This creamy olive and arugula pesto pasta is a weeknight dinner that comes together in about 30 minutes. The pesto blitzes up in a food processor with salty olives, peppery arugula, walnuts, nutritional yeast, garlic, and lemon — bold, briny, and unlike any pesto you have had before. As one reader put it: “This is so delicious and satisfying! It felt simple to put together, even making the cashew cream.” Finish with a generous handful of vegan parmesan on top.
Salty olives, peppery arugula, buttery walnuts, cheesy nutritional yeast, garlic, lemon, and a good hit of non-dairy creamer to smooth everything out on top of a cozy pasta pile. My guy is a bit of a red sauce purist when it comes to pasta, but he quite liked this one. Probably something to do with all those salty olives.
I use Castelvetrano olives here specifically. They are buttery and milder than other varieties, which means the pesto has richness without being overwhelmingly briny. Olives are quite rich on their own and that salty umami quality enhances everything else in the mixture beautifully. The arugula goes in raw, just like traditional basil pesto. It keeps the peppery bite intact and honestly it’s just easier!
The non-dairy creamer brings a silky finish that rounds out the bold pesto flavors. Unflavored Nutpods brand creamer is my usual go-to for savory applications like this. I love this with red lentil pasta for an extra boost of satiation, and it holds up well to the bold sauce.
Creamy Olive & Arugula Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 cups baby arugula, packed (plus extra)
- ¾ cup pitted green olives
- ½ cup walnut halves, toasted
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- ⅓ cup + 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- ¾ lb (340 grams) penne pasta, or other shape that you like
- 2 medium zucchini, cut into thin half moons
- ¾ cup non-dairy cream (see notes)
- chili flakes, to serve (optional)
Equipment
- Food Processor
Notes
- I used walnuts for the base of my pesto, but you could also play around with toasted almonds, pumpkin seeds, or the super traditional (albeit expensive) pine nuts.
- My favorite unsweetened non-dairy cream is original Nutpods, but here’s a homemade alternative: ¼ cup raw cashews (soaked in water for at least 2 hours or up to overnight) blended with ¾ cup water until smooth.
- I cooked zucchini to go with this because it’s what I had on hand. Mushrooms or asparagus would also be excellent.
Instructions
- Start bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the “S” blade, combine the arugula, olives, walnuts, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Pulse the mixture until everything is finely chopped. Then, place the lid back on and, with the motor on, drizzle ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into the feed tube. Once you have a slightly creamy paste, stop the motor. Check for seasoning, adjust, and set aside.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions. Drain the pasta and wipe out the pot. Place the pot back on the heat.
- Add the oil to the pot and swirl it around. Add the zucchini to the pot and saute until soft, bright green, and lightly browned on the edges, stirring often. Then, add the olive and arugula pesto to the pot and stir. Add the non-dairy creamer and stir until the sauce is silky, fluid, and heated through.
- Add the pasta to the olive and arugula pesto sauce and stir to thoroughly coat and combine. Stir in an extra couple handfuls of baby arugula if you like.
- Serve the pasta hot with chili flakes.
This is so delicious and satisfying!! It felt simple to put together, even making the cashew cream. I had tomatoes so replaced the zucchini with those. Yum, thank you!
Made this tonight with mushrooms instead of zucchini. I omitted the nutritional yeast and used pasta water instead of creamer and doubled the amount of pesto. Very good needs maybe vinegar or sugar
I really dislike nutritional yeast. I don’t care for the flavor & it not only doesn’t add anything positive to the flavor, but adds an unpleasant taste. There are at least a couple of pretty good vegan Parmesan cheeses available. Wouldn’t they work in this dish? Or a vegan feta?
This recipe/dish looks amazing, btw!
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne,
Yes, you could substitute a pre-made vegan parmesan for nutritional yeast if you like. It’s a forgiving recipe. I would start with a handful and add more if you find it necessary.
-L
I know I’m replying to a 6 year old comment, but I just made this, happened to read the comments and here I am. I also dislike nutritional yeast but have found that it’s the fortified kind I don’t like. Unfortified nutritional yeast doesn’t have the unpleasant mineraly, fake flavor that the Bragg’s has. BTW this is a fabulous recipe that’s going in my regular rotation!
This is a really helpful comment and something I’m going to now look into. Thank you Ellis!
-L
Is there anything I could include in place of the garlic? I love garlic but it tends to upset my stomach.
Hi Amy,
Can you eat shallots? I would chop up a small shallot, sauté it in oil until it’s lightly browned and soft, and then add that to the bowl with the food processor to replace the garlic. I’d probably give it a little extra squeeze of lemon too.
-L
Thank you, Laura! Usually shallots are fine — I’ll try this out. I appreciate the response!
Just.absolutely.perfect.
Just made this and it was so delicious, thanks for the recipe! xo
This was AMAZING!
This was terriffic! I followed it as written except I added some dice red cherry tomatoes to serve. Excellent! Thanks for your fantastic recipes. Also love your beautiful photography. Just gorgeous.
Love your recipe, can I use black olives, I am not to into green olives. will try it anyway.
Darn just finished all my arugula for lunch, will need to get more asap to make this. I made another pesto some time back with green olives for the first time and loved it, so no doubt this one will also be a winner. I do enjoy the Barilla red lentil pasta for anyone in need of a good gluten free option, it holds together quite well and although it does taste a bit beany, the flavor is easily masked by any good sauce.
Very much longing for the green world under all this white stuff and this recipe brings the color to the table along with a punch of flavor from those olives. What a perfect pesto!
The “print the recipe here” doesn’t seem to be activated for this recipe (the arugula pesto).