If I say pesto you say … broccoli?! No, I didn’t think so. Like most people we are normally pretty conservative when we make pesto. For us, it might have something to do with the fact that it is one of Luise’s favorite things to eat. Why change a winning concept? A few days ago we felt like having yet another pesto dinner, but since none of us had the energy to go to the store, we ended up using what we had in the house; a big broccoli, some roasted chickpeas instead of nuts, fresh sage, garlic, lemon, oil, salt & pepper. Luise looked suspiciously at the broccoli-mixture, before giving it a try. We finished the whole bowl in one night. We have made this recipe two times more since then, experimenting with the ingredients. We have tried both basil and sage, they both taste good in their own way, choose whatever is easiest to find. Roasted chickpeas are fun to try in a pesto, but quite honestly, the hazelnuts give a better punch to the taste.
Raw broccoli might sound repulsive to some of you, but it is in fact very good in salads. We often make a super tasty raw broccoli salad with mayo, onion, raisins, sunfl … wait a minute, let’s save this recipe for another post ;-) Here is how you do the pesto.
Broccoli Pesto
2 cups of pesto
We left out cheese to keep it vegan. If you are not a vegan, a few slices of pecorino works great here.
1 large broccoli (around 2 cups)
A couple of stems fresh basil or sage
1/2 lemon, juice
1/2 cup hazelnuts (roasted chickpeas if you’re allergic)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp water
salt & pepper
Throw all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse for about a minute. Taste it. Add more olive oil or water if it feels too dry, and salt & pepper according to taste.
Serve with pasta, in a salad, on a sandwich or in a wrap.
Luckily Elsa loves vegetables (she always makes her ahmmmm sound whenever we pass the vegetable department), but if you are having problems getting your child to eat greens, pesto is a good trick.
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61 Comments
Greens gives loads of love<3 Vackra bilder på härlig broccoli!
what a nice idea! delicious…
Mmmm, I love pesto and I have all the ingredients on hand! I would love to try this :)
No garlic??
that color! gorgeous! I am not the biggest fan of sage, but I will definitely be trying this with basil!
Oh, I can see the garlic now :o/..
Pesto is a favourite but never cheap to buy in NZ. So thanks so much for posting this idea! I have TWO heads of broccoli in the fridge and a cupboard full of various nuts. Me thinks broccoli pesto and dinner is definitely on the menu this week. :-)
Love broccoli but have never had it raw…this pesto sounds so good though that I am up for it! :)
what a lovely blog! And I love pesto so will def try this version! :)
Oh, definitely testing this one when we start to get local broccoli. I’m a pesto fan but have never tried it with broccoli. Sounds really nice!
Raw broccoli is actually fantastic – I’d rather eat it over boiled/steamed broccoli any day. Raw cauliflower is really tasty too – they both make nice changes to the usual “carrot sticks and celery” when serving up crudités.
I love this pesto recipe!!! I made it with arugula or spinach, but I’ve never tried broccoli pesto…I could eat broccoli every day so I think I’ll enjoy this very much…thanks for sharing
I like so much your recipes and your photography, thank for write it!!!
How unique to add hazelnuts! I am going to make this with some zucchini pasta…yummy!
Hi Coco, we also made some zucchini pasta just a few days ago. It sure is a superb, lighter alternative to regular pasta. Plus Elsa loves it!
/Luise
I love brokkoli, but I never thought of adding it to a pesto! But I sometimes use radish leaves for pesto and like it very much, and so I pretty sure that I will love the brokkoli pesto, too!
Gorgeous! Can’t wait to try it!
Sounds lovely! Beautiful photos too!
Very interesting idea to make pesto from broccoli! I will have to try it, thanks for the idea!
“roasted chickpeas if your allergic”
I can’t help but call out the correction, only because I was captivated by the design of the website, and then I saw that mistake and began to feel uneasy.
your is the possessive form of you, like “Your ball”
you’re is a contraction meaning “you are”, like “if you’re allergic”
Thanks for pointing it out WC, you’re absolutely right ;-)
va gott det var! jag måste ut o köpa broccoli o laga själv!
puss o tack för mysig picnic idag <3
This looks delicious! I wonder if I could get my partner to eat broccoli this way! If it tricked your little one I just might have luck :)
Mmm, sounds great. I love pesto stirred into hot new potatoes, I wonder what this would be like?
I think I may be making this over the weekend. Looks wonderful!
Update: I made it (and it’s only 9AM) and it’s delicious. :-)
Hahaha, glad you liked it!
/Luise
I tried it last night and actually added Parmesan cheese to the blend as well. It tasted fantastic served with fresh pasta. Yum guys! I never thought raw broccoli could taste so divine!
Love this idea! It’s beautiful and I imagine it’s delicious, too.
So funny! I have nearly an identical recipe on my blog from a couple years ago, with roasted chickpeas, broccoli, garlic, basil… great minds think alike! ;) Your photos are MUCH more beautiful though. Thanks for another great post, I need to make broccoli pesto again soon.
