Rocket Pesto

Swap basil for rocket and pesto picks up a peppery bite that stands up to pasta, roast vegetables and grilled meat. It comes together in a food processor in five minutes flat.

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Ingredients

• 50g pine nuts
• 100g rocket (arugula)
• 50g Parmesan cheese, grated
• 150ml olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Fresh rocket a step from the chopping board — the Smart Grow Box grows leafy greens and herbs on your kitchen bench, with the built-in water tank and full-spectrum LED doing the daily work. You supply the seeds.

Grow your own rocket →

Personally tested at home on the Sunshine Coast before listing.

Ingredient notes & easy swaps

Rocket: 100 g is about four packed handfuls. Where basil pesto is sweet and round, rocket pesto bites back — that pepper is the point. Younger leaves keep it politer; mature leaves turn the volume up.

Pine nuts: 50 g, toasted and cooled. Walnuts or cashews swap in without complaint.

Parmesan: off the block — its salt and fat are what tame the rocket's edge.

Olive oil: 150 ml carries everything; use one whose flavour you like raw.

Garlic: one clove only — rocket brings its own attitude and doesn't need much help.

Method

1. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until lightly golden. Let them cool.
2. Blend the ingredients: In a food processor, combine rocket, toasted pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper. Pulse until finely chopped.
3. Add olive oil: While blending, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture becomes a smooth paste.
4. Adjust seasoning: Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
5. Store & serve: Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Tips for success

• Dry the leaves well after washing; water makes a thin, dull pesto.
• Pulse rather than blend continuously — heat bruises the leaves and darkens the sauce.
• Cool the toasted nuts before blending, or they warm the pesto from the inside.
• If the pepper lands too sharp, more Parmesan and a squeeze of lemon bring it back to balance.

Storage and make-ahead

Airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days — the recipe's own guidance — with a thin film of olive oil pressed over the surface to hold the colour.

It freezes as well as its basil cousin: ice-cube portions, bagged once solid, used within about 3 months. One cube, one serve of pasta.

Variations

• The classic — the sweeter, rounder basil pesto.
• Half-and-half — 50/50 rocket and basil is the diplomatic pesto: peppery start, sweet finish.
• Beyond pasta — under roast vegetables, over eggs, or spread in a toastie against melted cheese.
• Thinned as a dressing — slacken it with lemon and oil for leaves, keeping it loose on anything soft like a butterhead lettuce salad.

Rocket pesto FAQ

Why is my rocket pesto bitter?

Rocket's pepper reads as bitterness when the balance is off. More Parmesan, a little extra oil or a squeeze of lemon rounds it out — or cut the rocket with basil next time.

How long does rocket pesto keep?

Up to 5 days refrigerated in an airtight jar with an oil film on top, and about 3 months frozen in cubes.

Is rocket pesto stronger than basil pesto?

Sharper rather than stronger — peppery and mustardy where basil is sweet and anise-edged. It stands up better to bold company: sausages, roast capsicum, sharp cheeses.

What pasta suits it?

Shapes with grip — fusilli, orecchiette, casarecce — loosened with a spoonful of the pasta's cooking water.

Grow the rocket yourself

Rocket regrows fast after cutting, so a single indoor sowing covers several batches of pesto. See the rocket (arugula) growing guide, or get a crop started in the Smart Grow Box. Rocket regrows within weeks of cutting, which is how a pesto habit stays affordable.

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