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Home ·  Recipes ·  Pasta

Fusilli with Arugula Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Author: Maryanne CabreraPublished: May 6, 2013Updated: Jul 26, 2023
View Recipe4 Reviews
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Arugula can be used beyond salads. Toss your favorite pasta in homemade arugula pesto for a quick and easy meal!

Fusilli with arugula pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and shaved pecorino

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!

Fusilli with arugula pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and shaved pecorino romano

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

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!

Fusilli with arugula pesto

More Arugula Recipes

  • Autumn persimmon arugula pasta
  • Asian summer salad with marinated steak
  • Ricotta flatbread
  • Salumi mozzarella sandwich
Fusilli with arugula pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and shaved pecorino on blue plate.

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
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Ingredients

Arugula Pesto:

  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • ½ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
  • 4 cups arugula, packed
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese
  • 5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • kosher salt, to taste

Remaining components:

  • 16 oz dry fusilli pasta
  • 1 cup reserved pasta cooking water
  • 6 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
  • handful of sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • shaved 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 smooth
  • Cook 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 Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: arugula pesto, homemade pesto, arugula pasta salad
Did you make this recipe?Show us on Instagram! Tag @littleepicurean and hashtag #littleepicurean.
4 Reviews
Filed in:
PastaCheese · Italian · Savory · Spring + Summer · Vegetables

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Reader Questions and Reviews

  1. 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
    • Maryanne says:
      May 7, 2013

      Thank you, Xander!

  2. 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
    • Maryanne says:
      May 8, 2013

      Your bunny is so cute! Too bad my dog doesn’t like greens.

Maryanne Cabrera

Meet the Author

Maryanne Cabrera is a classically trained pastry chef, baker, cake maker, and cocktail shaker.
Read more about me

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