Seasonal beet green leaves with citrus lemon, caramelised garlic, nutty pumpkin seeds and olive oil; Beet Green Pesto.
Bite into something moist and soft. And, gulp.
This dish will overthrow your belief that vegan food can’t be super nutritious.
Make this:
- When you’ve just been to the local farmers market laden with beets and their greens. You’re scratching your head as to toss out the leaves. Don’t. Make a gorgeous pesto instead
- When you’re seeking an alternative to basil or wild garlic pesto. A healthy nutritional condiment to your pasta dish
- When you’ve got a jam-packed schedule. You need a quick and easy condiment to toss onto your jacket-potato. Feel satiated and get onto the next chore on that list
Beet Green Pesto was inspired when laden with beets and their leaves at a local farmer’s market. I didn’t want to toss away the stems or leaves which are lush in colour and have a mild sweet taste to them.
This Pesto is a vegan condiment and paleo too.
What equipment to use
For this dish, I suggest:
Chopper
Oven
What to do next
Tag me on @ethiveganquantum on Instagram to show me what you’ve made and let me know you’re happy for me to share.
My recipes are featured in vegan speciality publications: Nourished, Vegan Life, Plant Based and Vegan, Food and Living.
Order my first self-published book, “Essence: The Beginner’s Guide to Veganism” part of the three-part Circle of Food series. My second book “Presence: The Ascending Vegan” – which explores how to maintain a vegan practice is out in 2027 – I have compiled all the chapters including recipes.
Going strong since 2013.
Love.
Edward x
Ingredients
- 75g pumpkin seeds
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2tbs olive oil
- 300g beet greens (beetroot leaves and stems)
- 100g olive oil
- 10g nutritional yeast
- ½ lemon, juice
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Soak the pumpkin seeds in filtered water about 30 minutes. Drain, place in baking dish with the garlic and coat with olive oil
- Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 180 degrees Celsius or if you have a fan oven 160 degrees Celsius.
- Bake the pumpkin seeds for about 10 minutes, and remove. Leave the garlic to roast for a further 10 minutes. Set to one side.
- In a chopper, place the beet greens with the peeled garlic and half the pumpkin seeds, oil, nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Whizz. Remove and transfer to a mixing bowl with the remaining pumpkin seeds. Season to taste.
- Serve with pasta or jacket potatoes.
- Store in a sterilised sealable jar. Toss in some crushed peppercorns. Chill and use within a week.
4 comments
Made this as written, except used walnuts. No pumpkin seeds on hand. Added salt and added more garlic. Really delicious, slightly spicy, so happy to have found this recipe. Thank you
Hi Annie! Thanks for the feedback and great to know that it all turned out well. Great to experiment.
Love.
Edward x
Hi Edward,
Been looking for a recipe that uses both the stems and the leaves of beetroots to make Pesto, and came across yours. Most others just use the leaves. I love using both because it gives a deep reddish colour. I normally make Pesto using Basil leaves and Carrot tops (sometimes together, somethings separate).
Anyway….. I used your recipe but substituted the pumpkin seeds with Walnuts (which I roasted). I didn’t use the yeast, but added a tablespoon of Sesame seeds instead. I also added about 20 fresh green basil leaves.
(Your recipe states 100g Olive Oil AND 2 tbs Olive Oil – so I just used 110g Extra Virgin Olive Oil).
Thanks for your recipe! It was delicious! I’m looking forward to using some of your other recipes too.
All the best,
Daniela
Thanks, Daniela for the kind words and glad you liked it.
Much love.
Edward x