Seed Oil Free Basil-Pesto Spinach Salad
Fresh, vibrant, and built entirely around extra-virgin olive oil, this spinach salad is the kind of dish that makes you rethink what a weeknight green can be. The homemade pesto is the real star — blitzed together with fragrant basil, garlic, and tiger nuts in place of the usual pine nuts, it comes out silky, herbaceous, and completely free of the refined vegetable and seed oils that sneak into so many store-bought dressings and sauces. That matters more than people realize, because bottled pesto and pre-made dressings are some of the most common culprits for canola, sunflower, or soybean oil hiding in an otherwise clean meal. A pinch of turmeric adds a subtle warmth and a gorgeous golden hue to the pesto without overpowering the basil. Crisp radishes and cool cucumber slices give the baby spinach some texture and bite, so every forkful has something going on. You control how heavily it's dressed, which means you can go light and bright or coat every leaf generously — either way, it's ready to serve in minutes.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- ⅓ cup tiger nuts, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
For the salad
- 6 oz baby spinach (about 6 packed cups)
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 cup cucumber, thinly sliced into half-moons
For serving
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn (optional)
- lemon wedges, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the basil, tiger nuts, and garlic in a food processor and pulse 8–10 times until the mixture is coarsely ground and no large pieces remain.
- 2
With the processor running, stream in the olive oil in a slow, steady pour until the pesto is smooth and emulsified, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides, then add the lemon juice, salt, and turmeric. Pulse 3–4 more times until fully incorporated. Taste and adjust salt.
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