My basil pesto recipe can be whipped up in 15 minutes, and it’s not just for pasta! Below are 25+ ways to use it, along with some tips for success!
Every home cook needs a simple basil pesto recipe, especially in the summer when fresh basil is abundant. With simple ingredients, you can whip up a batch in about 10 minutes. The only tricky part about making this pesto is resisting the urge to eat it by the spoonful!
Pesto means “pounded” because the traditional preparation was to pound and grind the ingredients into a paste using a mortar and pestle. It’s served throughout Italy, especially in the Genoa region where it originated, and basil grows abundantly in the hills. It’s a raw sauce and requires no cooking. The mortar and pestle preparation yields a creamier, vibrant, bright green sauce, but it takes time and patience, so most people use a small food processor.
Why We Love This Recipe
- Homemade pesto is infinitely better than store-bought.
- Fresh pesto is incredibly flavorful.
- You can make it in less than 15 minutes!
- It’s the perfect way to use an abundance of basil.
Basil Pesto Recipe
Traditional pesto is made with basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. It does not include lemon, but I love the bright, acidic flavor it adds. The lemon also helps keep it green. I only use one tablespoon, so the lemon flavor is mild, and I can still use the pesto in other things.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- fresh basil leaves
- fresh garlic
- toasted pine nuts
- fresh lemon juice
- extra virgin olive oil
- parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
To toast the pine nuts, add them to a small pan over medium-high heat. Constantly shake the pan to move the nuts around, stirring them well every few seconds. As soon as you see color on the nuts, remove the pan from the heat AND get the nuts out of the pan. They can go from perfectly toasted to burned in seconds, and leaving them in a hot pan will most certainly burn them.
How To Make This Basil Pesto Recipe
This is so easy that it’s hard even to call it a recipe, but the order in which you do things matters. Also, don’t overprocess the pesto. It shouldn’t be completely smooth, and working too much can ruin it.
- Add the toasted pine nuts and garlic to a small food processor.
- Pulse 5 to 10 times or until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- With the food processor running, slowly stream in the olive oil.
- Add the lemon and basil and pulse a few times, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Pulse a few more times until it’s smooth but still a little chunky.
- Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse 2-3 times to combine.
- Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking.
- If you like your pesto a little looser, add additional olive oil and/or lemon juice.
Tips For Success
The recipe is straightforward, but I’ve made it more times than I can count and have learned a few things.
- Use the freshest basil you can get. It makes a difference.
- Pack as much as possible into your measuring cup for two cups of packed basil.
- Finely grate the Parmesan with a microplane and stir it in at the end. It gives the sauce texture.
- Mince the garlic before adding it to the recipe. No one wants to bite down on a chunk of raw garlic.
- Use good-quality Parmesan cheese and grate it fresh. Never use the stuff in the green can.
- Remove the stems from the basil, especially the large, thick ones.
- Wash the leaves, and make sure to dry them thoroughly. I use a salad spinner.
Pro tip: The Italians don’t toast their pine nuts, and I don’t either. Pesto is pungent; pine nuts are rich, creamy, and buttery. To create a more balanced, rounder-flavored sauce, keep them raw and thank me later.
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To Blanch Basil Or Not To Blanch
Some recipes recommend blanching the basil to preserve its bright green color. I’ve tested this countless times and think it dulls the basil’s flavor. The pesto will darken the longer it’s stored in the refrigerator, but there are some things you can do to help.
- Before storing it in the fridge, drizzle a thin layer of olive oil on top. This keeps oxygen away, which helps it stay green.
- Keep everything cold before and during preparation. The steel blades can warm the ingredients and oxidize the basil. While I wash and dry the basil, the bowl and blades of the food processor, the pine nuts, and the lemon juice go into the freezer.
- Work quickly and in stages. Don’t add everything to the food processor at once; doing so will result in over-processing the basil.
