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.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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 It was originally made using a Mortar and Pestle, but we find it’s faster and easier in a food processor, which is a little controversial, but I do appreciate my time-saving tools.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
Wow tried this pesto tonight
Unbelievable my husband ate all the pasta with pesto 3x
Awesome, thanks
Wow, that is great! Thanks for sharing your good feedback with us.
Great recipe!! I think the lemon juice adds such a brightness to the flavor! This is a keeper!
Thank you for that wonderful feedback!
Amazing, I haven’t been able to eat store bought pesto so this was a pleasure to eat and so fresh tasting.
Thank you for sharing that with us, Bonnie. I appreciate the good review!
Came out perfect 👍
Thank you Natasha.
I’m so glad you loved the pesto. Thanks for your great review. I’d love to hear how you served it.
Awesome recipe. I did add extra basil, just because I didn’t want to waste the basil. I also used slivered blanched almonds because it’s the only nuts I had at home. I left one container in the fridge and froze the rest. I have bought the one from Costco and froze it. Keeps well. This recipe tastes as good if not better than Costco’s. Thanks for the recipe.
Hello Barb, you’re so welcome! Thank you for your wonderful feedback and for sharing your experience making this recipe.
What’s your opinion of freezing the pesto then using it? I have a basil bush I need to use up and hate to waste. Was hoping it worked perfect so we could save more instead of wasting!
Hi Abbey, 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!!”
Delicious!
Thank you for the good review!
Hi Natasha
Do you toast the pinenuts in your recipe?
You sure can! One of our readers mentioned they loved it that much more after toasting the nuts. I hope that helps.
I tried this recipe and didn’t change a thing..like another commenter, mine turned out incredibly bitter. I kept tasting to try to figure out why, and I think its the lemon juice.. Whatever it is, its really unpalatable.
Hi Lauren, did you taste any of the individual ingredients to see if you can identify a culprit? Some parmesan cheeses taste weird to me (they can have an old-bitterness to them), or maybe you used a different variety of basil that was a bitter batch? Lemon juice shouldn’t cause bitterness unless you include the white pith in the recipe (make sure it’s just the juice). Lastly, did you taste the pine nuts to see if those may have been bitter? I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha, I’m going to try this recipe. Is there any alternative to parmesan cheese or can I skip adding it. Please help.
Hi, a Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or pecorino cheese would also work or a blend of all of them. The texture wouldn’t be quite right without the cheese though.
Hi Natasha, how many grams should be the basil? It is a little difficult to measure it with cups. Can I freeze the pesto?
Hi Maria, we have it listed in the recipe as “48 g fresh basil leaves tightly packed” If you click “Jump to recipe” at the top of the post it will take you to our printable recipe where you have the option to view the ingredients in US Customary or Metric measurements. I hope that helps.
Thank you very much I hadn’t notice it. I just made it and it was super.
Excellent recipe. I have never used lemon juice in pesto before and it really added a wonderful subtle flavor. I used walnuts, since that s what I had on hand, and I quadrupled the amount of nuts to boost the protein. It was delicious!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
Hi,
We cannot take pine nuts due to food allergies what can be substituted or removed to still achieve the same basil pesto?
Would we still need lemon juice?
Thanks,
Darren
Hi Darren, Pine nuts is the main ingredient in Pesto but another nut may work. Here’s what one of our readers wrote. “Just made this, but substituted pecans for pine nuts, as that’s what I had on hand. It’s my first time making Pesto, so I don’t know what your recipe, Natasha, tastes like, but mine turned out delicious. All ingredients the same except for the nut substitution. I think that one could probably use any kind of nut in this. The flavour mostly comes from the basil, garlic, lemon, etc. I have loved every one of your recipes that I have tried. Keep it up!” I hope that helps.
My recipe has same ingred…just different amounts. Over the years I learned lemon juice is key, keeps it nice and green. I do one batch with pine nuts, second batch almonds. If making big pasta dish I use homemade and then add a pkg of Knorr’s dry pesto. They blend well together. Very good recipe, Thanks.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Pam!
Just made this, but substituted pecans for pine nuts, as that’s what I had on hand. It’s my first time making Pesto, so I don’t know what your recipe, Natasha, tastes like, but mine turned out delicious. All ingredients the same except for the nut substitution. I think that one could probably use any kind of nut in this. The flavour mostly comes from the basil, garlic, lemon, etc. I have loved every one of your recipes that I have tried. Keep it up!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing that with us & for the wonderful review.
I used the Pesto tonight on a side dish of elbow macaroni. It was so good!!!! I’m going to make your Chicken Pesto Roll-ups for dinner tomorrow.
That’s so great! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
My substitute for (expensive) pine nuts is Soy Beans. Get dry soy at an asian store. They are very cheap. Cook in the crock pot on low overnight in lightly salted water.
Thank you so much for sharing that with us Rich!
I make this but take out the cheese and add spinach and kale to make it healthier. Still tastes amazing!
Thank you for sharing that with me, Ana! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
I freeze pesto in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, I pop the cubes out of the tray and store in a large zip-loc bag. Works great and avoids waste of all those little zip-loc baggies!
Thank you so much for sharing that Laura!
I gave your recipe 5 stars without trying because its the same recipe I’ve been using for years! I have an additional trick for preserving: I put my pesto in small jam mason jars and cover the top with about 1/4″ olive oil and store in the freezer for winter or, during the holidays I take it out and unthaw and give it for gifts to guests. The olive oil seals the top and prevents the pesto from turning dark and spoiling. I put a big spoonful into my spaghetti sauce as well as all the other ideas listed by others. One tip for freezing is to leave about an inch at the top of the jar so as the pesto expands in the freezer it doesn’t crack your jar. Otherwise, mine lasts for months in the refrigerator just as long as I always replace the olive oil cover each time I use it.
I love that idea of adding oil! A small amount of oil pools at the top with refrigeration but adding more would make it keep longer. Brilliant and thanks for the tip!
Linda, do you include the cheese before freezing or when you add it to your dish, after freezing?
Hi Lisa, we freeze it with all the original ingredients without any issues. I hope that is helpful!
Linda, did you add the cheese before freezing or when you used it for a dish after freezing?
This looks amazing! But wondering if you can substitute for, or leave out the cheese?
Hi Victoria, I think you could still make a great pesto without the cheese, just be sure to add salt to taste since parmesan does contribute to the salty flavor of pesto. Taking out the cheese would make this a whole 30, Keto and dairy free pesto.
This was hands down the best pesto ever.
I’m so happy you enjoyed tht Alli!