Dandelion greens really are tasty. I was so surprised about how good this pesto was. It is important to pick the young leaves, of course with no pesticides or fertilizers. We enjoyed the pesto as a spread on baguette slices with white wine while we watched a movie. It was truly delicious. The slices also looked pretty garnished with daisies or other edible wildflowers.

Vegan Dandelion Pesto

Yield: 1½ cups

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups fresh dandelion leaves (young leaves are preferable)
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 cup walnuts (or other nuts)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon dry mustard powder
  • dash freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼-⅓ cup nutritional yeast

Watch Making Vegan Dandelion Pesto on Vimeo.

Directions:

  1. It is best to choose the young leaves of dandelions growing in spring as they are less bitter. Wash well and spin dry.
  2. Place the dandelion leaves in a food processor.
  3. Add the lemon juice and olive oil
  4. Process the leaves into a fine paste.
  5. Add the salt and mustard powder and process.
  6. Add the garlic and walnuts and process.
  7.  Add the nutritional yeast and process again to a smooth consistency.

Notes:

We did find that the “bitterness” of the leaves was less after ½ an hour, so you may want to make the pesto a bit ahead of time.