If you’ve not tried Garlic Scape Pesto, put this on your list! Find garlic scapes at your local farmer’s market, farm stand, or Co-Op during mid Spring to early Summer. Their season is short so grab them while you can! Make with pine nuts, walnuts or almonds, this tasty scape recipe takes only 15 minutes to whip up in a food processor. *For a dairy free Garlic Scape Pesto, try my Vegan Garlic Scape Pesto.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Recipe Review: “Perfect use for my garlic scapes!! I could literally eat this with a spoon! (And I did, when my bread ran out 😆). Thank you!!” ~ Julie
Garlic Scape Pesto for Your Garlic Scapes
I had never tried garlic scape pesto until these beautiful curly scapes showed up in a CSA share. I’d had garlic scapes before, roasted, on pizza, in hummus and other delicious dishes, yet I had just not made pesto with them. It was time to try something new… it blew my socks off!
It’s so quick to whirl this garlic scape recipe up, enjoy it, and/or pop it in your freezer for a delicious summertime treat in the middle of winter.
This Recipe Is
- a condiment that’s loud and bold in flavor
- quick to whip up in a food processor
- versatile and delicious
If you make homemade condiments and love the bold flavor of garlic, you’ll enjoy this fun and delicious scape pesto.
What is a Garlic Scape?
A garlic scape is the flower stalk of a hardneck garlic plant. It tastes like garlic, only spicier and bolder. The stem (or scape) of the growing garlic is removed so that the remaining energy goes towards the development of the bulb, or head of garlic, which is good because this helps the plant develop plump, full flavored garlic cloves. So until the garlic harvest later in the season, we feast on scapes!
________________________
How to Make Garlic Scape Pesto
The flavor of this pesto? It’s spicy, creamy and gives any special dish that WOW factor! Garlic scape pesto is a loud condiment, so a little goes a long way.
Freezer tip: I typically put pesto in a Mason jar and freeze it, but pesto can also be spooned into ice-cube trays to freeze, then used later when smaller portions are needed. Also, garlic scapes can be blanched and frozen if preserving them whole or diced is preferred.
Traci’s Tips
- How to Choose Garlic Scapes: Look for garlic scapes at farmer’s markets or local Co-Ops. I tend to prefer smaller scapes as they’re tender and milder in flavor.
- They should be bright green with a firm, yet flexible bottom stem.
- Younger scapes are generally more tender and have a milder flavor, while older scapes can become tougher with a stronger, more pungent and bitter taste.
- Sub those Pine Nuts: Unless purchased in bulk, the cost of pine nuts can be quite high. Feel free to substitute lightly toasted walnuts or almonds – they’re delicious in this pesto!
Ways to Enjoy Garlic Scape Pesto
- Grilled Veggie Sandwich with Pesto Mayo
- Sourdough Pizza
- Gluten Free Sourdough Pizza
- Flatbread Veggie Pizza
- Creamy Farro with Pesto, Asparagus and Peas
- Fresh Marinara Walnut Sauce
- Gluten Free Pizza Crust
- Pesto Spinach Whipped Ricotta Dip
- Broccoli Fritatta
- Spinach Mushroom Pesto Ricotta Lasagna
15-Minute Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 (154 grams) Garlic Scapes size of scapes vary, use weight for accurate measurement
- 1/3 cup (44 grams) Pine Nuts *see notes for substitutes
- 1/3 cup (38 grams) Parmesan Asiago or Parmesan dice or shredded **see note
- 1/2 Lemon juiced
- 1/8 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
- A few grinds of Pepper
- 1/3 cup (70 grams) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions
- Trim the garlic scapes by cutting just below the bulb and also if the end of the stem seems woody, trim that too (like asparagus). Discard the bulb and end of stem, then set the remaining scape aside (the curly part).
- In a food processor, add the scapes, twirling them around the center so that they all fit. Add the pine nuts, cheese, juice of the lemon and salt and pepper. Process by pulsing until the mixture begins to break down. Scrape the bowl down.
- With the processor running, slowly add all the olive oil. Continue to process until all the ingredients are incorporated and broken down, about one minute.
- Store in a covered container or lidded jar in the fridge and enjoy within a week. Also, you can freeze the pesto in a jar or in an ice-cube tray. Once frozen, in the ice-cube tray, remove and place in a zip top bag in the freezer.
Made it but taste was so powerful we could not eat it. Maybe suitable for cooking but certainly not on a cracker. Sorry.
Hi Michael! This pesto’s flavor is loud and is described as a condiment. There’s more about this and how to use it in the blog post.
