How To Make Wild garlic Pesto

Wild garlic pesto, also known as ramson pesto, is a delicious and versatile recipe that’s perfect for making when wild garlic is in season.

Made with fresh wild garlic leaves, extra virgin olive oil, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and a mix of toasted pine nuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, this pesto is easy and quick to make, with just the right consistency – not completely pureed, and loaded with flavor.

Use it as a pasta sauce, spread it on sandwiches, or even use it as a dip for vegetables.

As someone who loves this pesto, I always make several batches when wild garlic is in season and share it with family and friends who appreciate good food.

While the recipe calls for pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds, feel free to experiment with other nuts and seeds like walnuts, cashews, or almonds. And if you can’t find wild garlic, you can always substitute it with fresh basil or baby spinach leaves.

Ingredients for ramson pesto

• 400 g (14 oz) wild garlic leaves
• 50 g (2.7 oz) pine nuts
• 75 g (4 oz) sunflower seeds
• 75 g (4 oz) pumpkin seeds
• 150 g (12 oz) Parmesan cheese, grated
• 500 ml (2 ¼ cups) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to cover pesto
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

You’ll also need

• blender or food processor
• large bowl
• baking sheet
• knife & cutting board
• paper towels

How to make ramson pesto

How to wash wild garlic

Begin by washing wild garlic. To clean wild garlic, simply place wild garlic in a sink and rinse the wild garlic leaves thoroughly under cold running water to remove the dirt.

Shake the leaves to remove excess water. Then place wild garlic in a large colander to drain.

Switch on the oven, with convection bake function on and preheat to 60 °C (140 °F). Then pat dry wild garlic leaves with paper towels.

Place them on a baking sheet and dry in the oven for 5 about minutes. Turn wild garlic leaves halfway. Repeat the process. I have divided wild garlic into three parts and did this three times.

• This step is very important, because you want to use dry wild garlic leaves to the pesto, otherwise this will make the pesto watery and this may cause it to go bad fast due to high water content in it. Putting wild garlic in the oven is also important, because it protects the color and gets rid of the bitternes.

How to toast seeds and nuts on stove-top

In the meantime, toast the seeds and nuts on stove-top. Simply place the pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and pine nuts in a pan without oil and toast them over medium heat, until lightly brown.

Be careful not to burn the seeds. Transfer the toasted seeds and nuts to a plate and let cool.

• Toasting the nuts gives the pesto an extra fine nutty flavor. 

Make wild garlic pesto with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and pine nuts

Finely chop dried wild garlic leaves and set aside. Cutting wild garlic into small pieces is very important. In this way wild garlic unfold itself.

Put the toasted seeds & nuts in a large bowl with a bit of oil. Using a hand blender, blend the nuts until smooth, while adding olive oil slowly.

Remove the hand blender and add finely chopped wild garlic leaves. Put the hand blender back and then switch it on. Slowly move it up and down for a couple of times.

Once you have reached your preferable pesto texture, fold in Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper. Wild garlic pesto tastes so much better once it has rested for some hours or overnight.

What to do with wild garlic pesto other than pasta

• Serve wild garlic with grilled, pan-fried or baked chicken, meat or fish
• use wild garlic pesto instead of pizza sauce to make pizza.
• mix wild garlic pesto with cream cheese and spread on a slice of bread
• use it to refine stews.
• make wild garlic stuffed chicken
• you can also mix it with butter to make herb butter.

How to store wild garlic pesto in the fridge

Fill the remaining pesto into jars. Make sure there are no air bubbles in your wild garlic pesto and seal it with olive oil before closing the lid.

So that the pesto won’t come in contact with air. Cover tightly and chill he fridge for up to 4 weeks.

How to store pesto longer

For the wild garlic pesto to last longer (1 year), just leave out the cheese and put pesto in a dark container or a transparent glass covered with aluminum foil, so that it won’t come in contact with the sun and light. Add Parmesan cheese when using pesto.

This pesto is freezer friendly too. Just fill pesto in ice cube trays and put it in the freezer.

More recipes with wild garlic

• Feta dip with fresh wild garlic leaves
• wild garlic bread
• Wild Garlic Chicken Wrapped in Bacon With Cheese

Did you make this wild garlic pesto recipe? I’d love to hear from you! Simply write a review and add rating to it.