Chipotle Pecan Pesto
“You should work here. I am serious.”
My dear husband says that to me every time we are in Bouldin Creek Cafe, a hippie vegetarian restaurant located in south Austin. The reason? Han thinks if I work at the restaurant, I can learn to cook everything on their menu at home. Perhaps we can introduce the amazingly unique vegetarian food to New York City or San Francisco by opening a similar restaurant there.

You see, Han dreams unrealistically big. Sometimes, I can’t tell if he’s messing with me or he is serious. As a software engineer, he is also very systematic and data-driven. In our marriage, he brings the foresight and I keep him down grounded. It seems to be working.
Before he starts to dive into the numbers (even if he’s not serious, he would want to do the math because he is a total nerd), I manage to change the subject from looking for a kitchen job in the restaurant to the pesto on the table. It’s so good that I couldn’t help asking for extras, repeatedly. Our waitress noticed how much we love the pesto. The portion she brings out gets bigger and bigger each time.

“What’s in it?” I finally asked.
“You like it a lot, don’t you?” She smiles, “This is my absolute favorite too. It’s chipotle flavored pesto.”
“Where does the nutty flavor come from? Is it pine nuts?” I made my assumption.
“No, it’s actually pecan.”
I wait until the waitress walks away and turn to Han, “I am gonna try to make this at home.” Despite the fact that we’ve finished two portions of the pesto, he slowly dips into the pesto with his fork and carefully tastes it like he had never had it before.
“There’s definitely garlic in it.” He analyzes the flavor on his tongue, “Olive oil and some sort of cheese.”

That’s how this Chipotle Pecan Pesto happened. We’ve successfully reverse engineered the recipe and it tastes so damn close to the one in Bouldin Creek Cafe.
Like my pico de gallo and peach pico de gallo, you can literally put this Chipotle Pecan Pesto on everything. Whatever it touches, it becomes extremely tasty. I’d be honest with you. I don’t really like hard boiled eggs. But now I can easily eat two hard boiled eggs with the pesto in the morning as breakfast. Also, it’s great with pasta.

If you ever visit Austin, do make your way to this one-of-a-kind vegetarian restaurant. We’ve been trying to experience every single thing on both their lunch menu and dinner menu. Oh, they also serve breakfast all day. Their omelets are the bomb!
Other than using it as a dipping sauce or tossing it with pasta, what’s your idea to enjoy this Chipotle Pecan Pesto? Make it and let me know in the comments below. Cheers!