My family loves this garlic scape pesto! We ate some on bread (delicious!) but really enjoyed it on Bucatini (thick spaghetti, like a straw). I made it dairy free with Follow Your Heart vegan (grated style) parmesan. This will be a favorite summer recipe for years to come!
Oh my, on Bucatini and bread (so yum!)! Thank you for your note, Lisa and giving the pesto a go!
Oops!!! I read the amount of garlic scapes wrong!!! In my mind it was 540g !!! I had to add extra of everything. Boy do I have a LOT of pesto!!!
Oh my! You do have a lot of pesto – yayy!! Thank you for your note and five star recipe rating, Kimberly!
Can I leave out the parmigiana?
Hi Maggie! Yes you can. Since Parm is salty, taste for salt adjustment, and also hold out a few tablespoons of olive oil, then add to loosen if needed.
Thanks. I forgot to add it – real parm as I’m not vegetarian and I used New York Times recipe which is identical to yours except for the vegetarian element.
This pesto is addictive…I kept dipping crackers in the food processor to taste test…just had to be sure it was good. Ha! I have garlic growing in my garden, but I was short on the grams called for so I added some basil and spinach. I also used pistachios since I those on had and they needed to be used up. I can’t want to put it on some pasta or pizza!
Hi Erica… love how you added some basil, spinach and pistachios – so yum! Oh goodness, yes to pizza! I’ve got some hanging out in the freezer for this Friday’s pizza :D
I ended up putting some of it in two loaves of sourdough bread. It’s pretty and scrumptious!
Oh my goodness! Delicious, Erica!
Love it in my scrambled eggs! Thanks for sharing and helping me use all parts of the garlic!
Love hearing this John! Eggs + garlic scape pesto sounds SO gooood!
Made this today with my fresh picked scapes love the garlic flavour I added some fresh basil and spinach to the pesto very tasty will be using this for pizza sauce as I’m allergic to tomatoes thanks for this wonderful recipe
Hi Joanne! Basil and spinach is a perfect pairing with scapes. Thank you for your note and pizza sauce tip – yum!!
Thank you for the recipe. I harvested my scapes this morning and ended up making a big batch of pesto. I had to triple all other ingredients to tone down my very strongly flavored scapes. We have enough to enjoy this pesto for quite a while.
Hi Melissa! Thank you for your note and sharing how you adjusted the recipe to taste! So glad you’re enjoying it, and are stocked up.
Absolutely delicious! I even like it not blended (left finely chopped instead of pureed) on chicken. I must grow more garlic next year, as I need more of this pesto!
My thoughts exactly Lexya! Grow more garlic for more scapes next year (I’m in the same boat!). Thank you for your note and giving the pesto a go!
Turned out amazing the second time around. The second time I chopped all the scapes into bite size bits and sauteed for a few minutes in olive oil. The first time I put them in raw and felt like I was eating raw garlic even after doubling up on the other ingredients to try to cover up the strong scape flavor. Definitely recommend to saute slightly to take that bite away from the scapes!
Fantastic! I used pecans.
Hi Dale! Thank you for your note. I’ve not used pecans in GS Pesto before… oh my that sounds delicious!
Yummy,
YAY! Thank you for your note and five starts, Camille!
I just made this and tasted the pesto to check for salt level. It is AMAZING. I used toasted almonds and both parmaen and asiago cheese.
AMAZING flavour and texture.
Hi Rowena! Yay! SO glad you’re enjoying the pesto. Thank you for coming back and sharing your tips with toasted almonds and parm and asiago!
I mix this pesto with feta cheese and add all of it into chopped up sausage and stuff it in large portobello mushrooms. You can also put this pesto in the middle of the hamburger when you make patties. We also make homemade pasta or naan and we put pesto on that. Every year I look forward to this and it’s so good! Some pestos I add garlic scapes and basil or garlic scapes and lemon balm. Delicious!
Thank you for all your tips, Cobi-ann, and five star rating!
Exactly right!
Thank youuuu Bec!
This is good but OMG is it hot! I doubled it, using scapes from a local farm. Tomorrow I’ll add another green ingredient to tone it down.
Hi Sarah! So glad you’re enjoying those spicy scapes and you’re able to tone it down with another green!
Super easy and delicious! Cut mine from the garden this morning and had this delicious pesto for dinner with chicken and penne pasta. The hardest part is cleaning the food processor after 😁
Thank youuu for your note and givng the pesto a go! Your pasta sounds divine!