Spicy Pesto

Make this tasty and budget friendly Spicy Pesto to add excitement to meals and help prevent food waste

Summer is always so kind to my budget since many of the fruits and veggies I love so much are in season in the summer.

Makes my heart and budget happy!

The only problem I have is when need an ingredient but have plans to use a little bit while the store only offers it in a large bag.

[clickToTweet tweet="Make this tasty, budget friendly Spicy Pesto to add excitement to meals + help prevent food waste" quote="Make this tasty, budget friendly Spicy Pesto to add excitement to meals + help prevent food waste"]

Take basil for example.

When I made Cold Veggie Pizza the other day, I only needed about 1/4 cup of basil. But Trader Joe's sells huge bags of basil. What to do with all my extra basil?

Make pesto, duh!

However, many pestos can get a little pricey when you include pine nuts and parmesan cheese. So to keep it easy on my wallet, I used cheddar and walnuts.

Then to help ensure it has flavor, I added an extra jalapeño from a bag that I had purchased to make salsa and didn't want the extra jalapeños to go to waste.

This turned out delicious. Full of flavor, and ready to add pizzazz to all the great options you have for using pesto.

I am so happy that I have it in my freezer ready to make pasta, pizza, salmon, and more when I get home from my summer "vacation" (i.e. visiting my family to test recipes with my grandmother for the cookbook we are making together).

Spicy Pesto

Make this tasty and budget friendly Spicy Pesto to add excitement to meals and help prevent food waste.

Print Rate

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 7

Author: Meme

Ingredients

• 5 cups fresh basil5 cups fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic chopped1 clove garlic chopped
• 1 medium jalapeño chopped1 medium jalapeño chopped
• 1/4 cup walnuts1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese about 1.5 oz1/3 cup cheddar cheese about 1.5 oz
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt1/4 tsp salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Add the basil, garlic and jalapeño to a mini food processor.
• Blend until everything is chopped together.
• Add in walnuts, cheese and salt. Pulse until incorporated.
• Pour in olive oil and pulse until it is smooth or to your desired consistency.

Notes

*Discard seeds and/or stems in jalapeño for a more mild pesto

*Makes 7/8 cup pesto

Did you try this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment & recipe rating below. Bonus points for tagging @memeinge & #livingwellkitchen on Instagram! THANK YOU! xo

What to use in this recipe:

Meme

Doesn't this recipe look good?! You should probably pin it for later: