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This homemade basil pesto recipe is full of bright and fresh flavors, you’ll want to put it on everything!
Fresh basil leaves, olive oil, and parmesan cheese are blended with pine nuts and garlic to create a decadently creamy sauce that’s ready in minutes.
You’ll Love This Pesto Recipe Because…
- Nothing beats the fresh flavor of basil with its sweet and slightly peppery taste.
- It’s super quick to make, and you can truly use any type of herb or nuts in this recipe.
- It requires no cooking and can be added to everything from pasta to roasted veggies to cheese.
Ingredients and Swaps for Pesto
Basil: Use fresh basil pesto—many grocery stores sell a larger pesto pack of basil. Short on basil? Raid the garden and add parsley, kale, spinach, thyme, dill, or oregano in place.
Oil: Use any mild flavored oil such as olive oil, avocado, or canola for pesto.
Nuts: Pine nuts are traditional, but they can be pricey and sometimes hard to find. You can replace them with almost any kind of nut such as almonds, walnuts, pecans or even hazelnuts or seeds. Toast nuts or seeds in a dry saute pan until fragrant to intensify the flavor.
Cheese: Grate your parmesan for the best flavor, if you can. Other cheeses to use are Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, Asiago, or a little crumbled feta all bring that salty flavor balance to pesto.
How to Make Pesto
- Blend basil with 1 tablespoon of oil into a paste.
- Pulse in remaining ingredients until desired consistency (recipe below).
- Season as desired.
Ways to Use Pesto
- Pasta: Drain pasta, reserving a little bit of pasta water. Toss the pesto with pasta, adding water as needed to reach the desired consistency.
- Sandwiches: Add a spoonful of homemade pesto to mayo for an easy upgrade to burgers, pizza, wraps, and sandwiches.
- Eggs: Add a spoonful to scrambled eggs or spoon it fresh over fried eggs.
- Dip: Mix equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream, stir in pesto as a dip for veggies, chips, or crackers.
Storing Pesto
Keep leftover pesto sauce in a covered container or jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Freeze portions in quart-sized zippered freezer bags for up to 6 months or freeze in an ice cube tray and transfer to a zippered bag.
More Ways To Use Pesto…
Did you love this Basil Pesto? Leave a rating and a comment below.
Basil Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves packed
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese or romano cheese
- ¼ cup pine nuts walnuts or almonds
- 1 clove garlic quartered
- ¼ teaspoon salt more to taste
- ¼ to ⅓ cup olive oil divided
Instructions
- Place basil in a food processor with 1 tablespoon of oil. Pulse several times until blended.
- Add the parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, and salt. Pulse a few times to combine.
- With the processor running, slowly drizzle the olive oil, scraping the sides as needed, until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Taste and season with additional salt if desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dip, Dressing, Sauce
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This recipe is bless on a plate. I fixed it with pasta.
Husband and I both loved it.
Hi Judy. So glad that you and your husband enjoyed the recipe.
Lovely recipe, thank you.
If lemon were added, how much would one use?
Hi Celine, I don’t add lemon juice to this recipe but other readers have with great results. I would start with a teaspoon and taste then adjust accordingly.
Sorry! I didn’t scroll down far enough. I found the answer. That’s perfect!! I’m going to try it. The recipe I’ve used for years yelds a lot more and I don’t have quite that much fresh basil right now. Thanks so much!! Linda
Can someone tell me what the 1X recipe yields in actual measurement (1 cup? 1 1/2 cups), not servings?
Excellent recipe. I had never made pesto before and had quite of bit of basil in a pot that needed to be used up now that the weather is cooling down a bit. The whole family loved it.
Glad you enojoyed it, Jennifer!
Tasty! Easy!!
Thanks, Darlene. I am glad you enjoyed it!
How much does this make? A cup? Half cup??
Hi Marcia, this recipe makes approximately 1 cup of pesto.
Excellent recipe and I will be using it at the end of the summer when I need to do something with all the basil growing on my balcony! If I could make one suggestion regarding freezing in ice cube trays… if you line the tray with plastic wrap before filling with the pesto, it will make it much easier to remove the frozen cubes and eliminate the cleanup of the ice cube tray. I use this method whenever I freeze anything in ice cube trays, chicken broth, tomato paste, pesto, you name it.
Thanks for the tip, Robert. That’s a great idea.
Unfortunately, this did not hit the mark for me. I found later that it’s missing a very important ingredient-lemon. Which not only adds so much flavor, but also keeps the color of the basil a pretty light.
After tasting this version and being pretty disappointed, I added lots of lemon, lots more olive oil, more garlic, and a bit more salt and it was significantly improved in my opinion. I’m glad that other folks really loved this recipe, as I know that we all have different taste preferences.
Sorry to hear this recipe didn’t hit the mark for you Anna but thank you for sharing your additions!
Thank you for the tip! I was pretty disappointed as well. Adding lemon really helped but still not what I was hoping for.
This recipe was fail proof! I had never made pesto and the directions were clear and straight forward. I used a mixture of fresh basil, baby spinach and natural almonds. So so good!
So glad you loved it too Erin!
This is my go to pesto recipe, it’s always delicious!
I’m so glad you’ve loved it Kathy!
Great, simple pesto recipe. I’ve been trying different pesto recipes but they all come out too coarse. This recipe is absolutely perfect, and the results are a creamy, delicious pesto. I did put a little lemon juice in it to keep the color, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. This one is a keeper. Thank you, Holly!
I’m so glad you loved it Vinny!
This is how I make my Pesto but I add some fresh lemon juice. The lemon juice really enhances the flavors. One of our favorite ways to eat the pesto is with cheese tortellini. Delish!!!
I definitely agree Pam! It is amazing on cheese tortellini!