Basic Pesto

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

What Is Pesto?

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.

How To Make Basic Pesto

INGREDIENTS

• Basil: The key ingredient here, so make sure yours is perky and vibrant green. Also, no stems, please—no flavor there.
• Olive Oil: The olive oil is the medium that ties all the flavors together. Extra-virgin is essential—anything else will taste flat.
• Pine Nuts: Soft and oily pine nuts readily break down into a paste that merges seamlessly with the pesto. Yes, they are pricey, but you don’t need much. Warning: Pine nuts go bad surprisingly quickly. Buy what you need and use expeditiously.
• Garlic Cloves: Pesto is unabashedly garlicky and as such, you’re well advised to make sure your garlic is in peak condition—i.e., firm, with tight skins and zero signs of sprouting or discoloration.
• Parmesan: Parm lends salty savory depth to pesto, and you’ll get a lot more savor and depth if you grate it fresh. For a more affordable but still excellent alternative, swap in Grana Padano.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

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!

Recipe Tips

• What is a good substitute for pine nuts in pesto? Pine nuts are quite soft and oily, so it’s worth looking to other nuts with those qualities. Walnuts are an excellent candidate. Or for a couple of left-field alternatives, it’s worth giving pecans or sunflower seeds a try.
• Is it worth it to blanch the basil? Many recipes do call for the basil to be plunged into boiling water for 5 seconds, then shocked in ice water. Why? Two reasons. First, aesthetics: Blanching gives basil a lovely bright green color. And second, shelf life: Blanching forestalls oxidative browning, so the pesto not only stays bright green but also tastes fresh for longer. My take: Don’t bother. Blanching comes at the cost of precious basil oils (flavor) and only adds water (no flavor) to the mixture. You can allay browning to some extent by floating a layer of oil on top of pesto before refrigerating it. Ultimately, though, you’re best off consuming pesto as soon as possible and freezing what you don’t expect to use.

Basic Pesto Variations

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:

• Swap out the pine nuts. Good news—you can use pretty much any kind of nut you like! Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, or even pecans are all great substitutions, but you can even use seeds like sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
• Switch up the cheese. If you’re looking to stray from the classic Parmesan, any hard, salty aged cheese will work best. We like Pecorino or Manchego, but even Gouda would work if you're a fan.
• Play with the herbs. You can either swap out the basil completely or go 50/50 with arugula, kale, or mint (to name just a few options).

Serving Ideas

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?).

Storage

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.