Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe (2024)

I'd suggest munching on one of the scapes and seeing how strong it is before making the pesto. If you wish, place the scapes, cut into manageable pieces into a colander and pour a couple cups of very hot or boiling water slowly over it. Drain well. That will temper the spice and mellow the final product a bit. Learned this from a farmer who was growing marvelous garlic and who was making and selling all kinds of bulbs, as well as products made with garlic and scapes.

I get the scapes at the farmers market and have made 2 or 3 quarts every summer for many yrs...If you want to freeze as I do never add any liquid such as lemon juice etc...I just use scape and extra virgin olive oil.. Pine nuts ok but not necessary and never add the cheese to this or any other pesto.. Put the cheese on when serving the pasta, crostini, panini etc...This will avoid a stringy mess if the pesto gets heated....I also make pesto out of Thai basil and baby dill every summer to freeze.

Test the potency of the scapes before you make this dish. I made the pesto with some rather strong scapes and it was nearly inedible.

I look forward to making garlic scape pesto each spring. I spread it on skinless chicken breasts, then put a sliced tomato on top and then some breadcrumbs on top of the tomato. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes until the bread crumbs are golden. The scape pesto becomes very mellow. Can't get enough.

First of all, what a great money-saving suggestion to use sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts. The pesto was lovely, very balanced and fresh, a nice way to make use of the garlic scapes that were part of my farm share. I added extra olive oil, and less lemon.

This was lovely! To mellow out the scapes, I always blanch them scapes for a minute in boiling water then plunge into cold water so they stay crisp. I once had no lemon and used 1/2 of a lime instead and it was great too! This is a keeper.

Pesto freezes very very well. I learned from Marcella Hazan to not add the cheese to pest destined for the freezer. Wait til you're ready to use it.
And you'll feel so wealthy and lucky come February.

Used pine nuts b/c that's what I had.
Substituted arugula for the basil - because I have more on hand, and I think the assertiveness of the arugula matches the scapes. Use sparingly...

Great way to use scapes from my farm share! I used what I had in the house-the scapes, walnuts, Parmesan, olive oil & a lemon. Delicious & did not miss the basil, so if you don’t have it no worries. I used the listed amounts for the ingredients & have a second meal of sauce left. Fabulous tossed into spaghetti topped with shrimp sautéed in a little olive oil seasoned with lemon pepper, salt & a few chopped Roma tomatoes. Quick cooking on a warm summer night.

The garlic you buy in the store is really the underground bulb of a green plant. Scapes are the green shoots that come up from the bulbs. They come out in spring (much like chives, but they are much larger), and they are picked in June or July. They are very seasonal, and farmers' markets are the best place to find them. Scapes are about 1/4 inch in diameter and maybe 18 inches long. They taste a lot like garlic, but they have the consistency of very firm asparagus.

I've made this twice now, and my best tip is that while the recipe says "serve immediately," I found that it had mellowed to a much more delightful flavor after a couple of days in the fridge.

Not sure this is posible. Could never be too strong. ;)

I'm growing garlic, cut the scapes and made pesto with them for the first time last week. Made it in a blender just fine, scapes cut in one inch pieces first with good olive oil. Used walnuts instead of sunflower seeds, and no added basil. The key to a delicious creamy sauce was adding about half a cup of the pasta water after I'd added cheese and blended everything. It was creamy and so good I'm actually buying scapes to make it again since I've used mine all up!

I used pistachios which worked beautifully

This is my second year using this recipe with the scapes from my garden, and I love it. However, I have done what others suggested and switched out the sunflower seeds for toasted pinenuts, which I do prefer. Regarding cost - go to Costco as they sell large bags of organic pinenuts for an amazingly low price. I would also recommend pulsing the Parmesan cheese second to ensure a small grind. Then, choose an olive oil carefully. Greek plays up the garlic, Spanish cuts it, so experiment a bit.

This pesto was so delicious and it froze and stored beautifully without the basil and cheese

I froze the pesto in ice cube trays and have bags full in the freezer. So easy to use for pasta, pizza toppings, added to salad dressing, seasoning for roasted vegetables.

This recipe is just great. And it’s flexible. Don’t have lemon juice? White balsamic is wonderful. Don’t have sunflower seeds? You can substitute walnuts. This is just the best. Will make some to have in the freezer this winter.

I used roasted pecans because that is what I had; delicious

For those not wanting to guess, 1/2 tsp salt is the sweet spot.

Made double this recipe x 2 and added approx 3/4 tsp kosher salt to each. Made 6 cup containers of pesto. So delicious!

I made this but took the advice of blanching the scapes first. Mine seemed a bit spicy and tough. Absolutely phenomenal - didn’t change anything else and will make again.

Maybe my lemon was huge or overly juicy, but this came out more lemony than anything else. Hoping a few days in the fridge will temper that. Tasted my scapes first & they were very hot, so idk how the lemon took this over

Some of my scapes seemed too tough. A greater problem was that my pine nuts tasted rancid and they were fresh from the store, kept in the freezer. I will return them. I used pecans instead and it came out pretty darned good.

Good. But next time I will definitely heed the comments that suggested blanching/tasting the scapes first. Whoopee!

Tasty. Chopping up the scapes does not go by quickly, however.

A vibrant flavor with the lemon juice. The garlic flavor, fresh basil and olive oil are enhanced with the fresh squeezed lemon juice. Served on pasta

As others have pointed out, you can get pine nuts cheaply at Costco. You can also get them as Trader Joes in smaller portions. If you aren't using pine nuts, you aren't making peston.

Always check your scapes for potency. I shoulda listened to everyone else! It’s edible but I might kill a vampire if I spoke to them closely.

Incredibly easy, absolutely delicious. I’d also just received a CSA so included some of the tops of bunching or purplette onions. SUBLIME. I was even licking the scraper... what can I say, cook habits die hard especially when food is this delicious.