When Ryan and I were grocery shopping on Sunday, my list included the ingredients I thought I needed to make traditional pesto sauce. Fresh basil, pine nuts, the usual.
And then I saw the crazy price of pine nuts and a new, more affordable plan emerged.
Sunflower seed pesto!
Sunflower seeds are nice and cheap! I remembered the fantastic walnut pesto that my friend Michaela used on the pizza she made for us when I visited her in Colorado and figured that I could combine sunflower seeds with walnuts and achieve a yummy, less expensive version of pesto.
I know that traditional pesto incorporates parmesan cheese, but we didn’t have any on hand, so if you’re dairy-free this is a pesto sauce you may enjoy as well!
Ryan and I spread the pesto sauce on top of baked cod for dinner this evening and were both blown away. So much flavor!
If you decide to give this pesto a try, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did this evening!
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Sunflower Seed and Walnut Pesto
- Prep Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 3 minutes
Description
After seeing the crazy price of pine nuts while shopping at the grocery store, I knew that I needed to change my recipe idea… and a new, more affordable plan emerged.
Sunflower seed pesto!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until completely combined
- Enjoy with pasta, fish, chicken or as a spread in sandwiches
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Ooh yum, I love pesto! I usually make a batch when my basil plant needs to be trimmed. I just use walnuts in mine – I will definitely be trying sunflower seeds next time! Sounds and looks delicious.
Wow, that looks seriously good. I never even thought of adding a different nut in there. Shows how much I have to learn in the kitchen! 😛
I make “pesto” sauce all the time, except it’s never been the traditional pesto. I make mine with almonds, spinach, and parmesan cheese – 3 items I always have on hand.
I also have plenty of sunflower seeds so I’m def going to add them to the sauce next time! Thanks, Julie!
That looks amazing, I’m craving some pesto now!
I have a basil plant and have been promising my mom I’d make pesto. I should totally try this.
Definitely pinning this! I love walnuts & sunflower seeds so I’m sure I’d enjoy this!
this stuff looks great! i LOVE pesto, so i’m sure i’d be an instant fan.
Great job on improvising with the ingredients!! I don’t use pinenuts too much in my pesto or cooking either due to the price. But walnut is always a great way to go! I bet cashew would be great too.
This sounds so good, I pinned it!
Looks so yummy!!! I want to try making my own pesto.
I love pesto but for some odd reason, it always gives me heartburn. It totally bums me out because it has such a wonderful flavor. Maybe I should try it in tiny doses and work my way up!
Whenever someone says pesto, I was think of the FRIENDS episode when Phoebe says “would you say your pesto the best-o?” haha!
Sunflower seed pesto! Yum!
Just dropping by to let you know I survived your 1000 rep workout haha I was quite excited to see this little gem of a post here… this looks delicious and I will be trying it ASAP! Geez, between my workouts and meal ideas… PB Fingers is becoming one-stop shopping for all of my daily needs!
looks delicious! i made pesto tonight too! its my favorite!
I love pesto and I always enjoy sunflower seeds, so this looks great!
This is SUCH a great idea!!!
Yummy! That looks great, I get bad headaches from eating almonds or pine nuts so the sunflower seeds would work for me!
Oooo…this looks particularly good because I was just thinking the other day whether pesto made without cheese would be good. I guess I have my answer. 🙂
LOVE the more economical alternative of using sunflower seeds. i usually spend about 10 minutes in the section of my grocery store where they keep all the bulk nuts and wish i could afford to buy pounds and pounds of all of them. this looks delicious and is wallet friendly – double bonus!
Sounds amazing! I just made a radish greens pesto the other week (http://www.cookwithb.com/radish-greens-pesto-vegan/). It’s axing how versatile pesto is!
That’s definitely supposed to say “it’s amazing how versatile..” commenting on a phone is never easy haha
Wow this looks super! I once made pesto using avocado and it turned out great!
O basil and avocado sounds wonderful! Will have to try it sometime!
Pesto is one of the greatest things to have on hand. It adds an awesome flavor to any dish, especially pizza!
I love pesto sauce! I’ve been wanting to make it but sadly pine nuts are super expensive. So I’m definitely going to try this out! 🙂
I’m very excited about this! I like pesto a lot and this recipe seems very do-able! I have been getting into making things that I would normally buy premade (for example I’ve finally made my own hummus!) this is right down my alley.. plus I’m pretty sure I have a mason jar full of sunflower seeds going unused. 🙂
Looks delicious! And great for my bank account, I realized the other day I spend wayyy too much on groceries. But fresh fruit and produce adds up, and I need to keep eating real food. This is a great cost savings swap, I need to keep ideas like this in mind!
Yum. I love pesto! My basil plant is out of control, so my boss gifted me pine nuts and I gave her a ton of basil. If you lived close, I’d bring you some.
Thanks! Im going to try with almonds too I think. I am lactose intolerant too so this is great!
I can’t wait to try this! I love sunflower seed, so this sounds awesome 🙂 What a clever substitution!
So brilliant, I too don’t make pesto because of the outrageous cost of pine nuts! Now I can try this!
Just made this! AMAZING 🙂 I doubled the recipe for about 3/4 lb. of pasta 🙂 yummm 🙂