By Grocery List Plus Editorial Staff | Published on June 14, 2026
Serves 16
38 cal · 15 min
Arugula Pesto
Recipe GLPRe6620c2b7b4734
A vibrant, herbaceous pesto made with peppery baby arugula, fresh parsley, toasted almonds, and briny capers. This smooth, creamy sauce requires no dairy and comes together in minutes using a food processor. Perfect as a condiment for vegetables, grains, or protein, or tossed with pasta for an instant meal.
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Ingredients
2 cups Baby arugula, tightly packed
1 cup Fresh Italian parsley, tightly packed
½ cup Toasted almond slivers
1 tablespoon Capers, rinsed and drained
1 Garlic clove, medium
2 tablespoons Fresh lemon juice
½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
Add the arugula, parsley, toasted almond slivers, capers, garlic clove, and lemon juice to a food processor. Pulse the mixture until the ingredients are finely chopped, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure even breakdown.
With the food processor running, slowly pour the extra virgin olive oil through the feed tube in a steady stream. This gradual incorporation helps create a smooth, emulsified sauce.
Continue processing until the pesto reaches your desired consistency—smooth and creamy or slightly chunky, depending on preference. Taste the pesto and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to your liking. Pulse once or twice to combine.
Comments
Arugula pesto is a straightforward pantry-to-table recipe, though the stated 15 minutes assumes ingredients are already prepped and measured; realistically add 5–7 minutes for washing greens and processing. Every ingredient is available at any Charlotte grocer—Harris Teeter and Kroger stock arugula and capers year-round, and almonds are shelf-stable staples. At roughly $0.75–$1.00 per serving (driven mainly by the olive oil and almonds), it's a cost-effective sauce that yields a full pound and keeps refrigerated for a week, making it ideal for packing into lunches or dressing cold pasta. The biggest minor drawback is that this is a condiment, not a complete dish, so a reader expecting a standalone dinner will need to plan what to serve it with.
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