Bok choy pesto with cilantro and sesame is an excellent Asian fusion pesto sauce perfect for a dip or to serve with pasta.
I’m a huge fan of the traditional Italian pesto sauce. It’s so versatile and can be used in pasta, salad dressings, even pizza. I’m always surprised when I find young kids eating pesto sauce. We don’t give our kids or their taste buds much credit.
In an effort to mix things up and make our meals more healthy, I’m sharing a twist on my beloved pesto, this Bok Choy Pesto with cilantro. A little asian fusion.
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Why you should try this recipe
Traditional pesto is made with basil, garlic and pine nuts. It is a wonderful flavor, but you can easily find that any greens can be used to make other kinds of non-traditional pesto sauce.
I have added spinach to pesto, for example, and have used different herbs. I really loved the flavors in my tarragon and kale pesto. Tarragon adds some bite compared to basil and I used walnuts instead of pine nuts.
This pesto has more of an Asian influence. The green base is made with cilantro and baby bok choy. I’ve also added garlic, ginger, olive oil, and sesame oil. Boy, does it smell heavenly!
You can use this pesto sauce with regular ‘ole spaghetti or even some chow mein or udon noodles, to keep things interesting.
My kids loved this sauce. Again, any pesto you come up with is so versatile. You can even use it as a dipping sauce with some pita bread.
Ingredients you need
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- Bok choy: I used baby bok choy, but you can use any variety.
- Cilantro: If you are not a fan of fresh cilantro then try using Thai basil or regular basil.
- Flavors: Fresh garlic and ginger are used for to add more flavor to this pesto. Avoid using dried garlic and ginger.
- Lemon juice: You can use freshly squeezed or bottled lemon juice.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Use a high quality olive oil. You can choose a peppery or pungent oil if you like, or a milder flavor oil.
- Sesame oil: I added a touch of sesame oil to continue with the Asian theme.
- Sesame seeds: I used this as a garnish.
- Salt and pepper
Step-by-step directions
- In a food processor, purée box choy, cilantro, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, salt and pepper until smooth.
- While the machine is running, mix in olive oil and sesame oil until sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Transfer sauce to a bowl and stir in sesame seeds.
Recipe tips and FAQs
As I stated earlier, this pesto is terrific with pasta or as a dipping sauce with veggies, chips or pita bread. It has tremendous flavor and is a refreshing change from traditional Italian pesto.
There is bok choy pesto has no dairy in it, so it will last longer than traditional pesto. Keep it in an air tight container in the refrigerator. It can last for at least a week before the greens start to blacken and go bad.
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Bok Choy Pesto with Cilantro and Black Sesame Seed
Ingredients
- 4 small bok choy
- 2 cup cilantro fresh, loosely packed
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 in ginger fresh
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper ground
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a food processor, purée box choy, cilantro, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, salt and pepper until smooth.
- While the machine is running, mix in olive oil and sesame oil until sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Transfer sauce to a bowl and stir in sesame seeds.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
When I made it with bok choy, i found four cups of bok was too much, a bit too leaf-flavored, the cilantro didn’t cut through. when i make a version with spinach four cups is ok. this is a delicious meal, one of my favorites. i use whatever greens my farmshare is sending me home with.
I have found different varieties of bok choy to have different flavors and intensities. I love the idea of making pesto with whatever greens you have handy.
Joining you from the Meatless Monday Blog Hop! What a yummy recipe! I will be trying this for sure! I am now following you on all social media. Hope you will stop by and do the same!
Sandra
The Adored Home
I have to say I agree with you. My kids are adults now, but I had the same feeling then as you do now. They have a summer break to play, and it takes them a month to get back to the swing of things in the fall where they don’t learn much either. Why not just keep it to a day of celebrating the last day of school?
Anyway, this looks fantastic. I love your pictures.
Other than sauteed I never know how to use bok choy. Thanks so much for sharing your great pesto recipe. I love the exotic twist you created!
Never would have ever thought of using bok choy in pesto! How creative yummy it looks 🙂
Great idea to use bok choy instead of basil. I think going back to the basics is a good plan. We only had parties on the last day too.
What an interesting pesto! I’ve never even thought of making an asian pesto (the concept messes with my mind a bit) but this looks delicious. And yes – rant validated! Definitely agree that there’s too much instant gratification these days. I’m a gen Y but I still get annoyed at the fact that some children have lost the art of communication (‘texting’ has ruined spelling) and seem to grow up with an over-iniflated sense of entitelement these days!!! Good on you for setting a back-to-basics schedule for them! Hope that you have an amazing Summer together 🙂
What a novel pesto! Must try – as I’ve made pesto from nearly every other green vegetable 🙂 Baby Bok Choy is so cute – stunning pics as always!
What a unique way to use Bok Choy, I love it!
Such a creative pesto, love the flavors!
That is sad that the last week of school is nothing but movies! No wonder the kids were so ill prepared by the time I got them. UGH! Great rant! However, I do have to admit that I love the instant gratification from a personal perspective. 🙂 I just took a road trip with a friend and every time an “unknown” came up in the conversation, one of us was pulling out the iPad. We had our answer instantly! Loved it! Your bok choy and cilantro dish looks fabulous and your pictures are lovely! And KR is right – no… Read more »
My kids finished their school already and now my house is pretty chaotic. Interesting that they have parties and parties before school ends. I wish my school was like that. My son’s class got to pick a movie last day or so. I don’t think I had a fun movie day in all my school years (but then it’s in different country). I’ve seen so many kinds of pesto, and surely this is my first bok choy pesto! You are so creative! And you are very very hard worker too! 🙂
Your vibes are perfect….I needed a pesto for tonight’s left-over chicken and pasta! Perfecto. By the way , your photos are truly a piece of art!
This looks wonderful… so bright and green…
You are a mind reader! I have a bunch of bok choy at home and I was *just* saying, “What can I do with this bok choy that is not a stir fry?” Bingo! Thanks!
Laura, we agree with your rant wholeheartedly. Working hard and finishing the school year strong is what we need.
And how clever is your bok choy pesto! Love it! We’re going to feature this on our Facebook page and link here so people can see how you made it, and your lovely photography. If you wish, come LIKE us on Facebook for more recipes and tips on super healthy Asian green vegetables like baby bok choy, gai lan, dau miu (pea shoots), yu choy, gai choy, etc. https://www.facebook.com/Jade.Asian.Greens
–Your friendly Southern California farmers at Jade Asian Greens
Get your kids interested in food photography. They’ll quickly learn there’s no instant gratification, and effort – real effort – is required. Or more realistically, some other activity that interests them but takes awhile to learn (and that they can only later even dream of mastering). Good rant. Better recipe. Good stuff. Thanks.
Happy summer, Mom…
As far as the pesto goes, you posted this just at the right time, ’cause I’d bought troppo mucho of my beloved bok choi and now I know what I’ll do with it in the morning! Wonder how long it’ll keep in the fridge – a couple of days? As far as partying goes I also fully agree with you – fun on the last day: great, films and parties galore afore . . . won’t there be quite enough of those during the school holidays . . .