Arugula Pesto Potato Salad

Arugula Pesto Potato Salad is the perfect, fresh, summer side dish!  You’ll love this salad packed with tons of peppery arugula, garlic, and parmesan flavor!

Pesto Potato Salad:

This recipe came about because I really wanted another easy summer side to share, I LOVE pesto, and I had an abundance of arugula that needed used!  I’m also always happy with our classic creamy Potato Salad, but I wanted something different and fresh.  Our potato salad today, well, it’s so simple it’s almost not even a recipe!  It’s just a matter of boiling up some baby potatoes, and blending up a quick pesto!  You probably have most of the ingredients already on hand.  It’s basic with arugula, garlic, lemon, pine nuts, and parmesan.  I give some tips below if you want to change things up as well based upon what you have on hand. I like to serve this salad with Baked Salmon, along side a good burger, or with Grilled Chicken Thighs.

Pesto Potato Salad Recipe Notes:

• If you prefer a classic pesto, you can simply use our Easy Basil Pesto Recipe!  It’s just as good!
• You can use fingerling, baby gold, or small red potatoes in this recipe.  If you only have large potatoes, you will only need a couple of them for about 1.5 pounds total.  Or, you can double the recipe for a crowd.
• This potato salad is good served cold or warm!  You can mix it up and serve right away.  I personally prefer it cold, and the flavors come together more once it chills for a few hours.
• If you don’t have arugula on hand, don’t worry.  This is great using spinach, basil, or even kale.
• You can also change up the nuts!  You can use cashews, walnuts, sun flower seeds, or even almonds.

Enjoy!

~Nichole

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5 from 8 votes

Arugula Pesto Potato Salad

By Nichole

Arugula Pesto Potato Salad is the perfect, fresh, summer side dish!  You'll love this salad packed with tons of peppery arugula, garlic, and parmesan flavor!

 

Prep 10 minutes mins

Cook 10 minutes mins

Servings 6

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1.5 Pounds Baby Potatoes
• ▢ 2 Cups Packed Arugula
• ▢ 1/3 Cup Pine Nuts
• ▢ 3 Cloves Garlic
• ▢ 1/3 Cup Parmesan
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• ▢ Pinch Red Pepper Flakes
• ▢ Pinch Salt & Pepper
• ▢ 1/2 Cup Olive Oil

Instructions 

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
• Add the potatoes to the water and boil for about 10 minutes until fork tender. Drain the water and place the potatoes in a large bowl in the fridge until cool enough to handle.
• Meanwhile, add the arugula, nuts, garlic, parmesan, lemon juice, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to the bowl of your food process or high powered blender.
• Pulse 4-5 times until the mixture is coarse. Turn the food processor on low, stream in the olive oil until the pesto is smooth.
• Once the potatoes have cooled, cut them into halves or fourths as desired.
• Pour the pesto over the potatoes and stir to coat. Serve immediately for a warm potato salad, or chill until ready to serve.
• Potato salad is good in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Notes

NOTE ON ARUGULA:  You can use basil, spinach, or kale in place of the arugula if desired.

NOTE ON NUTS:  You can sub walnuts, sunflower seeds, cashews or almonds for the pine nuts.

NOTE ON SERVING:  If serving cold, I like to take the salad out of the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes, then stir well before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5Cup, Calories: 280kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

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