Pesto Potato Salad: Summer’s New Favorite Side

Rethink serving ordinary potato salad as a side dish at your next BBQ and grilling cookout thanks to this delicious recipe for pesto potatoes.

Pesto is a savory pasty green sauce that is the specialty of the region around Genoa, Italy, where it probably originated. The word pesto means “pounded” or “crushed” in Italian, called that because the ingredients were pounded or crushed with a mortar and pestle before the food processor was invented. The classic recipe includes basil leaves, olive oil, plenty of garlic, pine nuts or walnuts, and parmesan cheese. It is usually served over pasta, but it also tastes great on that other great starch, potatoes. You can make your own pesto or you can buy lovely pesto in jars.

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Pesto Potatoes Recipe

3.16 from 44 votes

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Pesto is a savory pasty green sauce that traditionally includes basil leaves, olive oil, plenty of garlic, pine nuts or walnuts, and parmesan cheese. In this recipe, it makes the perfect dressing for boiled potatoes.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Servings: 1

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetable

Cuisine: American, Italian

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients Method Approximate Nutrition Notes

Makes

About 3/4 pound (340.2 g)

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

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• 12 ounces waxy potatoes (2 baseball size)
• 1 teaspoon pesto sauce
• Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

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Method

 

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1. Prep. Peel the potatoes (or not), and cut them into bite-size chunks.
2. Cook. Boil until soft, but not mushy, about 15 minutes. Drain.
3. Prep again. Toss the pesto in with the potatoes.
4. Serve. Add a splash or two of a really good fresh olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve. What could be simpler? Or more tasty?

Notes

About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works. 

Approximate Nutrition

Calories: 257kcalCarbohydrates: 54gProtein: 7gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 108mgPotassium: 1548mgFiber: 6gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 125IUVitamin C: 29mgCalcium: 42mgIron: 3mg

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