Home · Recipes · Pasta Fusilli with Arugula Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomatoes Author: Maryanne CabreraPublished: May 6, 2013Updated: Jul 26, 2023 View Recipe4 ReviewsThis post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy. Arugula can be used beyond salads. Toss your favorite pasta in homemade arugula pesto for a quick and easy meal! Arugula Pesto Do you have a habit of buying bagged salad mixes and forgetting about them? Same here. There was a giant unopened bag of arugula staring at me all week. Time was ticking and I had to find a way to use up all the arugula. Let’s pulverize arugula into an unexpected, yet utterly delicious pesto! This starts off like the traditional basil pesto. You need: pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Instead of basil, swap in fresh arugula leaves! Recommended Pasta Shapes This dish works best fusilli pasta. The little twists and crevices of fusilli catches and holds on to the delicious arugula pesto sauce. Another reason, I prefer to use fusilli for mac and cheese instead of the usual smooth elbow pasta. Other recommended shapes: gemelli, cavatappi, penne, and farfalle. More Easy Pasta Recipes Penne with kale and chicken sausage Zebra Pasta in Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce Spicy Garlic Shrimp Spaghetti Many Ways to Use Pesto While the assertive and acidic pesto would have worked wonderfully with grilled shrimp or fresh burrata and tomatoes, I went the simple route with pasta. This arugula pesto is quite versatile. Here are some ideas: Blend the pesto with mayo to make a sandwich spread Use it as a base for pizza Use it as a filling for bread rolls It makes a delicious sauce for steak and pork chops Now that I’ve found this pesto, there’s no way arugula will ever be left sitting my fridge! More Arugula Recipes Autumn persimmon arugula pasta Asian summer salad with marinated steak Ricotta flatbread Salumi mozzarella sandwich Fusilli with Arugula Pesto and Sun Dried Tomatoes Arugula has uses beyond salad! Homemade arugula pesto is a versatile sauce that can be used for a variety of dishes! Toss it with pasta for a quick and easy meal. Servings: 6 Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe IngredientsArugula Pesto:3 garlic cloves, peeled½ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted4 cups arugula, packed½ cup parmesan cheese5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oiljuice from 1 lemonfreshly ground black pepper, to tastekosher salt, to tasteRemaining components:16 oz dry fusilli pasta1 cup reserved pasta cooking water6 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheesehandful of sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely choppedshaved pecorino romano cheese, to garnish Instructions Fill a large pot with water. Salt to taste. Bring to a boil. In a food processor, mince garlic. Add toasted pine nuts and 1 cup of arugula. Pulse machine until arugula has broken down. Continue to add arugula in batches until finely minced. Add grated parmesan cheese. With the food processor running, add the olive oil in a steady, slow stream. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure even mixture. Add lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to process until mixture is smoothCook fusilli in the boiling salted water according to package directions. Before draining pasta, reserve 1 cup of pasta water.In a large saute pan, toss the cooked pasta with arugula pesto. Add grated parmesan cheese. Add enough of the reserved pasta water to thin out pesto into a nice cream sauce. Toss until combined. Season with black pepper, to taste. Divide pasta into servings. Top with chopped sun-dried tomatoes and shaved pecorino romano cheese. Notes Walnuts may be used in place of pine nuts. Author: Maryanne Cabrera Course: Main CourseCuisine: AmericanKeyword: arugula pesto, homemade pesto, arugula pasta salad Did you make this recipe?Show us on Instagram! Tag @littleepicurean and hashtag #littleepicurean.
Xander says: May 6, 2013 Thank you for making my lunch today a little less satisfying; Now all I can think about is pesto! Looking forward to making this at home. Great pics Little Epicurean! Reply
Genie says: May 8, 2013 I buy salad mixes too but I fill my salads with tasty stuff so that the leaves are less than 50% of the salad. We have a bunny who will gladly eat up our unwanted greens so there’s no chance that salad goes to waste in this house. I like the idea of arugula pesto though. What a tasty way to eat greens. Reply