How To Make Homemade Pesto In Minutes

This Fresh Homemade Pesto is really easy to make and tastes delicious on pasta, in salads, or drizzled over chicken and veggies. This recipe features fresh basil leaves, parmesan cheese and crisp pine nuts that blend together to make a creamy, nutty, fragrant sauce that beats store-bought sauce any day! If you’ve never tried your hand at making your own pesto, start with this recipe. It’s virtually impossible to mess up, and it tastes absolutely yummy on sandwiches, pizza, pasta dishes and more!

Ingredients in Homemade Pesto

To make fresh pesto, start with the freshest ingredients. This is a perfect recipe to use up leafy greens growing in your garden. Here’s what you need:

Basil leaves – two cups, packed. Gather herbs from your garden or buy them in the produce section of your grocery store. Minced garlic – start with one or two cloves garlic and dice finely. Or find minced garlic on-line or at the grocery store. Pine nuts – Many recipes call for different nuts because pine nuts can be expensive. I found mine in the bins at Winco and they’re reasonably priced and totally worth it! Parmesan cheese – A quarter cup, plus more if you want to sprinkle on top of the pesto. Extra-virgin olive oil or regular olive oil – I sometimes prefer extra virgin for this recipe so it keeps the flavor light and allows the herbs to shine. Kosher salt – start with a quarter teaspoon salt to start. Black pepper – to taste

Nut Substitutions

I know some people use different nuts when making pesto because pine nuts are not the cheapest nut. This recipe is the time to splurge a little. The flavor is out of this world! However if you are working around a nut allergy or want a cheaper substitute for the pine nuts, you can use almonds, walnuts, pistachios, or cashews instead.

A Great Way to Use Your Own Herbs

I am especially proud of this batch of pesto because I made it with my own home grown basil from my little Italian herb garden! This was my first time growing herbs and I am absolutely loving it. It’s been much easier than I thought to take care of it. I have been using these fresh herbs in a lot of my cooking and the flavors are so much better than the dried stuff. We made our Rosemary Tri-Tip on Sunday with the fresh rosemary and it was awesome!Here is a pic of when I first started my little garden and what it looks like now, just one month later. It’s growing like crazy! The funny thing is that I took this picture after I cut down my basil plants to make the pesto (which I used 2 cups of packed leaves), so you can just imagine how big the basil was before this picture! I have had success with thyme, basil, parsley, rosemary and oregano. If you decide to use your homegrown herbs in this, or any of our recipes, leave us a comment and let us know how it tastes!

Variations on Pesto Ingredients

Feel free to swap out greens for different flavors. You can use arugula, cilantro, kale or fresh mint. Instead of regular parmesan, opt for pecorino Romano which has a sharper flavor. Add a little lemon juice or lime juice for extra zing. Add some lemon zest.

How to Get Pesto to the Desired Consistency

Use a mortar and pestle to grind ingredients to the desired consistency. Or opt for a food processor, add all the ingredients and give it a few extra pulses for a smoother texture. READ NEXT: 35+ Easy Lunch Ideas

More Delicious Pesto Recipes

We love pesto and use it in tons of our recipes! I love it spread on sourdough toast like the picture above but here are a few more recipes you need some delicious ideas:

Turkey Pesto Croissant Sandwiches Grilled Pesto Pizzas Gourmet Steak Sandwiches Margherita Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Homemade Pesto Rolls BAM Sammys Stuffed Pesto Chicken Pesto Potatoes