Sorrel Pesto
by Katie Webster
May 24, 2011 (updated 5/2/23) Jump To Recipe
Yesterday I had my first taste of sorrel. I don’t know why it took me so long to try it, but now I’m glad that I have. Encouraged by the friendly produce manager at my local health food store, I tore off a nibble and popped it in my mouth. I was so surprised by what it tasted like.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Sorrel Pesto
When I first tastes sorrel, I assumed it would be more like arugula or spinach, but it wasn’t at all. It was really sour! It was powerfully so. Yup, a green that is as sour as citrus! Bizarre and intriguing.
Then I started wondering what it was that made it so sour. It is high in something called oxalic acid, which is also found in rhubarb. I wasn’t that surprised to find out that sorrel is high in vitamins too.
I figured an easy way to prepare it would be to make a pesto of sorts. Instead of basil like in my 5-Minute Classic Basil Pesto, I’d use the sorrel. Plus I used pumpkin seeds (instead of pine nuts) and salty feta to balance the acidity of the greens.
It only took me a few minutes, and the results were delicious. I made these little crostinis by dolloping the pesto on slices of fresh seeded baguette and garnishing with more crumbled feta and pumpkin seeds.
I thought they would be a fun appetizer for a graduation party or baby shower. Or it can be tossed with pasta and veggies for a springtime dinner.
Key Ingredients For This Recipe
Sorrel leaves
Sorrel leaves are a leafy green plant that can be used as an herb or as a salad green. They have a very sour or citrusy flavor, and its name stems for the word sur, meaning sour in German and Scandinavian countries. If you’re not able to find sorrel, you can substitute with spinach and a little lemon juice, as leafy fresh spinach can also taste acidic.
Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, can come from several varieties of pumpkins or squash. You can find pepitas in most large grocery stores near the other nuts and seeds. If you aren’t able to find them, you can use sunflower seeds instead. The non-salted pepitas (and other seeds) are best for this recipe.
Feta cheese, preferably goat feta
Although I chose to use goat feta for this recipes, feel free to use regular sheep’s milk feta if you’d like. All in all, they have the same nutritional value, except goat feta has slightly more protein. You should be able to find goat feta in the fancier cheese section of most grocery stores.
Additional Ingredients
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
Step by Step Instructions to Make This Pesto
Fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. Drop garlic through feed tube with the motor running and process until minced.
Remove the lid and add sorrel, pumpkin seeds, feta, olive oil and salt. Process until a thick paste forms.
Serve immediately or store in the fridge for later use.
FAQs and Expert Tips
As long as it’s stored in an airtight container in the fridge, homemade pesto will stay fresh for up to 5 days.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a regular blender or even make it by hand (although will be more difficult). In that case, you’d need a morter and pestle to crush and break down the sorrel leaves.
Pesto freezes really well. You can freeze single servings of pesto in ice cube trays, then transfer over to a sealable plastic bag. Freeze for up to 6 months.
Additional Recipes
- This Cranberry Pesto Crostini with Chevre is a simple and flavorful appetizer perfect for the holidays.
- My Low-Carb Spiralized Zucchini Noodles with Pesto is a no-cook vegetarian meal you’ll just love this summer!
- This Slow Cooker Ham Barley Soup with Spinach Pesto is the perfect vegetable packed weeknight dinner of your dreams.
- Today’s recipe is for Salmon Nicoise with hard boiled eggs, green beans, olives, potatoes and radishes
- Rest your eyeballs on the deliciousness that is my Soup Au Pistou recipe! I am obsessed, and you might just get obsessed too.
- Our Spinach Pesto and Cheese Quesadillas makes use of spinach in the pesto!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Sorrel Pesto
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/3 cup 1x
Description
Pesto made from sorrel leaves, pumpkin seeds and feta.
Ingredients
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled
- 3 cups chopped sorrel leaves (about 3 1/2 ounces)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, preferably goat feta
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Fit food processor with the steel blade attachment. Drop garlic through feed tube with motor running and process until minced. Remove lid and add sorrel, pumpkin seeds, feta, olive oil and salt. Process until a thick paste.
Notes
3 mg Cholesterol, 0 g Added Sugars
Alternative Directions:
If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a regular blender or even make it by hand (although will be more difficult). In that case, you’d need a morter and pestle to crush and break down the sorrel leaves.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Small Appliance
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 42
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 96 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 0.5 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 1 g
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
I can’t believe how well sorrel works in this pesto recipe! It adds so much flavor, now I can’t wait to use it in all the things I love basil pesto in.
Glad you tried it and loved it, Sharon! Have a wonderful week!
Such a nice spin on pesto. Love the feta in there! And the pumpkin seeds! Amazing tossed into a lemony pasta.
Thank you so much for the wonderful comment, Dana!
Okay, I’m intrigued! A green that’s sour?!?! I’ve never had sorrel either, but making it into a pesto sounds like a great idea and a great way to try it. I have to make this!
Let me know how it goes, Aimee! It’s definitely a treat!
Such a delicious twist on pesto! We spread this on sandwiches and it was so tasty!
Yum, that sounds delicious, Janessa! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it!
Wow, this has intrigued me more than any other recipe I’ve seen this year! I used to love sorrel soup as a child but I haven’t had a taste of it for over 20 years now… Cannot wait to try this pesto! Really interested in how pumpkin seeds will work in this pesto too! Love how invective and unconventional this pesto is 🙂
Thank you so much, Leva! Let me know how it goes!
YUM! This is so good! Just found a few sorrel plants out back and whipped this up, I will have to make more to freeze.
I’m so happy that you enjoyed my recipe, Marina! How lucky are you to have sorrel plants already!
This pesto looks fantastic! I’ve never tried sorrel, but am definitely going to try to find it at the farmers market!
You won’t be disappointed, Sally! Thank you for the kind words, too.
Katie, it was nice to meet you in Atlanta. I’m looking forward to your recipes as we just joined a CSA this year!
Thank you, Colette! It was wonderful to meet you, too!