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 It was originally made using a Mortar and Pestle, but we find it’s faster and easier in a food processor, which is a little controversial, but I do appreciate my time-saving tools.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
delicious as written and can’t wait to share with my family!
I hope they love it too!
I prepared this today exactly as directed…FANTASTIC! Will delete all other pesto recipes and suggest this to my friends. Thanks for posting Natasha! ❤️
So glad you enjoyed this, Kate! Thank you for the review and for sharing my recipe 🙂
Great recipe with easy-to-follow instructions. I’ll be making pest again soon because my basil is going nuts. Thx for sharing.
You’re welcome! Enjoy 🙂
Love this recipe. I grew my own basil this year and already it has taken over the garden. I made this pesto recipe and it is delicious. I spread some pesto on french bread with bruschetta. It is such a game changer. Love all your recipes.
So glad to hear that, Mary. Thank you for the review.
I lost my pesto recipe, so I was guessing at memory. I decided to check Pinterest and found your recipe. I love it, even better at the one I always used. It is creamy and delicious. The lemon was something I never tried. It just gives it a bit of a twist. I Love it and thank you for sharing.
Yes, it does, I’m glad you didn’t skip the lemon. Thank you for your great review and feedback, Patricia!
Do you toast the walnuts too if you substitute? I’m not familiar with this. Thank you!
Hi Cassie, you may use already toasted walnuts or toast them.
Delicious! Made it todY for mozzarella grilled cheese sandwiches. Amazing! Tha KS for making me look so good.
I’m so glad you love it, Donna! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Made as directed and it was too lemony and watery. Hoping it sets up more in the fridge and that the lemon mellows out a bit.
Hi Milia! I’m sorry to hear that. Did you use freshly squeezed lemon juice or concentrate? I do not recommend using juice from concentrate and in total it should be 1/4cup but you can reduce the amount next time if that is too much.
Cannot go wrong with your recipes! Love this easy to make pesto. I usually freeze the leftover so it doesn’t go bad in ziploc bags. Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoy them, Dunia!
When we open the jar of basil and begin to use, will what’s left in the jar immediately begin to brown similar to an avocado or apple?
Hi Linda, yes this does start to go brown the longer it sits but keeps its color better if you freeze it.
I have a question, I want to freeze this. Do you use less oil when freezing? And then add it back in when you use it?
Hi Melanie, we freeze it with all the original ingredients without any issues. I hope that helps!
i think i did something wrong. mine did NOT turn out so green and i packed it tight.
Hi Maggie, did you make sure to use fresh basil leaves? Also, using a different variety might affect the color and also how long it sits in the refrigerator. Lastly, make sure not to try cooking the sauce since heating will cause the green to dull.
Can you substitute Romano cheese for the Parmesan. I like the flavor better. This is first year I am growing my own basil.
Thank you!
Hi Denise, I haven’t tried that but one of our readers did and shared this “So good! I used Romano cheese cause it’s all I had, but my mom uses feta as it’s yummy too.” I hope that helps!
I want to make this when my family and I go on vacation but I don’t want to bring my food processor, can I use an immersion blender and get the same results?
Hi Hope! I think it will work just fine. The smaller blades may result in more of a “fine” paste.
Made this tonight and sooooo good. I am not a pesto person, probably because I’ve only had the jarred stuff. This has changed my mind. Definitely keeping this recipe and making again.
So glad to hear that, Theresa! I’m happy you found this recipce.
What is a substitute for:
3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese In the Basil Pesto Recipe?
And not another cheese.
Thanks!
Hi Carole, I’m not sure that I have another substitute idea if not cheese. Feel free to experiment with it.
Am I allowed to skip the pine nuts? Because I have tree nut allergies
Hi Edward, I saw this comment shared by someone else “I leave out the nuts and I use half basil and half italian flat leaf parsley that I grow myself. Really good! I don’t miss the nuts at all.” I hope that helps!
I use sesame seeds in place of pine nuts and it tastes awesome.
Do you remove the skin of walnuts before adding them for the sauce?
Hi Yan, we did not remove that, no. We shelled or purchased shelled walnuts.
I tried the recipe and it was delicious… thx awesome recipe
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Paromita!
This is a good recipe just as written. Great way to use up most of the garden basil prior to end of season frost. Freeze in ice cube trays, then store in bags / containers in freezer to use during cold months.
Hi Rusty! Yes, this freezes really well! I’m glad you gave this a try!
Thank you for posting this comment. I didn’t want to make the recipe unless I could store what I didn’t use.