The BEST Basil Pesto Recipe

Making your own basil pesto recipe at home is totally worth the effort as it’s so much better than anything you can buy in the store! This recipe is truly the BEST I’ve ever made and I know you’re going to love it.

The classic basil pesto recipe is easy and uses only five simple ingredients, including extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and garlic cloves. Whether you want to make a big batch and store it for lazy weeknight cooking or serve it right away with your favorite pasta salad, this fresh basil pesto will have everyone asking for more.

Traditionally, pesto was made by crushing the ingredients in a mortar and pestle, creating a slightly coarse texture. Most modern cooks use a food processor, and that’s what I always use to make homemade pesto.

Why This Recipe Works

This recipe is inspired by the techniques used for classic basil pesto in The Science of Good Cooking from Cook’s Illustrated. I wasn’t sure if the extra steps described would be worth it, but they were!

• Toast the garlic: This brings out the sweetness of the garlic and prevents it from overpowering the pesto. Garlic can be harsh and bitter in pesto, but toasting it prevents this and gives you a balanced result.
• Bruise the basil: I learned that this step releases the basil’s full range of flavor, something a food processor alone can’t accomplish. It takes 30 seconds and is totally worth it!

Why You’ll Love The Recipe

Super Quick and Easy: This classic basil pesto recipe is easy for beginners. Plus, it only takes about 10-15 minutes to come together – perfect for a quick summertime lunch or dinner.

Simple Ingredients: The recipes only asks for a handful of ingredients, making it so much easier to make this pesto whenever your heart desires.

Perfectly Freezer-Friendly: If you’re making big batches (I do it all the time), you can freeze them without a worry in the world! This recipe can be doubled or tripled if needed.

Impressively Versatile: Adjust this great recipe to match your taste buds! Make it spicier, vegan, or even use different greens. This pesto recipe is yours to customize. Plus, there are so many recipes with pesto where you can use it!

Incredible Flavor: With just a few simple ingredients, this homemade pesto recipe can elevate any dish. You can easily make it at home and it’s so much better than store-bought versions.

Ingredients for Classic Basil Pesto

Garlic Cloves: Pesto must have garlic! We’ll start with unpeeled garlic cloves and dry toast them in a pan.

Pine Nuts: You can’t leave pine nuts out in a traditional pesto recipe. Their buttery texture give silkier and smoother pesto. Plus, they have an amazingly impressive nutrient profile – rich in protein, fats, iron, vitamin E, and magnesium! Love them! If you don’t have any on hand, try almonds like I use in my spinach pesto recipe.

Fresh Basil Leaves: This ingredient will make your pesto way better than store-bought pesto! So, grab the most fragrant and fresh basil leaves. They should be firm and vibrant green. Some of us have a lot of fresh herbs growing in the garden, so fresh basil is an easy find. Want to grow basil all year round inside your home? I highly recommend a Click and Grow indoor garden. But if you don’t have a garden, your nearest farmer’s market is the best place to find all varieties of basil. The next best option is the basil plants at the grocery stores.

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: You need high-quality olive oil to make this recipe work. It should be full of flavor, without any bitterness or rancid smell. Most good-quality extra-virgin olive oils have a harvest date on the bottle, so make sure to check that. This is a great one I highly recommend.

Salt and Black Pepper: Okay, these two are constants!

Grated Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan will add some saltiness to the pesto and improve its texture. If you’re out of it, you can easily use pecorino romano in its place.

Let’s make it!

How to Make this Classic Basil Pesto Recipe

1. Toast the garlic in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until it becomes soft and spotty, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside until cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skins.
2. Place the pine nuts in the same pan and toast until browned and fragrant, about 4 minutes.
3. Place the basil leaves in a gallon-sized ziplock plastic bag and pound the bag with the flat side of a meat pounder or rolling pin until all of the leaves are bruised.
4. Place garlic, pine nuts, basil leaves, and olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Remove the blade and stir in the parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Where Can I Use This Basil Pesto?

The classic basil pesto is a versatile sauce, so there aren’t any wrong ways of using it. If you want to know my absolute favorite ways of using it, here they are:

• Serve it with some crusty bread for a delicious appetizer.
• Use leftover pesto as a sandwich spread or on homemade pizza to boost the flavor.
• Make it your pasta sauce! Toss some freshly cooked pasta with your homemade pesto, and you have dinner ready within minutes. I use pesto in my favorite Pesto Pasta Salad recipe. I also use it here in this Orecchiette Pasta recipe and it’s perfect. You can just toss it with a pound of your favorite pasta and you have a quick and tasty dinner!
• Drizzle it on top of roasted vegetables like green beans for a mid-day snack or awesome side dish.
• Add a dollop of pesto on top of grilled meats or fish for a burst of herby goodness.
• Find more ideas on this list of recipes with pesto.

Tips and Tricks

• Wash your basil leaves thoroughly and pat them dry before you start working with them. Since the freshest leaves give the best results, try to make the pesto on the same day as your grocery store or farmer’s market visit.
• If you have a ton of fresh basil and want to store it for later use, trim the stems at 45 degrees, stick them in a water-filled jar (just the stems), and cover the leaves with plastic wrap. Let the jar rest on your kitchen counter at room temperature. I learned this the hard way–I kept mine in the fridge once years ago, and the leaves turned dark and slimy. No thank you!
• If you want to add some extra nutrition to your pesto, add fresh spinach like I do in this spinach pesto recipe.

Variations

• Leave the cheese out if you want to make your pesto vegan, and add nutritional yeast instead.
• You can add some lemon zest or go with a squeeze of lemon juice to give your homemade basil pesto a bit of zing!
• Swap pine nuts with your choice of seeds. Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are my two top favorites – I love their nutty, savory flavor! You can also go with other nuts, like walnuts or almonds, for a different flavor each time.
• If you want to make nut-free pesto, replace pine nuts with hemp seeds or pepita. Enjoy!
• Like your pesto with a bit of heat? Throw in some red pepper flakes or charred jalapenos in the food processor with the rest of the fresh ingredients.
• You may also like this Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto recipe!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Store Extra Pesto for Later Use?

Absolutely! Here are three easy steps and a surefire way of storing leftover pesto:

• Transfer the pesto to an airtight container
• Pour a thin layer of olive oil on top (it’ll seal the pesto and keep it from browning)
• Store it in the fridge for about two weeks

When you want to use it again, use a clean spoon to scoop out excess oil, take out as much as you want, pour a fresh layer of olive oil, and put it back in the fridge!

How to Freeze the Homemade Pesto Sauce?

If you want to store all of it in one piece, transfer it to a freezer-safe jar, add a little bit of olive oil, and freeze it. But if you want to freeze it in chunks, use ice cube trays for it. Fill the tray with pesto, freeze them till they harden, and transfer them to a freezer-safe.

If you try this basil pesto recipe or any of my healthy recipes, please give it a star rating below. It’s so helpful for other readers to see which recipes have been tried and tested by you! Share on Instagram, and I’ll feature you as well. Happy cooking!

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