Rocket (Arugula) Pesto
This quick and easy rocket (arugula) pesto is a variation of the traditional pesto Genovese made with basil. It’s also vegan, with nutritional yeast adding the richness ordinarily contributed by the cheese. This makes a great dip, is perfect on pasta, and delicious tossed through salads too.
In This Article
What Are The Benefits of Eating Rocket / Arugula?
Rocket (arugula) is one of many dark green leafy vegetables that have quite a bitter flavour profile. Aside from rocket, others include kale, spinach, mustard and dandelion greens as well as radicchio, chicory and endive.
Bitter greens offer an abundance of vitamins like A, C, and K, along with essential minerals such as potassium, calcium, iron, and magnesium. Additionally, they’re rich in antioxidants enhance digestion, and improve nutrient absorption, all of which makes these vegetables a wonderful inclusion in your diet each day.
Ingredients Needed For This Recipe
Shiro miso and nutritional yeast may be the only things you don’t have in your pantry for this recipe. Depending on where you’re located, they shouldn’t be too difficult to come by though. I can get both of them at my local supermarket. If they’re not at yours, they can be purchased online.
- Rocket / arugula – the gorgeous greens that deliver a slightly bitter taste, and an abundance of nutrients.
- Parsley – while also a touch bitter this adds a light herbaceous and zesty flavour to the pesto.
- Nutritional yeast – provides the cheesy, earthy flavour for this recipe.
- Cashews – make the pesto deliciously creamy.
- Shiro / white miso – adds sweetness to the pesto, which would traditionally be contributed by the cheese.
- Olive oil – this can make or break your pesto so my top tip is to get a good one!
- Garlic – Not everyone agrees with me here, but I think you can overdo the garlic in a pesto recipe. I stick to one clove so there is just a hint of pungency rather than it being the dominant flavour. If you want more feel free to add it.
- Salt – needed to balance and enhance the flavours of the other ingredients.
The nutritional yeast and shiro miso work together to replace the flavours that would otherwise be contributed by the cheese in a traditional pesto. As such, I don’t recommend that either of them are omitted. The cashews can also be substituted with macadamias, almonds or pine nuts if preferred.
How To Make This Rocket Pesto
Like traditional pesto, this version can be whipped up in minutes. The slight spiciness of the greens is perfectly balanced by the sweetness of the miso, the creaminess of the cashews and the cheesiness of the nutritional yeast. It results in a green sauce that is sweet with a mildly bitter, spicy kick.
- Add all ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor.
- Now add in half the olive oil, put the lid on the food processor and pulse until a chunky sauce is formed.
- Take the lid off, scrape down the sides, then replace the lid and put the food processor on the slowest speed. Slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil until it’s all incorporated.
- Pour the pesto out into a jar, drizzle the top with a little more olive oil then pop the lid on and keep in the fridge for up to one week.
- Serve mixed through pasta, dolloped onto sourdough or tossed through a salad.
If the pesto is too thick for your liking drizzle in another tablespoon or two of olive oil and pulse a few times again. If you’d prefer a less chunky sauce, you can blend the ingredients on high for one minute. This will make it a pourable consistency.
FAQ
There are two possible reasons for this. One is that you may not be used to the taste of rocket (arugula), which is in fact quite bitter. If you are a rocket lover but think your pesto is still overly bitter, the other culprit can be the olive oil. As outlined in my dairy free pesto recipe – olive oil is a predominant flavour in pesto. As such, your pesto will only be as good as the olive oil you use so choose a good one!
Yes! Macadamias, almonds, or the more traditional pine nuts are great in this. Walnuts are also delicious however they don’t balance out the bitterness of the greens as well. They do produce a lovely earthy, pesto though.
Watch How To Make This Recipe
Rocket (Arugula) Pesto
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
- 3 cups rocket / arugula (tightly packed cups)
- ½ cup continental parsley (leaves only, tightly packed)
- ¾ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup cashews (see note 1)
- 1 tsp shiro / white miso
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor.
- Now add in half the olive oil, put the lid on the food processor and pulse until a chunky sauce is formed.
- Take the lid off, scrape down the sides, then replace the lid and put the food processor on the slowest speed. Slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil until it’s all incorporated.
- Pour the pesto out into a jar, drizzle the top with a little more olive oil then pop the lid on and keep in the fridge for up to one week.
- Serve mixed through pasta, dolloped onto sourdough or tossed through a salad.
Notes
Nutrition
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