This authentic Italian Pesto recipe is a vibrant sauce with fresh basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic and freshly squeezed lemon juice. There are so many ways to use Pesto, from tossing it with pasta or gnocchi to spreading it on sandwiches or drizzling it over a salad. It’s so versatile!
Homemade pesto is surprisingly easy to make from scratch, and it keeps really well, so I always have it stashed in the freezer.
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Helpful Reader Review
“LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe!! So easy to make and delicious. I always make a bunch, pour a tiny bit of oil on the top of the pesto in the containers and freeze!. Such a fresh tasty treat in the winter!!” – Julie ★★★★★
Pesto Recipe Video
Watch me make the best (and easiest) basil pesto. This one has so much fresh and vibrant flavor. Even my kids love it, especially tossed with hot pasta! This pesto recipe is also the secret ingredient in Chicken Pesto Pasta and Chicken Pesto Roll-Ups.
The Best Homemade Pesto
I’m always comparing this homemade pesto to the Costco pesto (which is the best store-bought one I’ve found), and this fresh pesto recipe wins. The lemon juice keeps the color bright and beautiful and adds fresh flavor without needing too much extra salt (store-bought pesto tends to taste saltier).
What is Pesto? Pesto is essentially a vibrant Italian green sauce made by crushing together fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. It’s a sauce that originated in Genoa, Italy, with the term pesto derived from the Italian word “pestare” which means to crush or to pound. It was originally made using a Mortar and Pestle, but we find it’s faster and easier in a food processor, which is a little controversial, but I do appreciate my time-saving tools.
Ingredients
Most of the ingredients needed for this pesto recipe are things you probably already have on hand. If you don’t have basil growing in your garden, it’s best to buy it fresh the day you are making the sauce.
- Basil – use fresh basil leaves. The common basil leaves for pesto are large-leaf basil, sweet basil, or Genovese basil. Rinse, drain, and dry your basil leaves. If you want to change up the flavor, you can also add some fresh herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, mint, or green onions.
- Parmesan cheese – you can use pre-shredded or freshly grated. You could also substitute with Pecorino Romano.
- Extra virgin olive oil – this is the best oil for pesto, and use the best quality oil you can source – it adds tons of flavor to the sauce.
- Pine nuts – these are typical for pesto
- Garlic cloves – we use 2 large cloves, which add a nice punch
- Lemon juice – use freshly squeezed juice from 1 large or 2 smaller lemons. Do not use lemon juice concentrate.
Can I substitute Pine Nuts?
While traditional pesto sauce is made with pine nuts, they can be a bit expensive. You can make pesto without pine nuts and try a variation with walnuts, pistachios or blanched almonds. You can also make it nut-free with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
To get the most flavor out of your nuts, toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing often until golden and fragrant. Cool before using them in the recipe.
What Type of Basil Should I Use?
There are many varieties of basil. A few of the most popular include Italian large leaf (sweet basil), Thai basil, and lemon basil. Any of these can be used for pesto, but each has a slightly different flavor profile.
For a traditional basil pesto flavor, use the Italian large leaf. Most people typically think of this leaf as “normal” basil. It’s also referred to as sweet basil or Genovese basil and is the type of basil most commonly sold in grocery stores. It’s the same basil I use for Green Goddess Dressing.
Pro Tip:
If you love time-saving shortcuts, the fastest way to rinse and dry fresh basil leaves is to put them into a salad spinner, add cold water to rinse, then drain and spin dry. Drying the basil is important so you don’t end up with a watered-down sauce.
How to Make Basil Pesto
- Prep Basil – Gently rinse fresh basil leaves and pat dry or use a salad spinner to remove excess water.
- Process Sauce – Place all of your ingredients in a food processor or a high-powered blender and pulse until smooth. Be careful not to overblend in a blender – the consistency should still have a little bit of texture, as in the photos below.
Pro Tip:
After blending the pesto, add more salt to taste if desired. Keep in mind that store-bought pesto sauces can be significantly saltier to compensate for freshness. Salt also preserves the sauce for a longer shelf life.
Serve Pesto with
Basil pesto adds incredible flavor to a variety of dishes. Of course, there are obvious uses for pesto, like mixing it in with your favorite pasta dish, but there’s so much more you can do with it!
