Homemade Pesto Recipe

This homemade pesto recipe combines fresh basil, pecorino, pine nuts, pistachios, garlic, and a squeeze of lemon for a brightly flavorful sauce. It tastes garlicky, herby, and nutty.

Store-bought pesto can be great, but fresh pesto is truly special. The best part is that it's easy to make a batch if you have the right ingredients.

Jump to:

• Ingredients for Homemade Pesto
• How to Make Pesto for Pasta
• Tips for Making Pesto
• Storage
• Substitutions
• Pesto FAQS
• How to Use Pesto
• Pesto Recipe

This traditional pesto is perfect for pasta - you can serve it with spaghetti, fusilli, or whatever your favorite noodle is. It can be served with both hot and cold pasta dishes. The recipe is easily doubled or tripled if you want to make more and save some for later.

Pesto can also be used on salads, on shrimp, with potatoes, or spread on flatbread pizzas.

You can make pesto out of other fresh herbs as well - like our ramp pesto recipe!

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Ingredients for Homemade Pesto

Here's what you'll need to make this pesto recipe.

• Fresh Basil Leaves - bright, fresh herby basil has a wonderful aromatic flavor.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - use the highest quality oil you have, as it's the base of this recipe and brings all the flavors together.
• Pecorino Romano - adds a wonderful mellowness. Can also be substituted for parmesan cheese.
• Pine Nuts - buttery-tasting nuts that blend beautifully in the pesto.
• Pistachios - a fruity nut that adds great flavor to the pesto.
• Garlic Cloves - fresh garlic cloves add a wonderful bite of allium flavor.
• Fresh Lemon Juice - freshly squeezed lemon juice adds brightness and keeps the basil green in the pesto.

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How to Make Pesto for Pasta

Heat a small pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the pine nuts and pistachios. Gently toast them for one to two minutes. Remove from heat. 

Combine the basil, olive oil, cheese, nuts, garlic cloves, and lemon juice in a food processor.

Pulse to combine then blend till it’s pureed. 

Tips for Making Pesto

• You can easily save pesto in the freezer. Portion it out into ice cube containers or store it in freezer-safe bags. Just pop it into a pan to defrost it when you want to use it and use it as a base for a sauce or pasta dish.
• If you have some garden space or a place for a plant pot, we highly recommend growing your own basil. It's easy to grow and you can make homemade pesto all summer long!

Storage

You can store homemade pesto in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to three days or freeze for up to 3 months. 

If you want the pesto to keep its bright green color in the refrigerator, I suggest sprinkling a little lemon juice or a thin layer of olive oil on top of it and then pressing a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the pesto before closing the container.

Substitutions

• Nuts - you can substitute different nuts (in an equal amount) in this recipe. You can use almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, or hazelnuts.
• Cheese - you can substitute the pecorino for parmesan cheese if you'd prefer.

Pesto FAQS

How to Use Pesto

One of our favorite ways to use pesto is in pasta. Here are a few pasta recipes with pesto that we think you'll enjoy!

• Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe - a fresh summer pasta salad with zucchini and tomatoes.
• Chicken Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes - a tasty chicken pasta dish with fresh pesto.
• Pesto Eggs Recipe - a fantastic eggs and pesto recipe on toast.
• Pesto Shrimp - grilled shrimp skewers with pesto.

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