Fennel Frond Pesto
Do you love fennel but never know what to do with the fronds? No problem! Don’t let them go to waste, make them into Fennel Frond Pesto!
Use those bulbs for our Simple Shaved Fennel Salad!
I might have planted a TON of fennel this year. And by a ton, I mean about 12 plants. I love fennel. However, it also means that my garden beds are exploding with not just the little growing fennel bulbs, but also their huge fronds (greens). It’s a little out of control but it also felt like such a waste to not use them. Welcome, our Fennel Frond Pesto!
The best part of pesto? You can pretty much make it out of any greens! Basil, of course, is the classic, but we also love a parsley pesto, too. And in my current state of fennel frond mania, I thought it would be perfect for an anise flavored variety!
Ingredients Needed
Just like any other pesto, simple and fresh (which is also like all of our recipe here).
- Fennel Fronds – Just the frilly green leafy parts, but leave those thicker stalks.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – This is when you want to have a good, high-quality oil, like you were making a vinaigrette.
- Fresh Lemon Juice – Bottled is of course fine, too.
- Nut – A traditional pesto uses pine nuts, but I love using different nuts in my pesto, like almonds, hazelnuts, and for this pesto, walnuts. It’s fun to switch up the different nuts in different pestos to get a slight variation each time!
- Salt and Pepper – To taste.
Now I know what you’re thinking. No garlic?! I know, the horror! But actually, I love this pesto without it because I think that the garlic can quickly overpower the sweet delicate anise. Sometimes I’ll add just a pinch of garlic powder, but truly, I love this pesto without it to really let the anise flavor shine.
Made in Minutes
Step 1: Toast your nuts – although this is totally optional. Toasting brings out some of the nut’s flavor, but not necessary for a delicious pesto.
Step 2: Add everything to your food processor or blender.
Step 3: Blend until it’s the consistency you want. Want a looser pesto? Add more oil! Want a more concentrated pesto? Less oil. Totally customizeable!
I just love this pesto. It has a wonderful sweet anise flavor to it! Mix it with some simple pasta, as a condiment on a sandwich, or use it on some green beans and poached egg. Hooray for not letting these big gorgeous fronds go to waste!
How to Use Fennel Frond Pesto
Our favorite way to use this fresh Fennel Frond Pesto is of course with Fresh Homemade Pasta, topped with extra cheese, of course. This would also be great with some of gnocchi or ravioli!
No fresh pasta but want to save the freshness for any time of the year? No problem, grab one of these trays so you can freeze all that freshness into little cubes to use them any time you want.
How to Freeze and Use
Freeze: To freeze that freshness, fill a tray like this until the cubes are solid, before transferring them to a freezer-safe bag until you’re ready to use, for up to 6 months.
Use: To use defrost by either thawing in the fridge before using to loosen, or you could add a cube straight to your hot dish and let it melt right in, like pasta or even as added flavor to your favorite soup!
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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Fennel Frond Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 bunch fennel fronds stems removed
- 1/2 cup walnuts toasted
- 1/8 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Toast the walnuts over medium heat stirring constantly for 3-5 minutes or until they begin to brown.
- Add fennel fronds, lemon juice, salt, half of the olive oil, and nuts to a food processor and blend. Stop and scrape down sides. Continue blending and slowly add remaining olive oil until desired consistency is reached.
- Store in an airtight container in fridge and add to pasta, sandwiches, or anywhere else you’d use a normal pesto!
Way to much salt for this recipe! I would cut salt to 1/4 of a teaspoon.
I like this. But it was missing something. The first time my son, a chef, added lemon zest and a lot more lemon, so I started there this time. I ended up also adding a couple drops of liquid stevia. I’ve frozen some in little heart shaped molds – we’ll see if they are useful for a charcuterie board or something.
Great recipe. But quantities would help even more.
Robert, You’re right! I will go back and make this again and be sure to update it – thank you for your feedback!
I have about a pound or more frozen fresh fennel and need quantities please. ‘A bunch’ doesn’t help my baker’s brain, who always follows exact measurements (@ least the first time around;). It sounds delicious. TIA 🙏💖
Hi Leslie! I totally get it, the bunch of fronds is for about 1 lb of fennel, so what you have should work great! Enjoy!
Amazing! So many anise plants growing around our neighborhood, and this was a great, versatile, easy recipe.
Oh my gosh I am SO jealous you have access to fresh anise!!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it!
Hi,
Thanks so much for the recipe made it on Monday night (added some garlic & parm cheese) boyfriend loved it so much that I made it again on Wednesday
Hi Nisha,
That’s wonderful! And the addition of garlic and parm sounds great- thanks so much for stopping by and for letting me know that you guys liked it! 😀
How wonderful, our fennel is just abut getting to the stage where we could have away some of the fronds… I usually use them as a flavouring in soup but this sounds wonderful!
We must have around 80-100 fennel plants 😀
80-100!! Amazing!!! And yes- I can’t wait to use the fronds for soups and stocks, too! It’s been waayyy too hot here to think about soup yet, but when it is, I can’t wait to use them 🙂
I hear you on the heat thing, we are struggling here in Central Europe too! We have loads of food in the garden but usually struggle to grow fennel so always plant way too many but this year they all worked… Nice problem to have 😉
I love to braise them in butter with a little pastis and then serve them in a homemade vegetable broth and a poached egg garnished with the fronds, a really lovely and refreshing summer soup, in fact I do that with loads of summer vegetables, anything that is good at the time and a simple tasty fresh dinner.