Hi Kim, that is funny. When we added the roasted chickpeas we really thought we made something unique, ha! Anyway, we are on our way now to check your recipe out.
/David & Luise
shaba ding dong, this is excellent! thanks for posting!
hello from portland oregon! just wanted to say I enjoy reading your blog. i made a big batch of the broccoli pesto, and its wonderful! (i love to make pestos with different herbs, but broccoli was a first for me.) today I made a lovely sandwich: slather good sourdough with broccoli pesto on one side, and lebneh on the other, add a handful of baby arugula. yum!
As a nut allergy sufferer, pesto is something I can’t have but crave! I’m so excited to try this one out with the chickpeas instead of hazlenuts – thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing this. My daughter is deathly allergic to pine and other tree nuts. I love the idea of broccoli in a pesto. I’ll give this one a try!
No roasted chick peas so I used roasted green peas! I also added parmesan. Yummy! Great photography on your blog. I’ve subscribed. Thanks so very much. Things were getting a bit stale around here….
What a lovely site you have! I eat mostly vegetarian (I do eat fish) and am always looking for inspiration! Your photos are beautiful!
I just recently bought a huge bag of broccoli at Costco…trying to get through it! Do you think this will freeze well?
I love raw broccoli, but my 4 year old daughter isn’t convinced. Maybe your pesto will do the trick – look delicious!
Mark Osborne – http://www.veganhealthandfitness.com
Hi Mark!
Thanks and good luck with the broccoli trick :)
/Luise
Nuuuumeee! I’ve fiddled with blanched broccoli pesto but I’ll have to take the leap and do it raw next time! Love that it is veganized! Elsa is so friggin’ cute! Wish my 5 yr old daughter was wee again! Hope you are all well:)
We eat the raw cauliflower with sauce, then why not broccoli?
This recipe made me eager to try when I saw it on your site. I bought all the ingredients and I just finished making the recipe.
It smells good and is very good in taste.
I will use spaghetti with zucchini, it will be delicious.
Thank you for this recipe.
You are welcome VeganPower! Great idea to use it with zucchini spaghetti!
/Luise
Okay. What can I say?
Broccoli pesto. There’s pesto, right? Aaand there’s broccoli, too! What’s not to love?! :D
This blog goes straight into my very-picky-and-phenomenal-blogroll. Thanks for the inspiration!
I have made this three times in the last month. I can’t get enough! It’s so simple, but tastes so amazing. You two always come up with the best ideas!
I just made this about 5 min ago, on bread with tomato. It was AMAZING. Even my husband, who is often afraid to try things I make, ate a ton! Love this, thank you for sharing.
Hi :)
I just made this pesto, only roasted my broccoli + used walnuts, and it was SO GOOD! Im going to make this over and over again- thats for sure! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes :)
I’ll be making this tomorrow!
As I am intolerant to diary, sesame seeds, and chickpeas finding this brocoli/hazelnut pesto recipe certainly has its possibilities :-) as long as I leave out the black pepper as that’s on my list to avoid now also.
Ok, silly question: if the chickpeas aren’t roasted, do you just a pasty mess? I’d love this with hazelnuts, but want to give it to my 18 month old daughter. I can roast the chickpeas, I s’pose, but was wondering if it’d still work if I didn’t…
Thx!
just made this and tossed it with arugula, grapes, avocado & tomatoes….wow wow wow! amazing. Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
sounds so good!
does this freeze well?
Hi Shannan, we haven’t tried freezing it ourselves but I know that my mom has. And she says it works fine.
/David
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made it today for the second time, this time using a little less garlic and steaming the broccoli for just a minute to give the mixture a bit more moisture and to soften it very slightly.
I also used mixed nuts this time around, which seems to take the recipe to a whole new level! I used pecans, walnuts and pine nuts and the flavour is absolutely incredible.
Ah, how I love to tinker with recipes! :)
Thanks again – your blog is wonderful. x
This looks and sounds really fab – got to give it a try. Lovely blog, BTW
This is delicious, but what I like best about it is that it is SO quick to make. I can whip it up in 10 minutes – the time it takes my pasta to cook. I mixed it into the warm pasta, and it made a great, healthy, quick after-work meal. This is exactly the kind of recipe I’ve been looking for — recipes that make healthy eating with a hectic lifestyle possible. Thank you!
SO good. Wow. How long should it stay? As long as the broccoli?
This sounds amazing! Im gonna have to make it some time this week. I just have a few questions. If using chickpeas, do you soak them overnight and then just rost them on a pan?
And if making two jars, how long does it take before it goes bad?
Love the blog!!! :)
This is freaking amazing!
going to make this tomorrow!!!! is the recipe for the broccoli salad on here yet, it sounds good as well.
Hi Sarah, the recipe for the broccoli salad with pomegranate seeds is in our new book.
/David