Chickweed Pesto Recipe

Chickweed Pesto

I serve Chickweed Pesto at almost every one of my foraging workshops, for a reason. It's a very easy way to win people's hearts! No but seriously, everyone loves it and becomes instantly convinced that eating 'weeds' isn't such a bad thing at all!! I even had someone recently liken it to guacamole! That's because it has a really lovely, creamy texture, and well that bright green color.

This is a great way to use up that excess Chickweed, make it into something pretty special pretty quick, and wow all your dinner guests. If you have a big batch in the fridge you can add it to salad dressings or smoothies for extra creamy flavor & color. Not to mention all the nutrition! (see my other articles all about Chickweed).

Chickweed Pesto Recipe

Grab about 2-3 cups full of Chickweed. Use scissors to trim your chickweed close to the ground, if you use your fingers you'll rip out the roots and get all the messy dirty stuff underneath. You can trim very low to the ground and Chickweed will regrow.

Roughly chop the Chickweed (so that the stringy stems don't get stuck on your blender blade).

Add 1/2 cup of nuts of choice (I love cashews), 1-2 TBSP good quality olive oil, 1-2 cloves crushed garlic, salt & pepper. If you have fresh lemon you can squeeze in half a lemon juice.

Put everything in a blender and whizz on high speed until well blended. If it's getting stuck and not turning well you can add a little water.

I actually quite like a chunky pesto, so you can also just blend until it's all mixed but leave a bit chunky.

You can add or minus any of these ingredients to your liking, and of course serve with paprika or nuts on top, or even other edible weeds like onion weed etc.

If you don't have Chickweed, Plantain makes a super delicious green pesto, just follow the recipe above and use Plantain instead of Chickweed.

You'll discover even more about Chickweed in my Wet Season Foraging Guide.