Leftovers Pesto

About

This quick and easy Keto recipe is a great way to make use of both fridge and store cupboard leftovers, adding extra fats and flavor to your meals. Our simple pesto sauce is prepared with peppery arugula, tender baby spinach, fresh basil, aromatic garlic, crunchy walnuts, tangy parmesan cheese, and extra virgin olive oil. Once prepared, this flavorsome pesto can be used as a marinade, sauce, or dressing for cooked proteins or vegetables.

What Leftover Ingredients Can I Use?

We have used baby spinach and arugula alongside fresh basil to create our green pesto base. This is a great way to use up any leftover leaves and could also be prepared with kale, watercress, and pretty much any green leaves you have to hand! Typically pesto is prepared with pine nuts; however, we have used walnuts in this low carb recipe as our leftovers alternative. You could also use macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, or almonds if preferred. Please be sure to adjust your macros to account for any changes made to the original recipe.

Can I Make This Vegan and Vegetarian?

We have used grated parmesan in our Keto sauce recipe. Parmesan is a hard Italian cheese that includes rennet. If you would like to make the recipe vegetarian-friendly, you may swap the parmesan for an alternative hard Italian cheese that is free from rennet. If you would like to make the recipe vegan, you can swap the cheese for nutritional yeast flakes.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic
1 tbsp, grated parmesan cheese, fresh (hard)
¾ cup arugula
¾ cup baby spinach
½ cup basil
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt, sea salt
¼ cup walnuts

Instructions

Add the arugula, spinach, basil, garlic, walnuts, salt, and parmesan to a food processor. Pulse the ingredients together until well broken down. You may add more cheese and garlic if desired.
Keep the motor of the food processor running and add the oil a little at a time. Continue blending and adding until you have a semi-coarse sauce. You may add more or less oil than recommended as desired to reach your preferred consistency.
Taste the pesto and adjust seasonings and flavorings to taste. You can add more basil or salt and more oil if you’d prefer a thinner consistency. Store in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to use.