A delicious, simple and vegan pesto, packed with nutritious spinach, artichoke, almonds, and made extra yummy with basil and garlic. Great with spaghetti!
I really enjoy getting an organic vegetable box every week. This week we got a bag of lovely leafy spinach, and I ummed and aahed for ages trying to decide what to make with it.
Ultimately, a basil plant sitting on the windowsill encouraging me to use it made me plump for this simple and delicious pesto. It made a magnificent dinner tossed with some freshly cooked spaghetti.
Spinach pesto – fridge raid!
I did a quick raid of the fridge and cupboards for the rest of the ingredients to make this spinach pesto. The artichoke hearts have been lurking in the fridge for a week or so. They add a savoury deliciousness to the pesto and their oil adds a lovely silky texture.
The ground almonds, somewhat inevitably, are leftover from Pesach. That said, I usually have some in the house because they’re a great substitute for bread crumbs in all sorts of recipes – lower in carbs and higher in healthy fats and essential micro-nutrients.
We love garlic in this house, so I put a couple of cloves in our spinach pesto and it was mega-garlicky. You might prefer less, but you can adjust according to taste.
Finally, I used spaghetti, as you can see in the photos. However this delicious pesto is great with any kind of pasta. Use whichever shape you prefer for a tasty spinach pesto pasta dinner!
Spinach artichoke pesto – Keep it green
I blanched the spinach and basil leaves before whizzing them up, because this helps them to retain their bright green colour. You don’t have to do this step, but if you skip it the pesto will gradually turn a murkier colour.
We like ours this vibrant green! Such a great colour!
Add cheese, or keep it vegan
I didn’t put any cheese into the spinach pesto, so our pesto pasta dinner was completely vegan. At least to start with… We did grate some parmesan cheese over the top before we ate it, and it was seriously tasty. Add a few grinds of black pepper too – it’s delicious!
This made enough spinach artichoke pesto spaghetti for 3-4 people. However I reckon I could have eaten half of it myself, given a chance! Yum.
I wonder what’s coming in next week’s vegetable box?!
If you want deliciously easy, family-friendly recipes like this one delivered straight to your inbox, simply click here to subscribe. (Of course, I’ll never pass on your email address to anyone.)
📖 Recipe
Spinach artichoke pesto
Ingredients
- 250 g spaghetti
- 150 g spinach leaves
- 25 g basil leaves
- 50 g ground almonds
- 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 75 g artichoke hearts in oil, drained (about 1 whole artichoke heart)
- 3-4 tablespoon oil drained from the artichokes, or use extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
- Grated Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper to serve (optional)
Instructions
- 250 g (9 oz) spaghettiCook the spaghetti in boiling water according to the directions on the package. (Mine took 11 minutes.)
- 150 g (5 ¼ oz) spinach leaves, 25 g (1 cup) basil leavesMeanwhile, put the spinach and basil leaves in a colander and pour boiling water over to blanch – the leaves will wilt down quite quickly. Press any excess water out and transfer the leaves to the bowl of a food processor.
- 50 g (½ cup) ground almonds, 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed, 75 g (2 ⅔ oz) artichoke hearts in oil, drained, 3-4 tbsp oil drained from the artichokes, or use extra virgin olive oil, ½ tsp ground black pepper or to tasteAdd the ground almonds, garlic, artichoke hearts and oil and process to a smooth paste. Taste and add the black pepper if desired.
- Grated Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper to serve (optional)Drain the pasta and toss with the pesto to thoroughly mix. Serve sprinkled with grated parmesan and pepper, if desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More quick and delicious pasta recipes
If you enjoyed this spinach pesto recipe, you might like some of these other deliciously speedy pasta recipes:
- creamy smoked salmon pasta with peas
- quick courgette and cherry tomato pasta with feta
- easy beetroot pasta with yogurt
- zesty tuna pasta – enjoy hot or cold
My veg-box spinach was grown by Grahame Hughes in Attleborough, Norfolk, so I’m entering this dish into the Shop Local challenge. It’s hosted by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. Since I also saw off a wilting basil plant, the remains of a jar of artichokes, and a chunk of the ground almonds backlog, I think this also qualifies for the No Waste Food Challenge, which is hosted this month by Farmersgirl Kitchen (and also organised by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary.)
I’m also submitting the recipe to Pasta Please, hosted by Franglais Kitchen and organised by Tinned Tomatoes.
FFF
Thanks Laura! I love spinach too but you’re right, it’s often a challenge to come up with a good way to use it up. Hope you enjoy this when the time comes 🙂
Laura
I have the terrible habit of buying spinach then not knowing what to do with the rest once I’ve made the dish I bought it for so I’m bookmarking this ready for when that happens again. It sound lovely!
Elizabeth
I love artichokes, I love basil, I love spinach and I love garlic and black pepper – I would adore this dish! A very clever way to use up bits lingering in the back of the fridge. I too get a veg box and I love it when it arrives – it’s like Christmas every time! Thanks for linking up with the No Waste Food Challenge and Shop Local! 🙂
Janice @FarmersgirlCook
Thanks for entering this delicious looking dish for the No Waste Food Challenge. It’s such an amazing shade of green!