How To Make Pesto

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.

What Is Pesto?

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.

How To Make Pesto

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.

Mince the garlic. Rather than putting all the ingredients in at once and hoping everything gets pureed evenly, I start with the garlic. Take advantage of the blade of the food processor to mince the garlic, then you don’t have to do it by hand with a knife.

Add the basil, Parmesan, nuts, salt and pepper to the food processor.

Process the ingredients until they are finely chopped.

Drizzle in the olive oil with the motor running. In a food processor you can do this through the feeder tube. And with a blender, you can pour in the olive oil by removing the cap on the lid. It won’t take long to mix the oil evenly into the rest of the ingredients, and then it’s ready.

Do not puree it too much. You should still be able to see tiny chopped basil leaves and nuts. You can pulse it if you’re worried about over-mixing.

How To Store Pesto

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.