Seed Oil Free Walnut Pesto Roasted Red Pepper Relish
Smoky, charred red peppers meet a vibrant basil-garlic paste and buttery chopped walnuts in a relish that tastes like summer in a bowl. The broiler does the heavy lifting here, blistering the peppers until their skins slip right off and their natural sweetness deepens into something almost jammy. Every drop of fat in this recipe comes from extra-virgin olive oil and whole walnuts — no canola, no sunflower, no mystery blends hiding in a jar of store-bought pesto. The food processor keeps the texture deliberately chunky, so you get pops of roasted pepper and toasty walnut in every spoonful rather than a flat, uniform spread. A hit of fresh lemon juice and red pepper flakes keeps the whole thing bright and just a little feisty. Spoon it over grilled chicken, stir it into pasta, pile it onto crusty bread, or serve it straight from the bowl with whatever you have on hand — it's the kind of condiment that makes everything around it taste better.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the roasted peppers
- 3 large red bell peppers (about 1 ½ lb total)
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
For the pesto-walnut base
- ½ cup raw walnuts
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- 1 small garlic clove, roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
For serving
- 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Position an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler element and preheat the broiler to high. Place the whole red bell peppers on a baking sheet, rub them with 1 tbsp olive oil, and broil for 18–22 minutes, turning with tongs every 5–6 minutes, until the skins are deeply charred and blistered on all sides and the peppers have collapsed.
- 2
Transfer the charred peppers to a mixing bowl, cover tightly with a plate or plastic wrap, and let them steam for 10 minutes — this loosens the skins.
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