A rustic and super-simple pesto sauce with parsley and nuts combined with olive oil, garlic and Parmesan cheese. Make it without a food processor, chopped by hand right on a cutting board for a quick and vibrant pasta dish.

Pappardelle pasta noodles with parsley pesto sauce in a serving bowl, with fresh parsley leaves and a linen napkin next to it.

The fresh, intensely flavorful pesto pasta sauce doesn’t require a food processor — just a knife and a cutting board! I LOVE to use this sauce with wide, chewy pappardelle noodles or short pasta shapes, like rigatoni or ziti.

Sometimes it feels good — and absolutely necessary — to get back to basics in the kitchen. Getting all your senses involved in the process of cooking — washing, chopping and tasting — involves your eyes, nose and the touch of your hands. There’s nothing more grounding after a stressful day. It’s also the cheapest form of therapy I know!

In my kitchen, the food processor is stored in a cabinet rather than on the countertop to save space. It’s not that it’s that hard to haul it out (and I do, especially to make a very smooth basil pesto sauce).

But in the time it takes to get it plugged in and ready to go, you can make parsley pesto for pappardelle noodles right on the counter.

Ingredients for making parsley pesto arranged on a board, including a bunch of parsley, green and red onions and pistachio nuts.

Chopped pesto ingredients

  • Parsley is an herb, but it’s becomes a fresh ingredient that I almost treat like a vegetable or salad green! I think chopped Italian parsley tastes like the essence of springtime. It has as an intense green color and almost floral taste, I throw it in salads and arrange in small piles on the dinner plate. If you don’t have any, you can use an equal amount of tender greens, like baby spinach, arugula or basil.
  • Nuts: To create a rich, creamy texture, use your choice or nut, such as almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts or even cashews to make this pesto.
  • Garlic and onion: These aromatics add savory depth to the pesto sauce.
  • Parmesan: Grate a hunk of fresh Parmesan mall holes of a box grater, or pulse chunks of the cheese in a blender or food processor until fine crumbs form
  • Olive oil: I recommend using an excellent everyday extra virgin olive oil to make this sauce, as it’s the backbone of the recipe.

How to make it

  • Chopped parsley, nuts and onion a cutting board with a mezzaluna slicer.
    Use a large, sharp chef, or mezzaluna to chop the parsley, nuts and onion on a cutting board.
  • Chopped pesto in a mortar with a wooden spoon.
    Transfer parsley mixture to a bowl. Stir in olive oil, cheese, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste.
  • This pesto is delicious with wide pasta noodles like the pappardelle shown here, or try it with fettuccine noodles or penne pasta.
5 from 3 ratings

Chopped Pesto Pasta Sauce

Karen Tedesco
Unplug the food processor to make this rustic, super-simple pasta sauce recipe: hand-chopped pesto sauce with parsley and nuts combined with olive oil, garlic and Parmesan cheese. Make it by hand right on a cutting board for a quick and vibrant vegetarian dish!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
 

  • ¼ cup (35 g) pistachios or whole almonds, toasted for 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees
  • 2 tablespoons (30 g) chopped red onion or shallot
  • 1 scallion, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed with flat side of a chef's knife
  • 2 cups Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, (from about 1 large bunch)
  • ⅓ cup (75 ml) extra virgin olive oil
  • ⅓ cup (35 g) grated Parmesan cheese
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ pound (225 g) pappardelle or fettuccine pasta
  • ½ pound (225 g) green beans, stem ends trimmed and sliced in half

Instructions
 

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water (about ¼ cup kosher salt for 5-6 quarts water) boil.
  2. Put the pistachios on a cutting board and chop into crumbs with a large knife. Pile the onion, scallion, garlic and parsley on top and chop everything together until fine.
  3. Transfer parsley mixture to a bowl. Stir in olive oil, cheese, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste.
  4. Put the pasta into the boiling water and cook until almost al dente. Toss in the green beans and cook a few more minutes. Just before draining, scoop out ¼ cup of the pasta water and stir into the pesto.
  5. Toss the hot pasta and green beans with the pesto and serve. Sprinkle with additional cheese, if desired.

Notes

Inspired by a recipe in The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 487kcal Carbohydrates: 50g Protein: 15g Fat: 26g Sodium: 168mg Fiber: 5g Sugar: 4g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

Save to Pinterest
Tried this recipe?A star rating takes 5 seconds and helps more people find it.