Kale Sunflower Seed Pesto Recipe

If ever there was a perfect autumnal pesto, this kale sunflower seed pesto would be it. Truthfully, though, this pesto has been my go-to all summer long for easy pasta dinners or on a quick appetizer tray with hummus, baguette, and veggies.

A good pesto recipe is a necessity for simple summer pasta dinners, as a topping for grilled dishes, or as a dip when you want to create the perfect summertime charcuterie board. When it comes to embracing garden-fresh flavors, store-bought pesto from a jar just won’t do. In fact, there’s really no reason that you should ever have to turn to jarred pesto when making your own is so easy. This particular kale sunflower seed pesto has become my favorite this year because it only takes about two minutes to make, it’s full of healthy, bright flavors, and it’s also highly economical compared to a lot of other pesto recipes. Here’s how to make fresh pesto using sunflower seeds and kale.

Another summertime kitchen staple: Walnut Zucchini Muffins With Crumbly Streusel Topping

Ingredients Needed for the Kale Sunflower Seed Pesto

You’ll need:

• Kale leaves (full-size leaves, coarsely chopped or baby kale both work)
• Sunflower seeds
• Fresh basil leaves
• Salt and pepper
• Granulated garlic powder
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Nutritional yeast (or use freshly grated parmesan cheese if you don’t need the recipe to be plant-based)
• Water

You can absolutely substitute the granulated garlic in this recipe for fresh garlic cloves if you prefer. Simply toss in two peeled cloves and leave out the granulated garlic. In the spirit of making this quick and easy, I usually just grab my jar of garlic powder out of the spice cabinet and, you may be skeptical, but it works beautifully in this recipe.

Incorporating kale into pesto serves a few different purposes. First of all, Kale is a nutritional powerhouse, and this recipe makes it easy and delicious to eat a large serving of this healthy leafy green. Secondly, kale is mostly neutral in flavor, so the bright, aromatic flavor of the basil comes through just as it does in traditional basil pesto, with an added note of subtle earthy freshness. The other wonderful thing about kale is that it holds its color when finely shredded, unlike basil, which becomes brown and bruised when exposed to air. This pesto keeps its bright green color for days in the refrigerator or even when exposed to air when set out on a snack table.

Growing your own basil: How to Harvest Basil for Strong, Healthy, Productive Plants

How do You Make Pesto With Sunflower Seeds?

Sunflower seeds have a bit of a denser, harder texture than traditional pine nuts, but they can be softened in just a few minutes to work beautifully in this recipe. If you choose to make this pesto ahead of time, the seeds will continue to soften further as the pesto sits in the refrigerator overnight.

As you assemble your ingredients and tools to make the pesto, soak the sunflower seeds in hot water. Pour them into a glass measuring cup or another similar dish and add hot water until the water covers the seeds with an extra half-inch of water or so.

You can use boiling water if you have it ready in a kettle or from an insta-hot tap, or you can just use very hot tap water to soften the seeds. By the time you’ve assembled all your tools and ingredients, even if that’s only about 2 minutes, your seeds will be softened enough to move ahead with making the pesto.

A must-try for summer basil fans: Summer Peach Pizza With Fresh Basil Leaves

The Fastest Way to Make Pesto

Although I love the ritual of making pesto from scratch using a traditional mortar and pestle, there’s no denying that a handy blender is really the quickest way to make this fragrant, brilliant green sauce come together. A food processor is a go-to method for chefs, and a great option for home cooks as well if they’d like to make large quantities of pesto to freeze, but a small blender (the type you’d use for making smoothies) has become the appliance I rely on for this recipe.

Start first by loading your greens – the kale and the basil – into the pitcher or cup of your blender. Sprinkle in the salt, the nutritional yeast or cheese, and the garlic powder right on top of the leaves.

Drizzle in the olive oil and the lemon juice and, finally, drain the sunflower seeds and add them in as well. Because this pesto retains its bright green color so well, the excessive amounts of olive oil you might usually find in a jarred pesto aren’t necessary for  avoiding contact with air, making this quite a light and healthy recipe. The water that you’ll pour into your blender as a final step helps to emulsify the sauce and allows all the ingredients to come together beautifully without adding any extra calories.

Pulse your blender several times until the pesto starts to come together and turns a lively green. You may need to shake the blender jar a few times to redistribute ingredients if you find a few leaves of the greens aren’t meeting the blender’s blade.

Taste the pesto once it’s blended, add more salt or lemon juice as necessary, and pulse a few more times.

The easiest side dish: Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

Delicious Ways to Use Homemade Pesto

Of course, a wonderfully simple pesto pasta dinner is always the first meal that people think about when it comes to how to use pesto, whether it be with a vegan pesto with linguine noodles or a more traditional recipe, but there’s so much more that pesto can do to liven up your kitchen.

Try drizzling pesto over grilled summer veggies like tomatoes, zucchini, and red peppers with a dash of hot red pepper flash for a healthy but satisfying main dish.

Pesto makes a delightful addition to paninis and grilled cheese sandwiches with sun-dried tomatoes and wilted arugula.

Another fun pesto variation is to switch out the sunflower seed for another nut or seed for something a little different. Try walnuts, soaked cashews, or pistachios for a culinary experiment that can’t go wrong.

If you make a little too much pesto and you can’t finish it within a few days, you can freeze it to save for later. Simply thaw you pesto overnight in the refrigerator and it will be ready to use in the same way as you would use the freshly-made sauce.

Don’t forget to pin on this recipe on Pinterest for the next time you need an easy and elegant pasta idea!

Here’s the full printable recipe. Use it on your phone or tablet, or print it out to place in your recipe binder.

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