Leftover Celery Leaf Pesto

Celery Leaf Pesto, a super simple pesto sauce recipe that uses celery leaves instead of basil! This quick and delicious recipe is a great way to reduce food waste and uses just a handful of ingredients.

Want to make pesto, but don’t have basil on hand? Why not make pesto with celery leaves instead? You can make pesto with just about any type of herbs and greens. One of our favorite alternative pesto recipes uses celery tops.

👉 Here are FOUR reasons why you should make pesto with celery leaves:

• It’s delicious! Pesto tastes so good no matter how you make it. The celery leaves in this recipe add a note of freshness that complements well with the rest of the ingredients.
• It’s eco-friendly. Celery leaves are often thrown out because people don’t realize they’re edible. This recipe re-purposes them to save them from the compost or trash can!
• It’s easy to make. This recipe comes together in 5 minutes with just a few quick steps. Simply blend the greens with nuts or seeds, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, and pepper.
• It’s flexible. Add celery leaf pesto sauce to pizza, vegetables, soups, or pasta…the possibilities are endless for what you can do with this delicious sauce.

Ready to learn how to make pesto from celery leaves? Let’s do it!

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🌱 Ingredients you’ll need

• Celery Leaves: Leafy greens and herbs are the primary ingredients in pesto, and we used celery leaves for this recipe. Not only do they add freshness to pesto, they also provide important vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, vitamin K, potassium, and folate.
• Nuts or seeds: Pine nuts are used in traditional pesto, but you can make it with other varieties of nuts, like cashews or walnuts. You can even make it nut-free with pumpkin seeds or hemp seeds!
• Nutritional Yeast: A vegan cheese-alternative with a savory flavor. We used this as a substitute for parmesan cheese in this recipe.
• Olive oil: Adds flavor to pesto and helps maintain its texture so that it doesn’t become too thick.
• Garlic, salt, and pepper. These are common pesto seasonings that you can adjust to your liking.
• Optional Ingredients: Balance out the pesto with acid and brighten the flavor with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
• Recommended tools: A food processor or blender, knife set, cutting board, and salad spinner are the main tools you will need to make celery leaf pesto.

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🥣 How to make (step-by-step photos)

1️⃣ Step One: Wash + prep celery leaves

Start with washing the celery leaves by submerging in a bowl of water. Remove any dirt from the leaves, then take out of the bowl and lay flat on a plate or kitchen towel to dry. You can also use a salad spinner to dry the leaves.

Before making the pesto, remove any remaining hard stems from the greens.

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2️⃣ Step Two: Blend the greens, nuts or seeds, garlic, and oil

Toss the celery leaves in a food processor. Add nuts or seeds and garlic cloves, and pulse until finely chopped.

As the ingredients are being blended, slowly drizzle in olive oil and continue to pulse until the chopped ingredients are well coated in oil but not completely smooth (you will want the pesto to be a little chunky)

Slowly drizzle in olive oil while pulsing the ingredients. Pulse until the chopped ingredients are well coated in oil, but still chunky.

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3️⃣ Step Three: Mix in nutritional yeast, spices, and lemon juice

Finish off the pesto by slowly adding nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Give it a taste and add more seasoning until the pesto is flavored to your liking!

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❓ Recipe questions + quick tips

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🥪 How to serve

There are so many fun ways to enjoy pesto! Its versatility and deliciousness make it a great addition to just about any dish. Here are some ideas for how to serve celery leaf pesto:

• Use as a sauce or spread. Pasta, pizza, bowls, sandwiches – you can’t go wrong with using pesto as a sauce for just about any dish.
• Use as veggie dip. Pesto and veggies make the perfect pair! You can mix pesto into hummus or use it on its own as a dip. Try it with any vegetable of your choice, like raw carrots, broccoli, or cauliflower!
• Add to salad dressings. Pesto can easily be mixed into salad dressing. Simply combine it with more olive oil and lemon juice, then pour it over your favorite salad.
• Use it as a topping for soup. Add flavor to your soup by using pesto as a garnish. We suggest trying it with our Roasted Tomato Leek Soup.

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🧊 How to store

One of the best things about pesto is that you can make a small amount to use all at once, or make a big batch to store and use to make quick meals. Here are some storage tips for celery leaf pesto:

1. Refrigerator storage: Keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
2. Freezer storage: Store in a sealed freezer-safe container for up to 6 months.

Pro tip: To prevent browning, it is a good idea to drizzle a thin layer of olive oil on the surface of pesto before putting it in the refrigerator or freezer. You can add pesto to ice cube trays, freeze, and transfer to a freezer-safe storage bag. Having small amounts on hand are perfect for when you need a quick flavor enhancer!

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♻️ Sustainable kitchen tips

Making celery leaf pesto is a great way to reduce food waste. Here are some ways to make it even better for the planet:

Make it during celery season! Add celery to your grocery list while it’s in season. The growing season for celery is year-round in California but find out where celery is in season near you here.

Use other leftover greens and herbs. If you have them on hand, you can use other greens or herbs in celery leaf pesto. Carrot greens, radish greens, kale, arugula, and spinach are all great options!

Make celery leaf pesto in bulk. Stock up on celery while it’s seasonal, and then make big batches of pesto sauce. That way, you’ll have homemade pesto on hand for months to come and don’t need to worry about buying it at the store.

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💚 More pesto recipes

Can’t get enough pesto? Look no further! Here are more vegan pesto recipes:

• Radish Greens Pesto
• Spinach Pesto
• Arugula Pesto
• Kale Pesto
• Broccoli Stem Pesto
• Carrot Greens Pesto
• Beet Greens Pesto
• Cilantro Pesto

Looking for more ways to use celery? Try our Crunchy Celery Apple Salad or Beet Greens Vegetable Soup.