Garlic Scape Pesto is a unique and delicious pasta sauce, packed with a bright garlic flavor. But don’t wait to make it—garlic scape season is short!
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Pasta is a go to in our family. We love pasta salad, mac and cheese, spaghetti—basically, if it’s pasta with a sauce it’s a dinner that will make everyone happy. I try to mix it up, alternating between mac and cheese, cooked tomato sauce, fresh chopped tomatoes and basil, peanut noodles, and pesto. I love pesto because it is so simple to make, and the flavor is always so bright and vibrant. It’s perfect for summer time. And while I make my basil pesto year round, thank you modern agriculture, garlic scape pesto really steals the show during a brief window each summer.
What are Garlic Scapes?
Let’s back up to talk about the scapes themselves. Have you ever heard of them? I hadn’t! Garlic scapes are only available in June and July, so they are a rare commodity. Scapes are the “flower” of the garlic plant, and by trimming off the green shoots it will divert the growth back to the garlic bulb. Scapes have a mild garlic taste—they are quite tangy but they aren’t nearly like biting into a bulb of actual garlic!
Garlic Scape Pesto
A few years ago I saw a recipe for garlic scape edamame hummus on Daily Garnish’s blog. Emily said she wanted to try something new since everyone makes garlic scape pesto. But I’d never even heard of scapes at that point, I love pesto, and was curious, so I googled garlic scape pesto and found all kinds of recipes! I had to try my own cheeseless version, which brings us to this recipe!
How do you make Garlic Scape Pesto?
Making Garlic Scape Pesto is as simple as throwing a few ingredients into your food processor, pulsing, and dolloping on top of pasta, potatoes, rice, a sandwich—basically the carb of your choice! To prepare the garlic scapes you simply trim of the bulb and the cut end of the scape. You can chop them down to smaller pieces to make less work for your food processor. Then toss in hemp seeds, arugula, olive oil, and salt. Pulse and you are done! So simple.
Nut Free Pesto
We are mostly nut free in our house—Jonny is allergic to peanuts and all tree nuts, except for almonds and walnuts. In this recipe I used hemp seeds. They are my go to when a recipe would normally call for nuts, to accomodate Jonny’s allergies. If you aren’t nut free blanched almonds are also delicious! Salted macadamia nuts are a decadent choice that we have used in the past—increase the amount to 1/2 cup of salted roasted macadamia nuts and be sure to reduce the salt overall if you use them.
More Pasta Recipes you will Love!
- Pasta with Vegan Vodka Sauce — Nut Free!
- Uncle Jon’s Pasta Salad
- Classic Vegan Pesto
- Mac and Cheese with Pumpkin
- Walnut Feta Pesto
So head to your local farmer’s market or natural foods store quickly and grab a few bunches and get to blending! Remember, the season is super short—just part of June and July! Leave me a note in the comments below and let me know how you like this unique garlic scape pesto!
Garlic Scape Pesto
Ingredients
- 12 garlic scapes
- 1 cup arugula packed
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds (see notes)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt (to taste)
- water as needed, to achieve desired consistency
Instructions
- Chop off ends of garlic scapes and the bulbs on the opposite ends. Discard. Chop remaining scapes into 1 inch chunks.
- Place in food processor.
- Add arugula, hemp hearts, olive oil, salt and pepper to food processor. Pulse until well processed, adding water as needed/desired.
- Enjoy on pasta, potatoes, or even as a sandwich spread!
Notes