More Pesto Options
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Put the store-bought jar down. It's truly worth it to make pesto at home. Bursting with fresh basil flavor, homemade pesto is incredibly easy to make (just 5 ingredients and 15 minutes!) and endlessly versatile in its applications (it’s a sauce! a spread! a condiment!). Once you’ve mastered my classic recipe, you can experiment to your heart's content for use in your favorite pasta recipes, appetizers, and weeknight dinners.
What People Are Saying:
"Such an easy and delicious pesto recipe! Love the consistency and the ratio was perfect. Will definitely experiment with swapping in different nuts when I don't have pine nuts on hand." -RachelC
"I made this for my family and they just loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe!" -ChefG
Originating in the city of Genoa in the northwestern corner of Italy, pesto is an uncooked herb sauce made from basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, cheese (usually Parmesan), and salt. Its name comes from the verb prestare (“to pound”) and, indeed, pesto was traditionally made with a mortar and pestle. To this day, purists swear this method extracts the best flavor from the basil and garlic and yields an unmatched pesto. If you’ve got a mortar and pestle at home, I encourage you to give it a go and judge the results for yourself.
Combine the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and a large pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse until mostly smooth; don’t go overboard and liquify it. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t worry—you can use a mortar and pestle or, failing that, just chop everything very finely by hand.
Transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in Parmesan. All that’s left is to season to taste and presto—pesto!
Once you’ve mastered this classic pesto recipe, the sky’s the limit—there are countless variations you can make based on what you have on hand or what you feel like creating. Here are a few ideas for inspo:
You have a bowl of delicious pesto at your disposal—now what do you do with it? A classic choice would be to toss it with your favorite pasta and some extra Parmesan for the easiest weeknight dinner, but that’s just the beginning of your options. Spread it on pizza, add it to eggs, throw it in pasta salad, or layer it on top of a chicken dinner (pesto chicken, anyone?).
Pesto will last 1 week in an airtight container in the fridge, or up to 8 months in the freezer. Tip: I love freezing leftover pesto in ice cube trays so I can pop out a single serving any time I’m craving a quick and easy bowl of pasta.
tightly packed fresh basil leaves
extra-virgin olive oil
pine nuts
cloves garlic, chopped
Kosher salt
finely grated Parmesan
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