Easy Homemade Pesto
Pesto is the EASIEST way to make a dish instantly more classy, and it's SO easy to make homemade. It's basically cheese and nuts crushed up with some oil, with some intense fresh basil action going on. What's not to love here? It's the perfect sauce for pasta, chicken, beef, in salads or on sandwiches, as a garnish on soup, or—my favorite—as a dip for a charcuterie board! This recipe is foolproof.
Servings: 20
Calories: 139kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pine nuts toasted
- 2 small cloves garlic
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese finely shredded, mounded (2 ounces)
- 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese finely shredded, mounded (2 ounces)
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves packed, about 2.5 ounces TOTAL (buy 2-3 large bunches at the store)*
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 pinch granulated sugar optional (only up to 1/4 teaspoon)
Instructions
- Freeze: The first thing to do is put the blade of your food processor in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Put the bowl of the food processor in the freezer too, if you have space! This will help your pesto stay GREEN. The heat from the motor wilts basil lightning fast. Freezing the implements helps keep everything fresh.
- Toast nuts. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Add 1/2 cup pine nuts to a dry baking sheet. Toast for 5 minutes, then stir. Continue toasting in 1 minute increments, stirring each time (don't walk away!) until the nuts are turning light or medium brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Smash 2 small cloves of garlic with the side of a chef's knife. Use just 1 clove if your garlic is on the big side, you don't want to overdo it. You can always add more later.
- Take the food processor out of the freezer. Add 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts and the smashed garlic, 1 and 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the bowl.
- Pulse until the nuts are crushed into small pieces and the garlic is incorporated.
- Shred 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese. Pack the cheese into the measuring cups, then mound the cheese on top. You need a total of 4 ounces of cheese (2 ounces of each kind.)
- Add the cheese to the food processor and pulse until incorporated (see photos).
- Add 1 cup extra virgin olive oil. It will feel like too much. Trust. Blend, scraping the nuts and cheese on the bottom of the bowl.
- Prepare the basil. If you must wash the basil, dry it completely before adding to the pesto. Remove all the basil leaves from the stems. You need 2.5 ounces basil leaves TOTAL, which is about 2 cups. I measured my basil after I had removed the stems.
- Add the basil to the food processor and pulse on low. Use short pulses rather than just turning it on, to keep the machine from heating up too much. Blend using pulses for 1-2 minutes, until the basil has been chopped into small pieces and the pesto is creamy.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (you can just squeeze a little bit in, you don't need to measure it.) This will brighten the flavor a tiny bit, but more importantly, keep our green basil as vibrant as possible.
- Taste your pesto. If you think it could have a little more oomph, try adding a pinch of sugar. Don't add more than 1/4 teaspoon. Sometimes the basil you get at the grocery store tastes flat. Adding a bit of sugar helps bring out the natural sweetness. Don't go too crazy, we don't want sweet pesto.
- Add more salt, pepper, or lemon, if you like. Blend one last time and that's it!
- Yield: This recipe makes about 1 and 1/2 cups of pesto.
- Storage: Store the pesto covered in the fridge. Add a layer of olive oil on top of the pesto to protect it from browning. Pesto will last about 1 week in the fridge. After that, freeze!
- Freezing: If you plan to use the leftovers all at once, add all the pesto to a freezer ziplock bag and seal. For smaller amounts, freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray (each cube is about 2 tablespoons or 1 ounce) and transfer the cubes to a ziplock freezer bag. Pesto is good for up to 6 months in the freezer.
Notes
*HOW MUCH BASIL: I wanted to take the guesswork out of exactly how much basil to add (because one person's "packed cup" might be way more or less than another persons.) so I measured the final amount of basil leaves you need to go in the pesto, stems not included. Put 2.5 ounces of basil leaves in the pesto. You will need to buy 3-4 ounces of basil at the store, or 2-4 bunches, depending on the size.
Nutrition
Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Potassium: 33mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 158IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 0.4mg
