Easy Cashew Spinach Basil Pesto

Welcome back to Sunday Scratchups, your weekly recipe source around store sales and/or garden abundance. I don’t know about your garden, but with all this rainy weather, mine is currently going nuts producing both basil and spinach. This easy and flavor-packed recipe makes liberal use of both, and substitutes cashews for pricy pine nuts. (I like it better with cashews, personally!)

• Looking for Dairy Free Pesto? Check out that variation here.

If you have only ever had pesto out of a jar, you really have to try it fresh made; there’s a world of difference. Plus, the spinach sneaks in extra veggies and iron while kicking up the flavor a notch, while the cashews add a little protein to help make a meatless meal more filling.

When I made Easy Cashew Spinach Basil Pesto the other day I didn’t have plain old cashews handy — but did have this can of mixed nuts. Mr. 7 was only too happy to help sort out the cashews, although I think half of them went straight into his mouth. Cashew tax!

You only need 1/2 cup of nuts for this recipe, so the rest is yours for the snacking — or, make multiple batches to freeze. That’s my plan as soon as the new food processor I ordered on Amazon arrives Tuesday, since I finally destroyed my cheap little old one… while making this pesto. (Luckily I had some Amazon credit card points I’d been saving so was able to use those to remedy my food processor emergency with no out-of-pocket cost. It’s like a present to myself!)

Easy Cashew Spinach Basil Pesto

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups torn up fresh spinach
3/4 cup torn up fresh basil
1/2 cup roasted salted cashews
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp minced garlic
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1/3-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
crushed red pepper, to taste

Directions

OK, you ready for this? It’s a little tricky, so watch carefully…

1. Add all ingredients to food processor.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. BAM: Pesto!

I might cut down on the oil a little bit next time (and did drop it to 1/3 cup for a thicker pesto in the next batch), but otherwise this was fantastic. Go light on the sea salt, since the cheese is pretty salty in itself, as are the cashews. You might even leave it out and add a bit at the end if you find you need some.

We made ours into Pesto Portobello Pizza

The fresh made pesto was just wonderful on Portobello Mushroom Pizza — My portobello pizzas are the ones with just a little mozzarella cheese on top, but MashupDad and Mr. 7 insisted on pepperoni, too.

It’s so pretty, too — you’ve heard that you eat with your eyes? Well, go ahead and feast yours on some of this vibrant green. 🙂

Looking for the dairy free version?

Dairy Free Version — With Kalamata Olives

I also scratched up a Dairy Free Cashew Spinach Basil Pesto for Dairy Free Junior High Guy. You can find that recipe variation here, as well as his Dairy Free Pesto Portobello Pizzas. Freeze up some either version to help preserve some of your summer garden bounty, if yours is producing as much basil and spinach right now as mine is! The easiest way to do this is to freeze your pesto in ice cube trays until solid, then pop out your pesto cubes and freeze them in freezer bags so that they’re easy to portion out for later use.

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Cashew Spinach Basil Pesto

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Try this variation with cashews instead of pine nuts, with some spinach for added flavor and vibrancy!

Course sauce

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 0

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups torn up fresh spinach
• 3/4 cup torn up fresh basil
• 1/2 cup roasted salted cashews
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• Juice of 1/4 lemon
• 1/3-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• crushed red pepper to taste

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to food processor.
• Blend until smooth.
• BAM: Pesto!
• Go light on the sea salt, since the cheese is pretty salty in itself, as are the cashews.