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My homemade Basil Pesto Recipe is made with just a handful of ingredients. Pesto Genovese or classic basil pesto is perfect to make with fresh basil!
Homemade basil pesto.
It sounds a lot more complicated than it truly is. But it’s so easy to make at home and it has the most incredible flavor.
We’re talking less than 10 ingredients and a food processor.
That’s it.
That’s all you need to make a perfect pesto at home. So there’s actually no need to buy basil pesto at the grocery stores for $5 a jar. You can make it at home with fresh basil leaves from the store, or if you’re lucky, you might even have an abundance from your garden in the summertime.
Use it as a spread on sandwiches, over roasted vegetables, for a vinaigrette for a fresh peas salad, fold it into some pasta salad, roast it with tomatoes for my mozzarella pesto baked chicken recipe, or as a topping on my breakfast pizza. You could even add a dollop to your homemade minestrone soup right before serving. It’s absolutely sensational.
I love making pesto at home so much, that I’ve even make a spinach version of it with pecorino romano and walnuts.
This was really simple to make and was absolutely delicious! I will make it every week from now on. The addition of the lemon and zest resulted in truly awesome flavour! Thanks so much!
Ingredients for homemade basil pesto
- Fresh Basil Leaves: I like touse traditional Italian basil to make homemade pesto. But you could use varieties of basil, like Thai Basil for a different taste. You can also play around with the herbs, swap some of parsley, or even cilantro if you’d like.
- Grated Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated parmesan cheese, you could also use pecorino Romano.
- Garlic: I use two whole cloves, but feel free to adjust to your taste.
- Lemon Zest: adds freshness to the Pesto Genovese.
- Pine Nuts: for those with a pine nut allergy, you could use almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds (pepitas) To make a nut-free pesto, use hemp seeds instead.
- Lemon Juice: adds a touch of acid to cut through the rich flavor of olive oil.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: use the good quality stuff here! Especially if you’re using this for a caprese salad of something!
- Add-ins and Red Pepper Flakes: Is totally optional but I like to add abut to give it some heat. You could also use black pepper here instead. You might need a pinch of kosher salt as well, but really it just depends on how salty the cheese is that you use in the recipe.
How to make pesto genovese
- Store it. Store your pesto in a small container in the fridge. Press down to help reduce air pockets. You can store this in the fridge for 1 week.
- Load it up. Add the basil leaves, parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon zest, pine nuts, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes into the food processor.
- Blitz it. Pulse the food processor to help bread down the ingredients. Drizzle in the olive oil. Blend until the oil helps emulsify the ingredients into a chunky sauce-like consistency.
- Stop and taste. Taste the pesto using some crusty bread. Then adjust with additional garlic, salt or parmesan as desired to preference.
FAQs about this recipe
Some recipes call for blanching the basil to maintain better color, but I find this to be an additional step that’s not really necessary.
Pop tablespoons of pesto into ice cube trays and freeze. That way you have plenty to stir into any dish that you like.
You can use a blender or make it like they do in the Genoa region of Italy – in a mortar and pestle. This honestly gives itch best consistency.
Ways to use homemade pesto:
- Creamy Pesto Pasta with Chicken
- Breakfast Pizza with Basil Pesto
- Pesto Chicken Meatball Soup
- Secret Ingredient Tomato Basil Soup
- Pesto Baked Chicken with Tomatoes
Homemade Basil Pesto
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh basil leaves slightly packed
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese freshly grated is best
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts see notes
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ cup olive oil
- pinch of red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- LOAD IT: Add the basil leaves, parmesan cheese, minced galric, lemon zest, pine nuts, lemon juice and, if using, red pepper flakes to a blender or food processor.
- BLITZ IT: Blend continuously until the ingredients start to breakdown. If you prefer a more coarse pesto, use the pulse setting. Stream in the olive oil and allow the ingredients to emulsify with the oil. You want to continue processing until the oil is combined with the basil and your other ingredients.
- TASTE: the pesto, add additional garlic, salt, or parmesan to preference.
- STORING: Store the pesto in a small container (where the pesto fits all the way to the top and press to reduce air pockets. Homemade pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- FREEZE: You can also pour the pesto into ice cube trays and freeze. Remember to transfer the frozen pesto to a zip top bag once frozen.
Notes
- You can replace the pine nuts with cashews, pistachios, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, or almonds for a more economical option.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
It was so easy to make and beautiful flavor. I had to swap out pine nuts with myorganic roasted pumpkin seeds for that’s what I had on hand. Turned out great. Thank you for this recipe. It’s a keeper!
This is my favorite pesto recipe
Excellent recipe! It’s a hit on my hubby’s homemade pasta recipe. Thanks!
Tried it and loved it. Thank you, on to the next one.
This recipe is easy and DELICIOUS! I make a double batch, then line muffin tins with Saran, put a couple tablespoons in each and freeze for a day. ”pestopucks” out and put them in a freezer bag. Each portion is perfect for 2.
I gift them to friends and family, and they are thrilled.
We start our own basil in our aero garden and then move them outdoors as weather permits.
What brand of olive oil do you like? It’s hard for me to find s good one for pesto.
I usually rotate between two brands – California Olive Ranch and Pompeian are my go-to choices. They both work well with this pesto recipe 🙂
Great recipe!
Just made 3 batches. The lemon juice and zest added what was missing from other recipes.
Thank you.
This was really simple to make and was absolutely delicious! I will make it every week from now on. The addition of the lemon and zest resulted in truly awesome flavour! Thanks so much!
Really good! I found that it needs to be left for a couple of hours for the taste to really come through. Super delicious receipe.
Made it and love it ! Thanks for sharing
Just made this with toasted walnuts and garlic infused olive oil since I cannot have garlic. Also, added cayenne pepper instead of red pepper flakes. Mmmmm…so yummy! So happy I’m growing basil this summer!
Fantastic! And so easy!
It is potluck day at work tomorrow, and I am bringing caprese salad. I made this pesto to pour over the slices of tomato and cheese. Best pesto I have ever made! I omitted the garlic because I don’t care for it, and added some salt. I want to serve this over everything this summer! I am planting basil for sure. Thank you for sharing it!
How do you use once frozen?
It depends on how you froze them. If it’s in an ice cube tray and you’re using it for a cooked recipe, you can add it in frozen. For salads or vinaigrettes, I suggest defrosting it in the refrigerator overnight before using.
I use about ½ the oil that is called for in this recipe which makes the pesto more “solid?”. When ready to freeze I used a ¼ cup measure and plop each one on a cookie sheet and freeze them. When frozen I put them in a lock/zip top freezer bag.
When ready to use I thaw and add oil and go. Easy since you know each is exactly ¼ cup.
Great tip. Thank you!
This was great! I used pecans cause I had them. Very tasty.