tried to make my own pesto sauce before. I’ve always been a little nervous about it, but this looks delicious! I didn’t know you could use spinach too. Genius idea Manali!! Pinned. Happy Friday!

    1. Cyndi pesto is like the easiest sauce you can make! There’s no cooking involved, give it a try! And yes you can make it with a lot of greens like cilantro, spring greens etc.