When life hands you lemons, or you inherit like 27 from your mother’s overachieving lemon tree, you make wonderful things like lemonade and cookies and cake and bars…and then you make a light and summery lemon pesto potato salad.
I’ll be the first to admit I skip the potato salad at potlucks and such because I’m a quality calories kind of girl and, for me, the quality calories are found elsewhere like in the homemade ice cream and flank steak with chimichurri sauce (recipe coming soon!).
But this potato salad. THIS one. Well, it has quality calories written all over it. No hard boiled eggs or pickles, no heavy coating of mayonnaise that makes your husband (I mean mine) totally gag. It’s light, and tasty, and topped with toasted pine nuts and basil.
Enough said.
Let’s dig in.
Enjoy a new take on classic potato salad this summer!
Ingredients
- 1 bag (24-28 ounce) small potatoes (fingerling, honey gold, red)
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup light mayo
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons pesto
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- chopped basil
Instructions
- Boil potatoes in lightly salted water until tender. Drain, cut in half, then place in a bowl.
- Toast pine nuts in a skillet over low heat until just lightly golden. Remove from heat.
- Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, mayo, salt & pepper, and pesto until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as you like.
- Pour half the dressing over the potatoes and toss to combine. Add more dressing to taste (I ended up using a little more than half of the dressing).
- Cover and refrigerate the potato salad for a few hours. To serve, toss again and sprinkle with chopped basil.
Notes
201 calories per serving, 13 grams of fat, 20 carbs, 3 grams protein, 3 grams fiber
Inspired by Pioneer Woman.
TOTAL: About $6.50, or $.81 per serving.
Have extra pesto? Here are two more ways to put it to use!
Mozzarella-stuffed chicken meatballs with tomato pesto sauce
Roasted turkey sandwich with pesto aioli
