This might be my new favorite pasta dish. If you’re a fan of our Thai Peanut Noodles, you’ll probably love this one too. It’s pretty quick and easy to put together, so it makes a great meatless main dish, or a side dish (try it with our Thai Beef Skewers) or you could toss in some grilled chicken or steak for a one-dish dinner. The profile is bright and fresh and perfectly summery. While a traditional pesto starts out with loads of fresh basil- this version uses cilantro instead. Don’t bother picking the leaves off the stems; cilantro stems are tender and flavorful, so chop them up with the leaves.
Then we add tons of flavor: sesame oil, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, garlic, lime juice, lime zest, soy sauce and fresh ginger. Instead of pine nuts in an Italian pesto, we’re tossing peanuts in this one.
Pop everything except for the soy sauce in a food processor
And process it until it looks like a pesto, fairly smooth but with pieces of cilantro and peanuts still. Add in a little soy sauce at the end.
That’s it folks. Toss that pesto with hot pasta; sprinkle it with a little chopped peanuts and cilantro and you’re good to go. I like a little fresh squeeze of lime juice too. The pesto itself it super yummy over grilled steak too.
The flavors are so fantastic; it’s like you can taste every little ingredient in there; the sweetness of the sugar and ginger, a hint of spice from the pepper flakes, the roasted crunch of the peanuts and a little freshness and tang from the lime juice and cilantro. Try it; you’ll love it!
PS- One tip I have is to serve it immediately. As with many pasta dishes, the longer it sits, the pasta absorbs the sauce and the flavors mellow. Leftovers still taste great, but the fresher the better.
Recipe slightly adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food
Ingredients
1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic, smashed, peeled, and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
zest and juice from one lime (about 2 tsp zest and 2 Tbs juice)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts (plus more for serving, if desired)
2-3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
3/4 pound (12 oz) linguine or spaghetti, cooked according to box instructions
Instructions
In a food processor, combine cilantro (save a bit of cilantro for garnish), garlic, ginger, vegetable and sesame oils, red pepper flakes, lime zest and juice, brown sugar, and peanuts (basically everything except soy sauce). Pulse until a coarse paste forms. Season with soy sauce and pulse to combine. In a large bowl, toss pesto with hot pasta. Roughly chop additional peanuts and sprinkle over pasta along with extra cilantro leaves and lime wedges if desired. Serve immediately. (If you’re prepping and not quite ready to eat yet, I recommend waiting to toss with pasta until right before serving for the best flavor.) Serves 4 main dish or 6-8 small sides.
Questions & Reviews
This was absolutely delicious!
THIS WAS COPIED FROM EPICURIOUS (“Black Beans and Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa”, same ingredients, same order of ingredients listed, with minor variations on amounts). YOU SHOULD EITHER FIND YOUR OWN RECIPE OR PROPERLY CITE YOUR SOURCE.
Actually, it originally came from Bon Apetit magazine, and we did properly cite it. Someone from Epicurious stole it from them.
I’ll admit I didn’t LOVE this. It was just ok. Not like the Thai peanut noodles, which just became one of my favorite meals. But I had leftover cilantro peanut pesto, so I put it in a jar in my fridge. Tonight I made grilled pizza. I wanted chicken pizza with regular basil pesto. Yum! But I accidentally grabbed this cilantro pesto instead of my regular. I was so bummed when I realized it–Until I tasted it. Yum! I liked it a lot better on the pizza than the pasta. Maybe I’ll have to try adding some Thai toppings next time. 🙂
Do you think any other nuts would sub in well in this pesto? My 6-year-old has a peanut allergy, so peanuts are a no-go–but he can have other nuts/legumes so I’d love to find a substitute as this sounds amazing!
Well, regular pesto is made with pine nuts so that would work well. It’s not quite as “Thai” but the flavor and texture would still be great 🙂
This sound very yummy. I normally stuck wondering what to do with extra cilantro when I need it to make salsa, so its great knowing I have another tasty recipe to try!
I made this last night and our family LOVED it. I”m not usually a cilantro girl, but this was excellent!
I’ve really been going out on a limb and trying new recipes, but I have to be totally honest, I didn’t love this one. I thought the cilantro was WAY too overpowering. The texture was PERFECT, but I didn’t love the taste. 🙁
Wow! 2/2 on this site! So excited! I made this since I had all of the leftovers from for Thai noodle dish and this was really, really good! Instead of sesame oil (which I didn’t have), I used olive oil and I also added about a tablespoon of Siracha because I am totally into everything spicy right now and it was FAB! Def will make again! Thank you, I love this site!!!
I made this tonight for dinner and it was fast, easy, and delicious. This recipe is going into my permanent rotation!
Wow, the recipes looks wonderful and yummy! I am so sure it will be another one of my favorite recipes. Once again, thank you….