Broccoli Pesto Recipe – change up your favorite pesto dishes with this fresh and good pesto made with broccoli – even picky eaters love this pesto over pasta!

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Creamy, rich, tangy, earthy, salty pesto is one of our favorite things to add to dishes.

To us, pesto makes everything taste so much better!

This pesto is incredibly special – it is out of thiss world good, it is low carb and keto friendly, and it comes with a heaping dose of vegetables – thanks to the addition of broccoli!

If you've never had broccoli pesto, you're in for a treat – this fun spin on pesto is packed with flavor, easy to make, and goes on about every dish.

It's great in pasta, or over rice, meats, vegetables, and fish – and it can be made ahead of time in a snap!

We hope you love this pesto as much as we do!

This pesto is also good when spooned over grilled, baked, and pan fried fish, pork, beef, chicken, and vegetables!

The recipes below are some of our favorite dishes to serve topped with broccoli pesto – and minus the vegan sandwiches, they are all low carb and keto friendly!

This pesto can give your low carb dinners a bright, earthy, and good kick!

How to Make Broccoli Pesto

This broccoli pesto is simple to make – whiz in a food processor and go!

There are a couple easy steps to keep your consistency solid, which we are adding below.

To make this broccoli pesto, you'll need a food processor or a blender.

Kitchen notes

Toast Pine Nuts. Give your pesto extra flavor by lightly toasting the pine nuts before adding them to the food processor – place them in a nonstick pan and heat until fragrant, stirring often.

Pine nuts burn quickly and taste bitter and acrid – so watch them closely while toasting pine nuts.

Whiz Broccoli First. For best results, blend broccoli first, before adding basil, pine nuts, herbs, and spices. Broccoli can take a bit of stirring and extra pulsing to blend to smooth, and takes up a lot of space in the food processor.

A few answers

How do we store leftover broccoli pesto?

This pesto will keep it's bright green color, unlike many other pestos, after storing in the refrigerator overnight – we even like to make a big batch and freeze in small bags so we have more at the ready anytime. Pesto can also be made and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Can you freeze broccoli pesto?

You can also freeze pesto in ice cube containers to set them in a square shape, then toss the squares in a freezer bag for easy-to-use individual servings – so you can defrost and use as much or as little as you want! Frozen pesto can keep for up to four months. Let thaw naturally in the fridge overnight.

Serve it with

This broccoli pesto is good in simple pasta dishes, as a tangy zip (and extra veggies) in wraps or on salads.

We love it spooned over cous cous, linguine, or rice for a quick dinner – grate some parmesan over the top for a solid meal in minutes!

Also try it with one of these good protein packed favorites:

Broccoli Pesto Recipe

Avdaye Favorite Recipes

If you love this easy pesto, check out some of our other favorite easy dishes!

These recipes are reader favorites for their tried and true family friendly flavor!

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Ingredients

1 medium head of broccoli
½ – ¾ cup olive oil
1 cup basil leaves, unpacked
2 tablespoons garlic paste, or minced garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Method

Cut the florets off of the head of broccoli and steam until fork tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the florets to a food processor along with ½ cup of olive oil and blend until almost smooth.
Add in the remaining ingredients except for the additional olive oil and pulse until smooth.
Only use the extra olive oil to reach desired consistency, it may not be needed depending on the size of the broccoli.