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    Home / Recipes / Main Dishes / Vegetarian (or Vegetarian Option) Recipes

    How to Make Homemade Pesto

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    Top photo is rigatoni on a white plate topped with pesto and shredded parmesan cheese. Bottom photo is a pile of basil leaves, a glass measuring cup with olive oil, a pile of shredded parmesan cheese, garlic cloves, and a pile of pine nuts, on a wooden cutting board. Text How to Make Homemade Pesto Add Salt & Serve formerly menus4moms
    Rigatoni on a white plate topped with pesto and shredded parmesan cheese. Text Homemade Pesto Add Salt & Serve formerly menus4moms

    Homemade pesto is a quick and easy sauce to serve with pasta, chicken, and as a spread for sandwiches. Since fresh basil is incredibly easy to keep on hand year round if you have a sunny window, it doesn't have to be expensive to make pesto. You can purchase pots of living basil at most grocery stores for under five dollars and if you keep them watered and place them in a sunny location, they will live for months.

    Photo is a pile of basil leaves, a glass measuring cup with olive oil, a pile of shredded parmesan cheese, garlic cloves, and a pile of pine nuts, on a wooden cutting board.

    Occasionally I will have to replace my plants once during the year—mid-winter during the shortest days of the year—but even that is inexpensive. Compared with the price of purchasing fresh cut basil, it's a no brainer to me to keep living basil growing all year round. (learn more about basil with this Basil Fact Sheet.)

    Living Basil
    Keeping fresh basil on hand makes homemade pesto easy. Basil is the basis for pesto, and using fresh basil that you have just cut from the stem makes your pesto incredibly flavorful. This recipe for homemade pesto calls for 2 cups of basil, so even if you aren't growing basil you should be able to get that much from a single potted plant from the produce section of the grocery store.

    a cutting board with a pile of basil leaves, cloves of garlic, a pile of pine nuts, a pile of shredded Parmesan cheese, and a measuring cup with oil

    If you are serving pesto with pasta, the pesto can be made in the time it takes for the pasta to boil, so this is really a quick stovetop meal.

    Photo is a pile of basil leaves, a glass measuring cup with olive oil, a pile of shredded parmesan cheese, garlic cloves, and a pile of pine nuts, on a wooden cutting board.

    Homemade Pesto

    Delicious homemade pesto is easy to make and needs no cooking, just blending.
    5 from 1 vote
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    Prep Time 10 mins
    Total Time 10 mins
    Course Sauce
    Cuisine Gluten-free, Italian, Vegetarian
    Servings 1 recipe
    Calories 1278

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 cups fresh basil leaves, washed, stems removed, and packed into cup
    • ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese
    • ½ cup olive oil
    • 3 tablespoon pine nuts
    • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
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    Instructions

    • Place basil leaves in small batches into a food processor and process until well chopped.
    • Add about ⅓ of the nuts and garlic and blend again.
    • Add about ⅓ of the cheese and blend slowly while adding about ⅓ of the olive oil.
    • Stop to scrape food processor contents down the sides of container towards the bottom. Process until a smooth thick paste is formed.
    • Repeat process until all ingredients are used.

    Notes

    Pesto freezes well, so if you would like to make this in bulk, you can freeze the extra pesto for later use.
    Nutrition data is for entire recipe.

    Nutrition per serving

    Calories: 1278 calCarbohydrates: 9 gProtein: 15 gFat: 135 gSodium: 407 mgFiber: 2 gSugar: 2 g
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    Top photo is rigatoni on a white plate topped with pesto and shredded parmesan cheese. Bottom photo is a pile of basil leaves, a glass measuring cup with olive oil, a pile of shredded parmesan cheese, garlic cloves, and a pile of pine nuts, on a wooden cutting board. Text How to Make Homemade Pesto Add Salt & Serve formerly menus4moms

     

    More delicious recipes with vegetarian options:

    No-Peel Egg Salad (Instant Pot)

    No-Peel Egg Salad (Instant Pot)

    Mexican Ravioli

    Mexican Ravioli

    Cheesy Tuna Casserole

    Cheesy Tuna Casserole

    Easy Frozen Burrito Casserole

    Easy Frozen Burrito Casserole

    Old Fashioned Pinto Beans Over Cornbread

    Old Fashioned Pinto Beans Over Cornbread

    How to Make Homemade Pesto
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    Posted by Mary Ann on February 19, 2019; Updated on October 30, 2019Filed Under: 5 Ingredients or Fewer Recipes, Bulk Cooking/Freezer Cooking Recipes, Condiments, Sauces & Marinades, Vegetarian (or Vegetarian Option) Recipes

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    Mary Ann Kelley

    Hi there! I'm Mary Ann Kelley, and I'm the food blogger/meal planner here at Add Salt & Serve. Read more

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