Chipotle Pecan Pesto
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/4 cups 1x
- Category: Sauce, Gluten Free
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Chipotle flavored pesto with pecan, garlic, olive oil and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- 3 large cloves of garlic
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 –5 Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
- 1/2 cup pecan
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine garlic and olive oil. Pulse process until the garlic is minced.
- Add Chipotle peppers and pecan to the food processor. Don’t be afraid of scooping some adobe sauce in. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
- Transfer the mixture into a medium bowl and stir in parmesan cheese. Mix well until the cheese completely blends in.
Notes
The pesto can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 1154
- Sugar: 8.8g
- Sodium: 2565mg
- Fat: 101.3g
- Saturated Fat: 26.6g
- Carbohydrates: 80mg
- Fiber: 14.1g
- Protein: 39.2g
- Cholesterol: 80mg
Keywords: pesto
No actual basil in there??
No basil in there. But you can try to add some if you are inclined. 🙂
I was in Austin in April and since then, have been craving this stuff from bouldin! So happy I found this recipe. It’s wonderful.
★★★★★
So happy to hear it, Eliza! That restaurant is magic.
2 questions: our waiter said it was vegan, so either it has vegan parmesan, or Parmesan is not one of the ingredients (or the waiter was wrong, but that would surprise me) Also, it’s sweet as well as spicy. I didn’t see anything in your recipe that would make it sweet. What do you think? Thanks
Hey Suzie! The waiter was not wrong. Their Chiplote Pecan Pesto is vegan. My guess is that they don’t add any cheese in it. But I don’t remember it being sweet. It’s been a while since last time I dined there though, so I could be wrong. If you like it to be sweet, you could try to add a splash of coconut aminos when you make it at home. Let me know how it turns out if you do get a chance to make it. Cheers!
Hey, Leah! I actually used to work there. However, couldn’t get my hands on the recipe. One thing I know for sure is they use a lot of nutritional yeast in recipes. It does taste rather sweet. I’d try that instead of the Parmesan if you’d like it to be vegan.
Thank you for sharing this. I was at the cafe today and told my husband we have to make it at home. Also suggested they create a cookbook- so many delicious and healthy dishes!
★★★★★
You are welcome, Lea! I know – the food at the cafe is amazing. My husband joked that I should work there and learn how to cook every single dish there. lol
Great job on figuring out their recipe! I’m going to try this one it looks so great!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for figuring out this recipe. Was there last week and blown away by this stuff. I also think it is vegan…maybe nutritional yeast. Cannot wait to try this.
You are right. Their stuff is vegan. They don’t add parmesan cheese in the pesto. Hope you enjoy it!
Yes!! I can’t wait to try and make this! I’ve been dreaming about Bouldin Creek’s Pecan pesto since I returned from Austin to the UK. So happy this is the first thing I found on Google. Thank you!
Hope this recipe can bring you back some good memories of Austin! 🙂 Let me know how you like it!
Thank you so much for reverse engineering this recipe. I, too, am a BCC chipotle pesto fan. I plan to make it myself and wonder. What adobe sauce do you use? Something off the shelf?
Hey Ave, I just used the adobe sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce.
2 years ago I lived practically next door to Bouldin Creek Cafe and my husband and I went ALL the time. I’m so happy to find this recipe! Tried it and it’s perfect, brought back so many memories! Thanks!
Hey Kelsey! I lived practically next door to Bouldin Creek Cafe about a year ago. 🙂 Loved that area including the restaurant so much. I am glad to hear that this recipe brought back your memories. Thank you for letting me know. It’s much appreciated.
Thanks for the recipe. I just made it without the cheese. I am allergic to dairy and told the waiter I was and he assured me it had no cheese. It is so good! If I could handle the dairy I might add it but will try next time adding nutritional yeast, though it tastes like the restaurant version without it to me.
Hi Joyce! That’s great to hear. Yea, they did an amazing job creating this recipe. So glad that you are able to make it at home now. Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂
I also add sun dried tomatoes in oil to my recipe! Other than that I do the same as you! My husband added a bit of water to it before putting it on meatball subs, and it gave it the nice creamy texture that Bouldin’s has.
Nice! Adding a bit water is such a good idea. I always add more olive oil when it’s out of the fridge and gets a little dry. I will try adding water next time. Thanks for the tip! ?
Me and my girlfriend love the chipotle pesto appetizer from Bouldin Creek! We live in Chicago and will try to make it at home. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh cool. It’s funny that I just came back from Chicago. When you get a chance to make the pesto, let me know what you think. One reader mentioned that Bouldin Creek Cafe doesn’t use parmesan cheese in their pesto. I’ve tried it without the cheese, it works and tastes just like the one we had at the restaurant. But if you like cheese, I would recommend you add it into pesto. 🙂 Enjoy!
Just a heads up, there is no cheese in theirs. Took me a bit to get it right myself. I add a fresh squeezed lemon to mine, worth giving a try. Try it without the cheese sometime!
What? Really? There’s no cheese?? So theirs is totally vegan?? That’s crazy considering how good it tastes! That’s good to know, though. I’ll try without cheese next time. Thanks, Robert!
Right?! But yes, totally vegan. Maybe a little nutritional yeast? But I personally haven’t picked up on that. Pretty incredible stuff though, the possibilities are endless with it. I’m sure the cheese addition does taste great though, just another variation.
The possibilities are seriously endless. I always keep the stuff in my fridge now. When it’s out, I make more. Haven’t finished the current batch of the cheese version yet. Will try the vegan version for my next batch. 🙂
This sounds so yummy. Chipolte pesto. Yes please. Your husband also sounds a lot like mine. He’s also a software engineer and a total big dreamer.
Haha…for some reason, software engineers think and believe that everything is possible and also doable. lol
Great idea! This would be good on lots of things! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Amanda! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
This is so different…I love a unique spin on a classic recipe. Thanks for sharing!