High Fructose Corn Syrup Free Basil-Pesto Endive Salad
Bitter, crisp endive leaves act as natural little scoops here, making this salad as fun to eat as it is beautiful to look at. The homemade basil pesto is the real star — blitzed together with fresh garlic, lemon juice, and good olive oil, it comes out vibrant and deeply fragrant in under a minute. Because every component is made from scratch using whole, recognizable ingredients, there's no need to scan labels for sneaky sweeteners hiding in bottled dressings or store-bought sauces. Thinly sliced radishes add a peppery crunch, while fresh parsley and a hit of lemon zest keep the whole thing tasting bright and alive. A final pinch of flaky sea salt pulls it all together in the most satisfying way. This is the kind of dish that looks like you spent serious time on it but comes together with almost no effort at all.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the pesto
- 2 oz fresh basil leaves (about 2 packed cups)
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
For the salad
- 3 medium heads belgian endive (about 12 oz total)
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- flaky sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- 1
Combine the basil leaves, garlic, lemon juice, and fine sea salt in a food processor. Pulse 6–8 times until the basil is roughly chopped and the garlic is minced.
- 2
With the processor running, stream in the olive oil in a slow, steady pour until the pesto is smooth and bright green, about 20–30 seconds. Taste and adjust salt or lemon juice as needed.
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