Does anyone remember my very famous street corn pasta salad? Well that’s exactly where this incredible cilantro pesto is adapted from (the original version uses cashews). It’s vibrant, herby, fresh, flavorful and unbelievable on just about anything you can dream up. In fact, I even put it on my date night shrimp pasta and it was UNREAL and tasted like something straight out of a restaurant.
The best part about this cilantro pesto? You can easily sub cashews, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds or even sunflower seeds for the pistachios.
Pistachio pesto ingredients
You’re going to love how easy and flavorful this cilantro pistachio pesto recipe is with just a handful of simple ingredients. It’s actually made without basil or pine nuts! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Fresh cilantro: many traditional pesto recipes use basil in their ingredients but we’re mixing it up with fresh cilantro aka my life blood.
- Roasted pistachios: pistachios add a wonderful nutty flavor in place of traditional pine nuts.
- Jalapeño: add a kick of heat with jalapeño, or feel free to omit if you’re sensitive to spice.
- Garlic: garlic is a must for pesto recipes.
- Lime juice: a squeeze of fresh lime juice adds a lovely brightness to the pistachio pesto.
- Oil: you’ll just need a couple tablespoons of olive oil or avocado oil to be able to blend up the pesto nicely.
- Salt & pepper: to bring out all of the flavors.
- Water: to thin the pistachio pesto a bit.
This healthy pistachio pesto recipe also happens to be vegan and dairy free because there is no cheese involved like in traditional pesto recipes!
How to make cilantro pistachio pesto
- Add all of your ingredients to the bowl of a food processor: cilantro, pistachios, jalapeño, garlic cloves, lime juice, olive oil, water and salt and pepper.
- Process until smooth, scraping down the sides and processing again, if necessary. Done!
How to store this cilantro pistachio pesto
- In the refrigerator: keep this healthy pesto recipe in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. If you’re finding that it’s thickening up a lot, feel free to drizzle in some more olive oil or a bit of water.
- In the freezer: yes, you can actually freeze a batch of this pistachio pesto for later! One trick is to add it to an ice tray to create little pesto cubes that can be used later. You can also simply add it to a freezer-safe container or bag and pop it in the freezer for up to one month.
Ways to use cilantro pistachio pesto
This incredibly fresh and easy pistachio pesto recipe is wonderful on your favorite proteins, pasta and even salads. Here are some of my favorite recipes to use it with:
- Date Night In Cilantro Pistachio Pesto Shrimp Pasta
- Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cilantro Pesto + Goat Cheese
- Brown Butter Pistachio Pesto Pasta with Chickpeas
- Roasted Veggie, Chickpea & Pesto Quinoa Salad
- Avocado Basil Pesto Zucchini Noodles
- Pesto Turkey Burger Sliders on Sweet Potato Buns
- The Best Garlic Bread You’ll Ever Eat
I hope you love this easy cilantro pistachio pesto recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. I really appreciate it – xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Cilantro Pistachio Pesto
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup packed fresh cilantro
- 1/2 cup shelled roasted pistachios
- 1 jalapeno, seeds removed
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 lime, juiced
- 3 tablespoons avocado or olive oil
- 2-3 tablespoons water, to thin pesto
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add all of your ingredients to the bowl of a food processor: cilantro, pistachios, jalapeño, garlic cloves, lime juice, olive oil, water and salt and pepper. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides and processing again, if necessary. Serves 4.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
Along with your curry hummus, I am thinking of making this pesto to serve on pita bread, Will it be too runny?
This is thinner than hummus, as I use it more as a sauce! Try this Cilantro Pistachio Pesto Hummus 🙂
This pesto is soooo good! I don’t like cilantro in anything usually but decided to follow the recipe exactly anyway. I pushed through, even though just the smell of the cilantro was already off-putting. I’m so glad I did! This is amazing on chicken or even by itself. Thanks for the recipe, Monique!
I’m glad you gave this a try anyway! It’s still my all-time fav!
Delicious! I will put it in my hummus today and plan to try the rest on shrimp tacos.
That sounds amazing!!
Hi,
I’ve made this exact recipe a few times before and loved it; going to make it again for spaghetti squash with shrimp. Can I use pine nuts for this recipe? Trying to find a way to use the Costco bag 😀
Thanks,
Jo
Amazing! I haven’t tried this with pine nuts, but I think it should work okay (or you could do half pistachios and half pine nuts). Let me know if you give it a try!
This is AHHHHMAZING!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Absolutely!!
I have lots of cilantro to use, and this looks amazing. Do you think lemon juice would taste okay with this in place of the lime? Thanks!
Sure, lemon will work! Excited for you to try it 🙂
This one is a hit with my family! My husband is not a fan of traditional pesto, so this recipe is perfect!!!
Wonderful recipe that delivers amazing taste; especially with chicken!
I’m so happy you tried and loved it! Great idea to use this on chicken 🙂
How about pecans? There used to be great restaurant in historic downtown Bryan, TX which served a tender juicy grilled chicken breast topped with cilantro-pecan pesto. Fabulous!
That sounds amazing, definitely go for it!!
Really good! Subbed cilantro for basil because I don’t like cilantro, but came out awesome. Baked some salmon covered in it!
That’s a great idea to use basil, and I bet it tasted AMAZING on salmon! Glad you enjoyed it!
I added some extra water to thin this pesto out and used it as salad dressing. It was soooo good and I need to make it again ASAP!!
That’s such a great idea! So glad you loved it!
Super yummy and easy to make. Left the jalepeno out for my 7.5month old and then added it for mom and dad. Served on an egg parpadelle. We will be making this again!
Perfect! Sounds delicious 🙂
A super quick and absolutely delicious pesto that adds so much flavor to pasta! Definitely making this one over and over again!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
This was great, we have been eating vegan for a month so this recipe was a good addition.
So happy to hear that!
I love basil pesto, but it’s great to have an alternative every now and then. I made this to use with the zucchini chicken boats and it is delicious! I now keep a batch of it in the freezer for those nights when you stare at the fridge and don’t know what to make. Next I want to try it on the shrimp pasta!
Absolutely! That sounds amazing.
This is one of my go to recipes. I make it every couple of weeks. It’s great with fajitas but I’d also eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon. My only modification- no salt needed if pistachios are salted. Thanks for an easy, tasty, healthy recipe.
Amazing! Great tip on the pistachios, too 🙂
This is my favorite pesto ever. I make it very frequently so it’s always on hand in my fridge. If I’m doing recipes from other websites that require pesto, I’m always using this recipe no matter what. My boyfriend drools at the thought of this pesto! SO GOOD. I haven’t tried it with other nuts besides pistachios, but I bought cashews recently and will be giving it a try! I always double the recipe so I can use it on sandwiches and whatever is left over I can use in a pasta dish, etc. Definitely give this a try.
Great recipe! The only problem is, I wanted to eat all the pasta because the pesto was so tasty. The only thing I might do differently next time would be leaving the seeds in the jalapeño.
So glad you liked it! And feel free to leave them in if you like more spice 🙂
That pesto is DELICIOUS!!! Better than sex!!!! Easy to make and sooooo good with shrimp!
Haha so happy you loved it!!
I made this pesto today for my family (brother, SIL and myself are all dairy-free) and wow, what a hit! I did substitute parsley for cilantro and left out the jalapeno, but everything else was exactly the same. We mixed it with chickpea pasta and toasted pine nuts. SO delicious and creamy – will definitely be making this again! Thanks for another delicious recipe 🙂
Sounds amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
Girl, this looks AMAZING! Adding it to my list!
It’s UNREAL! Hope you get a chance to try it 🙂