Cilantro lovers get ready for the most amazing pesto! This cilantro and pumpkin seed pesto is every bit as good as it sounds!
It is easy to make, freezes beautifully and has so many uses!
Cilantro, pumpkin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, jalapeño pepper, olive oil and salt!
Cilantro. You either love it or hate it. If you love it, I am about to become your new best friend. What? You already have a best friend!
Well, did your current best friend share with you a cilantro pesto recipe that quite possibly is the best cilantro pesto recipe on the planet? See. I thought so.
So, new best bud, guess what I did this week? Yep. I cleaned out my vegetable crisper drawer. All I can say is thank goodness those plastic bags can safely hold liquid, which is what some of the veggies had become.
One of things I discovered besides liquefied dill, parsley, and lettuce were 3 bags of cilantro. Because apparently I have a terrible fear of being without cilantro (which is entirely understandable).
Luckily I remembered a cilantro pesto recipe that I had seen in the Herbfarm cookbook.
OMG. This was amazing. Seriously, seriously amazing.
Ingredients:
Pumpkin seeds - you want hulled seeds, unless you want to sit and shell them all and who has time for that?
Cilantro - use the leaves and tender sprigs.
Garlic - peeled cloves, you can coarsely chop them if you want, but not totally necessary.
Lemon juice - fresh squeezed, please!
Jalapeño pepper - seeded or not, depending on how hot you want it. I left the seeds in mine and it was perfect.
Salt and extra virgin olive oil.
Instructions:
Place the pumpkin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat. As soon as you hear the first seed pop, start shaking the pan (kind of like when you make popcorn.)
The pumpkin seeds will puff up and brown. When most of them are puffed up, shake them out on to a paper towel to cool.
Place the cooled pumpkin seeds, cilantro, garlic, lemon juice, jalapeño pepper and salt into a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
Then with the processor running, pour in the olive oil in a smooth stream until the pesto is creamy and somewhat smooth.
This homemade pesto will keep in the fridge for about a week, but it will keep in the freezer for about 6 months!
I put mine in cute little jars, with cute labels and froze them (be sure and leave a little headspace.)
I wish I could tell you how good this was. To tell you that you absolutely have to make this herb pesto now!
You could use this on anything, it could go on grilled fish, or chicken, or meat. It could be used as a salsa over nachos or tacos.
Stirred into pasta or to dress veggies. Or you could simply stand at your counter and just spoon it into your mouth, while you pretend that you are just tasting it to make sure it’s seasoned right.
More cilantro recipes:
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Recipe
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Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds hulled
- 2 cups cilantro leaves gently packed
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 tbsp lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 1 jalapeño pepper seeded or not
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place the pumpkin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat. After they start popping, shake the pan until most of them are puffed up and golden brown. Shake them out onto a paper towel to cool.
- Place the cooled pumpkin seeds, cilantro, garlic cloves, lemon juice, jalapeño pepper and salt into the bowl of food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
- With the motor running, slowly stream in the olive oil until creamy and as smooth as you would like it.
I love experimenting with different pesto ingredients and wonder why I never thought of using cilantro! Sounds absolutely right up my alley and have bookmarked it to try 🙂
This is such a creative pesto idea, and SO delicious! Yum! My new favourite 🙂
This Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto is absolutely perfect! I want to make my own of this. It will definitely be a great add ons to my dishes.
Loved the use of pumpkin seeds in this recipe 🙂
This pesto recipe is EVERYTHING. I love cilantro and pumpkin seeds, and it's as out-of-the-box as pesto can get! YUM.