- Spread on a chicken sandwich for an elevated lunch.
- Pizza sauce – try it on our overnight pizza dough or our quick pizza dough instead of pizza sauce or drizzle on as a topping for pizza.
- Pasta sauce – delicious in Chicken Pesto Pasta and Gnocchi or over Homemade Pasta or spaghett.i
- Salad dressing – Thin it down with oil or vinegar and make a basil pesto salad dressing. You can also drizzle basil pesto over Caprese Salad instead of balsamic glaze.
- Filling – it’s excellent in Chicken Pesto Roll-ups
- Marinate or toss with your favorite grilled or roasted veggies.
- Topping for meat – spread pesto over pan-seared steak, baked chicken breast, baked salmon, roasted pork tenderloin, grilled steak, and of course, roasted beef tenderloin.
Storage Tips
When my garden is mass-producing basil, I love to preserve pesto so I can enjoy it long after the season for basil is over. Thankfully, pesto recipe keeps really well in the refrigerator and freezer.
- To Refrigerate: Store in an airtight container for up to one week. You want to minimize exposure to the air to prevent discoloration and spoiling. Drizzling the top with olive oil will also help keep the air away from the sauce.
- Freezing Pesto: Portion pesto into ice-cube trays. Once frozen, transfer the individual cubes to a freezer-safe zip bag or container, label, and freeze for up to 3 months. You can also transfer the pesto directly to freezer-safe zip bags and lay flat in the freezer.
- To Thaw: you can thaw at room temperature for a few hours or thaw in the refrigerator overnight. You can also do a quick thaw in the microwave for short intervals of 15 seconds until just thawed.
Basil Pesto Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed*
- 3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, *
- 2 garlic cloves, (large)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, (juice of 2 small lemons)
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and dry the basil leaves – you can use a salad spinner to make this step easier.
- Place basil into a food processor. Add parmesan cheese, nuts, garlic cloves, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth.
- Season with more salt to taste if desired.
Notes
*Nut substitutions: Pine nuts are traditional for pesto, but you can substitute them with walnuts or blanched almonds.
*Toast the nuts: For more flavor, you can toast the nuts over medium heat in a dry skillet, tossing frequently until the nuts are golden and fragrant then cool to room temperature before using.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Easy Homemade Sauces
The flavors and ingredients of pesto and these homemade condiment recipes are way better than storebought. Once you make your own homemade dressings and sauces, you won’t want anything else.
- Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
- Tartar Sauce Recipe
- Horseradish Sauce Recipe
- Chimichurri Sauce
- Ranch Dressing
- Caesar Dressing
- Homemade BBQ Sauce
I love pesto but I never seem to buy it. So glad that I can make it for myself now! So delicious.
I hope you love this recipe, Julie!
Can I freeze the pesto? And if so, how long will it retain the taste? I’m thinking of making it for Christmas gifts. Thank yiu
Hi Donna, I hope this its helpeful, here is what one of our readers wrote “To freeze, I fill up ice trays with the pesto, let them harden, & then put the individual cubes in a ziploc bag. Works great!!”
This was really amazing! And I loved that it is so easy to make!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is such a great way to add so much flavor to sandwiches! Loved it!
I’m so happy you enjoeyd that, Jen!
My first attempt at making my own pesto and I am so pleased with how this recipe turned out. I used a blender and found that I needed to add a little extra olive oil to get it to blend properly.
Thanks for the recipe
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Alicia!
Turned out perfect. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha! I planted some cinnamon basil in my garden this year and it’s growing like crazy. Unfortunately my traditional Italian basil is not doing so well. I’m wondering if you (or anyone else reading this) has ever tried pesto with this variety. I’m all for experimenting, but the ingredients are kind of expensive, so would rather get some feedback. Thanks so much…your recipes are consistently amazing!
Hi Amy, I haven’t tested with cinnamon basil but I did come across a couple of recipes from a quick google search. You might taste it before adding lemon juice and then stir lemon juice into a small batch to see if the flavors are complimentary. If you test it out with cinnamon basil, please let me know how it goes. Someone else may have the same question.
Looks great!
Thank you, Kamal!
Hi Natasha,
Is it okay to omit to the nuts?
