Chestnut Free Spinach & Avocado Pesto
Bright, creamy, and packed with fresh flavor, this blended green sauce is the kind of thing you'll want to put on absolutely everything. Ripe avocado takes the place of the traditional pine nuts or cheese, giving the pesto a luxuriously smooth body without any tree nut involvement — so you can blend away with total confidence. Baby spinach and fresh basil team up for a deeply green, herbaceous base, while lemon juice and garlic keep every bite lively and sharp. A drizzle of good olive oil ties it all together into something that feels indulgent but comes together in under five minutes of active effort. The optional fresh ginger adds a subtle warmth that makes the whole sauce feel a little unexpected in the best way. Store-bought pesto can be a minefield of unlisted additives and shared-facility warnings, so making your own from scratch puts you fully in control of what goes into the jar. Spoon it over pasta, swirl it into grain bowls, or use it as a dip — it's endlessly versatile and genuinely hard to stop eating.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
- 2 cups packed baby spinach
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted and scooped
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
- 2–4 tbsp water, as needed to thin
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Add the baby spinach, avocado, basil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and ginger (if using) to the bowl of a food processor or blender.
- 2
Pulse 8–10 times until the mixture is roughly broken down and no large pieces remain.
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