Pea pesto, while not what you might think of when it comes to pesto (the word means ‘to pound’ but is usually associated with pesto alla genovese) is a really great easy, year-round spread or sauce. It’s on the thicker side as written but can be thinned with pasta water for an excellent simple sauce, spread on spread, added to soup, or used in any way you’d typically use basil pesto.

The base here is made with peas – I used thawed frozen peas – almost any nut or seed, and more typical lemon, garlic, and olive oil. It’s a little bit sweet and a good balance with the acidity and sharpness of lemon and fresh garlic. We often use it for pasta, since we always have frozen peas, but I also recommend serving with crackers or toast.

If you like pesto but don’t always want to make it with basil, try switching things up with an easy parsley pesto or rocket pesto, or reduce food waste with carrot top pesto.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Peas: these can be fresh or frozen, and should be little green peas (Petit Pois). Generally speaking, the bigger the green pea, the less sweet and more starchy it will be.
• Seeds: sunflower seeds are my go-to but you could use hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts of course, walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds. You could even use an unsweetened nut or seed butter.
• Lemon: as the zest is used, it’s a good idea to get an organic, unwaxed lemon.
• Olive oil: it’s gotten so expensive and isn’t as noticeable in this recipe as it is in some other pesto – you can sub your favourite neutral oil if preferred.
• Garlic: if you’re sensitive to raw garlic, you can sub 3-4 cloves of roasted garlic. The pesto will be a little less sharp but still very nice.
• Add-ins: stir in some grated hard cheese after blending if you’d like. A variety of herbs can be added to the mix if you’d like – mint is perfect, oregano, basil, or even thyme.

Step by Step

Step 1: add all of the ingredients but olive oil to a small food processor or blending container.

Step 2: mix until broken down (it won’t be fully smooth) then add the olive oil while blending.

Recipe Notes

Pea pesto is pretty chunky and meant to be. If you want it to be really smooth, you can add a splash of water while blending to thin it out and make it easier to turn into a very even consistency. It depends on how you’re planning on using it.

To use a bullet blender, you can just add everything at once and not worry about adding the oil in a slow stream. It’ll be slightly less effectively emulsified but perfectly fine.

How to Store

Storage: keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, but note that it’s best the day it’s made.

Freezing: transfer the pesto to an airtight container and freeze for up to a month. Thaw in the refrigerator before using. It might discolour a bit when thawed.

Expert Tips

• Speed up the thawing: if you’re using frozen peas, quickly thaw them by covering with boiling water (from a kettle) for a minute, then draining.
• Season to taste: everyone has a different idea of what tastes good, and salt varies, so it’s best practice to taste and adjust the amount of salt (and pepper, and lemon) to suit your personal preference before serving.
• Use a damp tea towel: if you find it tricky to keep a blending container in place when using an immersion blender, you can place a damp folded tea towel under it to help prevent it from turning and moving too much.

More Pea Recipes

Mushroom Pot Pie
Spinach Tortellini Soup
Brown Rice Risotto
Green Pea Hummus