Variations
Pesto is a simple recipe with minimal ingredients, but it’s also versatile and easy to jazz up!
- Add additional herbs and greens. My favorites are parsley and arugula!
- Try using roasted garlic instead of raw for a milder garlic flavor.
- Make it nut-free using sunflower or pumpkin seeds – or leave them out altogether.
- Swap the pine nuts for cashews, walnuts, or pistachios. They each give it a slightly different flavor
25 Ways To Use Fresh Basil Pesto
Once you have a batch made up, you’ll want to put it on everything. Here are some ideas:
- Stir it into my shrimp and avocado salad.
- Drizzle over a sizzling steak or grilled chicken.
- Toss with tortellini or ravioli.
- Cottage cheese toast and pesto? Yes, please.
- Serve as a dipping sauce with fries or potato wedges.
- Add it to my chicken protein bowls for a big boost of flavor.
- Rice and eggs can only be better when pesto comes to the party.
- Stir into cooked orzo along with spring veggies.
- Use it in lasagna to kick the flavor up a notch!
- Toss with gnocchi and fresh peas.
- Slather on freshly baked bread.
- Mix into macaroni and cheese for a big boost of flavor.
- Use on pizza instead of red sauce.
- Spoon over cooked salmon (or any seafood).
- Brush it over corn on the cob or with fresh corn salad.
- Add a spoonful to the top of scrambled eggs or in an omelet.
- Mix into chicken salad.
- Impress your guests with pesto potato or pasta salad.
- Add a dollop to a bowl of white beans.
- Drizzle over oven-roasted veggies.
- Toss with chicken meatballs and roasted tomatoes.
- Use on sandwiches in place of mayonnaise.
- Stir some into any cream sauce for a pop of herb flavor.
- Make a quick creamy pesto salad dressing.
- Stir into my oven-baked rice for a side dish everyone will love!
How To Store Leftover Pesto
We rarely have leftover pesto, but here are some tips if you do.
- Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Freeze in silicone ice cube trays and take out what you need.
- Thaw in the refrigerator to serve it fresh, or toss it into soups or sauces.
Questions About This Recipe
Can this be made dairy-free?
- Absolutely! You can leave out the Parmesan and swap it for nutritional yeast, which gives the dish a similar nutty, cheesy flavor.
Can you freeze this basil pesto recipe?
- You sure can! Spoon it into an ice cube tray with a lid, freeze until solid, and transfer the cubes to freezer bags. You can also leave it in the tray, which I do. I use these small silicone trays, which make it easy to pop each cube out as needed.
Why does my pesto taste bitter?
- There are a few things that can cause this.
- First, the olive oil you use matters. I recommend using extra-virgin olive oil. It tastes lighter than robust olive oil varieties, which can be peppery and bitter.
- Burned pine nuts can also cause bitterness, so follow the above-mentioned tips.
- Too much garlic can be the cause. This recipe only needs one small clove.
- Over-processing can cause bitterness. Follow the steps I gave, pulsing just until the pesto comes together – not turning it on and walking away.
Please let me know if you try these recipes by commenting below or tagging me on Instagram. Stay tuned for the next post, and sign up for the mailing list so you’ll be one of the first to know when it goes live! Thanks so much for being here, friends!
If you have food sensitivities, check out our dairy-free, gluten-free, low-carb, and vegetarian recipes!
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Lemon Basil Pesto Recipe Plus 25 Ways To Use It
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups basil leaves, packed
- 1 small clove of garlic, grated
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the toasted pine nuts and garlic to a small food processor.
- Pulse 5 to 10 times or until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- With the food processor running, slowly stream in the olive oil.
- Add the lemon and basil and pulse a few times. Scrape the sides as needed.
- Pulse a few more times until it’s smooth but still a little chunky.
- Add the Parmesan cheese and pulse 2-3 times to combine.
- Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking.
- If you like your pesto a little looser, add additional olive oil and/or lemon juice.
Notes
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