This Stinging Nettle Pesto recipe tastes like spring with all the nutrients of dark leafy greens. It’s rich and creamy from wholesome walnuts and can easily be made oil-free. Toss this flavorful vegan pesto with your favorite pasta for a quick weeknight dinner!

Yay! It’s nettle season here on the Peninsula. Thanks to our damp rainy climate, nettles start popping up out of the ground in early spring and keep growing all through the summer. I totally look forward to harvesting nettles every single year and get a little thrill each time I discover a new patch. They grow all over the place, alongside roads and trails, and it’s not uncommon to see folks, armed with gloves and scissors, gathering this perfectly edible green.

It’s pretty easy to get ambitious when harvesting and come home with a pile of nettles that will fill the kitchen sink. So, it’s comforting to know how you’re going to eat them and store them. One of my favorite recipes that uses a lot of nettles is Stinging Nettle Pesto. Six cups of greens go into making this recipe! Nettle pesto is super versatile and adds incredible flavor to pasta, crackers, veggie sticks and bagels. Once you get to know this nutritious green, you’ll find its bad guy reputation is our little secret!

What do nettles taste like?

Stinging nettles taste similar to spinach but stronger with a bit of earthiness. You must deactivate the stingers with heat before eating them, which tempers any bitterness and mellows their flavor. Once cooked, nettles can be used in many recipes that call for kale, collards, or spinach. They are nutritionally dense too, just like all dark leafy greens.

Read all about the health benefits of stinging nettles here.

How do you make stinging nettles safe for eating?

Fear not my friends! You can easily deactivate the stingers by plunging the leaves and tender stems in salted boiling water for 60 seconds. That’s all it takes to make them safe to handle and eat! Next, drain your nettles in a colander and rinse them under cold running water. This halts the cooking process and preserves their vibrant green color. You can also immerse the leaves in an ice bath after blanching but I find cold water does the trick and saves washing a bowl.

Note: You’ll want to wear gloves when handling raw nettles, so you don’t get stung by the tiny needle-like hairs.

Now all you have to do is gather the nettles into a ball, squeeze out all the extra water, and they’re ready to use. I usually blanch 6 cups (90 grams) of nettles at a time, then wrap them in plastic and store them in the freezer. Each ball is the perfect amount for 1 recipe of nettle pesto. Use half a ball (45 grams) if you find yourself in the mood for Savory Chickpea Nettle Pancakes.

For a full rundown of how to forage for, harvest, and cook stinging nettles, read this blog post.

A word of caution: Do NOT eat stinging nettles raw. They will sting your skin and the inside of your mouth. The stingers must be deactivated before eating.

Is pesto vegan?

Pesto is typically made with loads of dairy-based cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano. This vegan pesto gets its cheesy flavor and extra umami from nutritional yeast. Fondly called nooch, this inactive yeast is grown on blackstrap molasses, whey, or sugar beets and then harvested. All the rest of the ingredients in this recipe are naturally vegan.

Can this recipe be made oil-free?

Yup! Traditional pesto is made with generous amounts of extra virgin olive oil. But this recipe gets most of its fat and creaminess from walnuts and is thinned to a spreadable consistency with a bit of olive oil. To make it oil-free, use water instead of oil. I’ve made nettle pesto many times without oil it tastes rich and flavorful.

This is the perfect recipe to try if you’re curious about eating stinging nettles. It’s:

Simple to make, just blend all the ingredients in a food processor
Wildly flavorful, thanks to earthy herby nettles
Nutrient-dense, from dark leafy greens
Full of healthy fats, from walnuts
Vegan
Gluten-Free
Can be made oil-free
Versatile

Stinging nettles have been a regular at our local farmer’s market this spring, tempting me as they spill out of vendors’ wicker baskets. Little rascals. I always take some home to blanch and freeze because you never know what wild idea will get your mouth watering for this secretly friendly vegan pesto.

Recipe recycle!

This same recipe can be used to make Carrot Top Pesto by swapping out the nettles for 4 cups of fresh carrot tops.

And be sure to check out this Nettle Vegan Spanakopita recipe!

Here’s everything you need to make Vegan Nettle Pesto

Ingredients: Makes 1½ cups

6 cups (90 g) of stinging nettles, blanched, squeezed dry, and chopped
Salted water for blanching the nettles (2 quarts of water mixed with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt)
1 cup (115 g) of walnuts
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (2 cloves if you really love garlic)
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
3-6 tablespoons of olive oil

How to make Stinging Nettle Pesto

If you’re new to stinging nettles, read all about how to make them safe for eating in this blog post here.

1. Deactivate the stinging nettles – In a 4–6-quart pot, bring 2 quarts of water with 1 tablespoon of salt to a rapid boil. Use a gloved hand and tongs to plunge the nettles into the boiling water. Blanch for 60 seconds only. Drain the nettles in a colander and rinse under cold running water. (You can also immerse them into an ice bath, but I find cold water does the trick.) Gather the nettles in your hands (They won’t’ sting, I promise!) and squeeze all the extra water out by forming them into a tidy round ball. Roughly chop the nettles and set aside.

2. Make the pesto - Add the walnuts to a food processor (not a blender) and pulse until coarsely ground. Next, add the nettles, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper. Process until a chunky paste begins to form.

3. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. (use water for oil-free) You’re looking for a consistency that is thick enough to spread on a cracker or thin enough to toss with pasta. So, add more or less liquid depending on how thick/thin you like your pesto.

4. Sprinkle in a dash of salt and pepper and taste before adding more. You’re looking for a burst of flavor that makes you immediately want to take another bite!

For vegan pesto pasta, toss with 1 pound of spiral shaped pasta, cooked, like fusilli or rotini and serve with a sprinkling of vegan parmesan cheese!

How to store-

Store leftover pesto in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Stinging Nettle Pesto