Sage Walnut Pesto Pasta

Sage Walnut Pesto Pasta combines fresh sage and parsley, toasted walnuts, garlic, sage-infused olive oil, and Parmesan cheese in a wonderful pesto sauce. Toss with your favorite pasta.

A delicious way to enjoy fresh sage

This time of year, our herb garden explodes with fresh sage, so I’m always on the lookout for recipes to use some of it up. I ran across a sage and walnut pesto recipe over on Fine Cooking, immediately tried it, and fell in love!

If you’ve ever been put off by the strong, garlic and basil flavors of an Italian Genovese pesto – this sage walnut pesto is completely different. Fresh sage is combined with fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, toasted walnuts, a little bit of garlic, and Parmesan cheese, then pureed with sage-infused olive oil to create a smooth and vibrant green pesto sauce. 

• This pesto is a satisfyingly delicious meatless entrée or side dish.
• It’s a great way to use up fresh sage from the garden.
• You can vary this recipe with different types of pasta – it works equally well with spirals, bow-tie, shells, or strand pasta shapes.

• Fresh sage – Fresh sage is a main ingredient in this dish and cannot be substituted. Sorry – dried sage will not work for this recipe.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Chose your best quality extra virgin olive oil for this dish. Some of the sage leaves will be cooked in the oil, which flavors it for mixing up the pesto.
• Fresh garlic – You’ll use one or two garlic cloves depending on the size and how garlicy you like your pesto. Avoid the jarred garlic – it has a more bitter taste.
• Fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley – This recipe calls for quite a lot of fresh parsley. Choose the Italian flat-leaf parsley, not the curly parsley.
• Walnuts – Buy walnut halves, not pre-chopped walnuts. You’ll be toasting the walnuts, and larger pieces toast more evenly and are less likely to scorch. Toasted walnuts are used in the pesto as well as a garnish.
• Parmesan – Freshly-grated, aged Parmesan is always our recommendation, especially for pesto recipes.
• Salt and pepper
• Your favorite pasta – We chose Gemelli pasta, but any sturdy or strand pasta shape will work just fine.

1. Toast walnuts in a dry skillet. Set aside ¼ cup to use as garnish, then set the remaining aside to cool for the pesto.
2. Heat olive oil in the same skillet. Fry one-third of the sage leaves until crispy. Set the fried leaves aside on paper towels to drain and cool, then crumble to use as garnish.
3. Pour the sage-flavored oil into a heat-proof bowl or jar to cool to room temperature. (We just reused the glass measuring cup used to measure out the oil.)
4. Process garlic, toasted walnuts, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper in a food processor.
5. Add remaining sage and all the parsley and process again.
6. With motor running, slowly add cooled sage-infused oil to form a thick paste.
7. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Save two cups of the pasta cooking water, drain the rest, then pour the drained pasta back into the pot.
8. Add pesto and one cup of the pasta water to the pot with the pasta and stir to combine. Add more pasta water as needed and to reheat leftovers.
9. Serve with the remaining toasted walnuts, crumbled fried sage, and additional Parmesan cheese on top.

• Can I make Sage Walnut Pesto Pasta ahead of time?  Yes – make pesto and chill. When ready to serve, cook the pasta and combine.
• How do I store leftovers?   Store refrigerated for up to three days
• How do I reheat leftovers? Reheat in a saucepan or the microwave using some of the extra pasta water to loosen the sauce to a cream consistency.   
• Can I use other herbs or nuts instead of the parsley? We haven’t tried any other variations, but we have seen other recipes for sage pesto that included basil or mint instead. You could certainly swap in other nuts, however, the toasted walnuts add a very nice flavor so you may need to make some other flavor adjustments.

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