With a combination of fresh herbs, nuts, cheese and olive oil, it’s so simple to master how to make pesto. It’s one of the most versatile sauces that can be stirred into pasta, spread on a pizza or even mixed into grains and into vinaigrette for salads.
No matter the cuisine or ingredients, sauces can really transform food. That includes anything from vegetables to proteins to pasta. And it doesn’t matter if they are grilled, roasted or not cooked at all.
The light herby taste of pesto is one that you can use in countless dishes that go far beyond fettuccine and fusilli. I like to think of it as a flavor booster. Add a spoon of pesto to anything from scrambled eggs to avocado toast, and they will be instantly transformed.
I like to keep a jar of homemade pesto in my fridge at all times just for this reason. Think of all the possibilities.
Hailing from Genoa, Italy, this sauce is formally known as pesto alla genovese. In Italian, the word pesto comes from the verb pestare, which means to crush. And this really sums up how to make pesto.
The traditional ingredients include fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper. With a mortar and pestle, you mash them together, first starting with the garlic and nuts, and then the basil leaves with the salt and pepper, and then the cheese and finally the olive oil.
Making it by hand is certainly doable with a little elbow grease, but here I will show you how to make it in a food processor or blender.
This is what you need:
My first choice is to make homemade pesto in a food processor, but you can also do it in a blender depending what equipment you have in your kitchen.
You can store pesto in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. I like to keep mine in a jar. The chill of the fridge will likely cause the olive oil to become solid. Just let the pesto sit out at room temperature for it to liquefy again.
If you want to store it longer, you can freeze it. Again, put it in an airtight container and freeze it up to 3-4 months. Thaw it at room temperature. Then it will stay good in the fridge after that for about 2 weeks.
To freeze it in smaller portions, spoon it into ice cube trays, ones with lids are even better to keep away any freezer taste. Or you can pop out the cubes and put them in a freezer bag.
Absolutely! Just omit the nuts and make the recipe as it is written with garlic, basil, cheese and olive oil. Be aware that the yield will be slightly less, and you may not need as much olive oil.
Basil is definitely a summer herb. It loves warm weather and sun. More companies are growing basil hydroponically in water in greenhouses, so then you can buy it year round without the guilt of indulging in it off-season. And many are local to certain regions and cities, so that’s a win for less food miles too.
No, you can use other fresh herbs such as parsley and cilantro or greens like spinach and arugula.
Yes. If you like the brightness of citrus, squeeze in the juice of a lemon when you puree the basil, cheese and nuts. Since this adds liquid, you might be able to slightly reduce the amount of much olive oil.
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With a combination of fresh herbs, nuts, cheese and olive oil, it’s so simple to master how to make pesto, one of the most versatile sauces.
This recipe can easily be doubled.
Store the pesto in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To keep the pesto longer, you can freeze it up to 4 months in a single container or portion it out into ice cube trays. Thaw it at room temperature.
Keywords: basil pesto, how to make pesto
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