Kale Pesto

Fresh, seasonal curly kale makes the most delicious, vibrant pesto. Perfect for serving stirred through freshly cooked spaghetti for an easy weeknight meal idea.

Whizzing this superfood up into a bright green, delicious tasting pesto couldn't be easier!

Kale pesto is a great way to squeeze more veggies into your diet and it tastes fantastic with freshly cooked pasta, used to top grilled chicken or grain bowls, or drizzled over a bruschetta with mozzarella.

Whizzing up some kale pesto in the blender is a good thing – here’s why!

• Kale is natural superfood! And is packed to bursting with vitamins and minerals.

• Pesto is really simple to make and tastes just so good with fresh pasta.

• It's a quick and meal for busy weeknights

Equipment Needed To Make Fresh Pesto With Kale

• Chopping board

• Knife

• Small measuring jug and weighing scales - although we generally just guess the quantities, pesto making isn't an exact science!

• Small frying pan

• Blender

• Spoon

• Lemon juicer

Kale Pesto Ingredients

You only need a handful of ingredients to make fresh pesto

Okay, the thing with a good pesto, is you start with the basics and you just keep adding a little more, seasoning as you go until you've got the pesto that taste really good to you!

• 50g pine nuts

• 125 ml olive oil

• 50g kale

• ½ clove garlic

• 50g grated parmesan cheese

• Pinch of salt

• Juice of half a lemon

How To Make Kale Pesto

You'll really like how simple it is to make pesto and how deliciously fresh it tastes - it's so much nicer than jarred!

Step One - toast the pine nuts

• Scatter the nuts into the frying pan, don't add any oil.

• Then pop the pan over a medium heat on the hob, and shake the pan to jiggle the nuts around whilst they toast. You want them just starting to turn golden and smell nutty. It will only take a few seconds, so be sure to watch them so they don't burn.

Step Two - blend the garlic, nuts and olive oil

• Put the toasted pine nuts, olive oil and garlic into a blender and blitz until you have a smooth consistency.

Step Three - blend the kale

• Add the kale leaves to the blended pine nuts. Blitz together until you have a smooth pesto consistency.

Step Three - add the grated parmesan and seasoning

• Tip the blended kale and nuts into a bowl.

• Add the grated parmesan cheese a handful at a time and stir into the kale pesto.

• Every batch of fresh pesto is different, so you may need to pour in a little extra olive oil to loosen up the pesto - if you do, just add it a little at a time and mix until you have the consistency you want.

• Season to taste with sea salt flakes.

Step Four - How do you take the bitterness out of kale pesto

Kale is a naturally bitter tasting leaf, and so depending on how bitter it is, you may need to add a squeeze of lemon juice to your pesto, this just cuts through the bitter flavour and really lifts the pesto, so that it has a great fresh, zingy taste.

• As you add the lemon, do so a squeeze at a time, tasting often to see if you're happy with the flavour. You can also adjust the salt and add some black pepper if you like here too.

Step Five - serve the pesto

• Once you're happy with the kale pesto flavours, serve in your favourite dish. We love this simply tossed through freshly cooked spaghetti.

How To Store Fresh Pesto

You can store fresh homemade pesto in the fridge for up to 3 days. Just put into a container, cover the surface with a layer of olive oil and pop in the fridge.

Alternatively you can freeze the fresh pesto in an air tight container for up to 1 month.

Get loads more delicious easy pasta dishes here

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