The nuts actually make up a large portion of this recipe so you might consider replacing them. I have heard of people making pesto with seeds. You might research nut free pesto on Google to get more ideas.
I have a question about the leaves. I looked at your recipe and on the picture with your basil leaves, one had a hole in it. Is it ok to use ones that are not ‘perfect’. I tried to look for information online to see which ones i should discard. So, I picked through a whole bunch and only picked the healthy ones and threw out the ones with any marks on them or holes or ‘bitten’ ones. Would love to know your experience with this. Thank you for your help.
Hi Flora, as long as the basil doesn’t look wilted or spoiled, a good rinse should do the trick 🙂 Not all of the leaves have to be perfect since they are blended 🙂
Thank you for you response, however, still a little confused about what I do with brown spotted or marked ones. They so not look spoiled other than the marks… do I cut those parts out and still could use the leaves. For the bug bitten ones I was told I could use them…just wondering..because I had so many like that this year…
You can add them to the pesto and just blend everything together. I wouldn’t discard unless you have an abundance or excess.
Thank you:) will try it out with your recipe
My pleasure! Please let me know how it turns out!
I LOVE pesto!!!! It tastes so good on hamburgers, pasta and sandwiches. I wonder how well the pesto can keep up in the freezer? 🙂
I’ve never tried freezing pesto so I’m not sure. If you test it, let me know how it goes. The color might not be as vibrant after freezing.
Pesto freezes really well. I make my own or usually buy the Costco one (good quality and great value) and divide it up into sandwich bags in portions. 3-5 TBSP each bag or you decide!
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Guy I also made my pesto sauce and freeze it. but I made it without the cheese. Do you made it with cheese and freeze it?
hi, i was wondering if theres anything i can use instead of basil leaves? i cant find fresh ones anywhere 🙁
Traditionally pesto is made with basil, but you can substitute for spinach although the flavor would change quite a bit. You might search online for a spinach pesto recipes.
Trader Joe sells them.
how long can this pesto sit in the fridge for before it goes bad?
We’ve always eaten it within a couple days, but I probably wouldn’t leave it longer than 5-7 days in the fridge. It also depends on how fresh your basil is; if it was already kind of wilting when you used it, it won’t last long.
Hello. Quick question. Which salad spinner brand do you have? And also what size – small or large?
The one photographed here is the OXO large salad spinner. The one I currently use is the Dexas salad spinner. Both are very good!
This year my mom got excited and planted a lot, in fact a little too much basil so when I show her this recipe she will be so happy that we can put that basil to good use. I’m excited to make this cause I love this stuff, even as a dip.
Let me know hot it turns out :).
This stuff is amazing! We made pasta with it and later had it with our sandwiches (instead of mayo). I made a lot a froze about half of it. You’re awesome, Natasha!
Thank you, I’m glad you like it :).
Best recipe I’ve used for pesto
I grill cauliflower steaks and spread this pesto on each side
Aaaaaamazing!
That sounds like the best combination! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Pat!
try toasting the pine nuts … it’s even more yummier!!!
ooh, I think I will 🙂 Thanks Irina!
looks very delish. thank you
That pesto looks delicious! Thanks for sharing
I agree that pesto can do so much to add flavour to just about anything. I’ve added my pesto to regular tomato sauce, to my homemade vegetable soup, with white wine when cooking mussels, in a thin layer on pizza dough before any other sauces or toppings. I’ve also made pesto with spinach when basil is not plentiful in my area. When I freeze it, I put a plop of it in a small sandwich bag, flatten the bag before I close the ziploc. I stack several flat bags like this in the freezer and take out one when I need it. Or open the bag and break off a bit of the flat pesto when I need just a bit. Thanks for the recipe, I’d better get some basil asap.
Thank you so much for sharing your ideas!
To freeze, I fill up ice trays with the pesto, let them harden, & then put the individual cubes in a ziploc bag. Works great!!
Thanks for sharing that with us Jennifer!
Hi.Natasha I like pesto but added parsley leaves that tastes better.Hello from Poland.
Thank you for sharing that with me. I love that idea! It reminds me of chimichurri sauce.
Looks Yummy.
Hi Deepa – thank you! I was just checking out your site. What recipe would you recommend for someone who has zero experience with Indian food?