Pesto pasta is a language and I love speaking it. This broccoli pesto pasta features loads of creamy green goodness, balanced out with crunchy lemon sage walnuts that take the whole flavor profile to the next level. Treat yourself to comfort AND get those veggies in.
Pasta is the ultimate delicious lazy meal. Add a 5-minute crushed lemon sage walnut topping to feel fancy even if you just made this for yourself to eat in sweatpants on a slow Sunday. Because you deserve to relax and enjoy your favorite cozy comfort food. This broccoli pesto pasta is loaded with so many nutrients, but you wouldn’t even know it. It has broccoli (duh), spinach, all the nuts (and by all, I mean cashews and walnuts), and if you love Eat Banza’s pasta as much as I do, chickpeas. Let’s head to flavor town!!!
The Rundown
1. Prepare the pesto! The only things you want to do in advance are a) quick soak a quarter cup of cashews in boiling water for at least 15 minutes. We are making a creamy pasta sauce folks! And b) steam the broccoli. Make sure you don’t over steam though, because that’s gross.
2. Process the pesto! Just dump ingredients into a small processor and blend it. I didn’t have basil so I guess this isn’t real pesto. Use basil if you have it, but if not, spinach tasted great here. I added nutritional yeast for that umami and red chili flakes for a little bit heat!
3. Cook pasta to package instructions and reserve half a cup of pasta water to blend with most of the pesto.
4. Make lemon sage walnuts on the stove by toasting walnuts with a little olive oil, lemon zest, and minced garlic.
5. Pour sauce over pasta and top with the walnuts!
Broccoli Pesto Pasta with Lemon Sage Walnuts
Ingredients
- 8 oz. of pasta
Broccoli Pesto
- ¼ cup cashews soak in boiling water for at least 15 minutes
- 1 head of broccoli, cut and steamed
- 1 cup spinach
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp red chili flakes
Lemon Sage Walnuts
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp dried sage
Instructions
- Steam broccoli and soak cashews in boiling water for at least 15 minutes.
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package instructions and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water to blend with the pesto later.
- Process all ingredients for the pesto in a small processor. Set aside ~ 1/3 cup of pesto and blend the rest with the 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water.
- For the walnuts, add olive oil to a small pan and saute crushed walnuts for a few min. Then add lemon zest and minced garlic. When the walnuts are almost perfectly toasted, sprinkle in 1/2 tsp dried sage a minute before taking the pan off of the heat.
- Pour the sauce over the pasta, combine well, and top with those walnuts!
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That’s how I feel about it too 🙂 Thanks for trying the recipe!
This was absolutely amazing! Quick, easy and a beautiful combination of flavours!
I’m so glad you thought so, Claudia!
This broccoli pesto is next level 😋 soo good! And it’s quick and easy to make.