The Best Homemade Basil Pesto (Video)

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The best homemade basil pesto is made with a ton of fresh basil and garlic from the garden, includes some healthy nuts and oil and finishes with a bit of cheese.  This basil pesto recipe is one of our favorite things to make every summer when the basil is ready to harvest in the garden.  The mild flavor of the garlic combined with the basil is one of our absolute favorite things to eat every summer, and I like to freeze some for wintertime too.  

While traditional pesto is made with pine nuts, I often use walnuts or cashews. I usually have walnuts and cashews on hand, and pine nuts are expensive and sometimes difficult to source.  Basil is a culinary herb that is a superfood loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and cancer-fighting agents especially when eaten raw, like in pesto.  Basil has a very pungent aroma, as well. If something can smell green, basil can. It’s astonishingly vibrant and fresh.  I like to keep fresh basil in a vase on my countertop during the summer for decoration and to add to lots of dishes.  

bunch of basil

Learn more about how to grow basil from seed to harvest here.

Health Benefits Of Basil

Basil contains many vitamins and minerals, as well as antioxidants such as lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Many of its health benefits come from these antioxidants, as well as its essential oils. These compounds mostly disappear during the drying process, so opt for fresh basil when possible to gain the most benefits.  More info on the health benefits of basil here.

Tips For Making Fresh Basil Pesto

  • Add spinach, garlic scapes or other greens to the pesto if you have them available.
  • Be sure not to add the oil until all the other ingredients are added.  Then slowly drizzle it in while the food processor is running.  This helps to thicken the pesto as the oil emulsifies with the other ingredients.
  • Basil pesto can be preserved by freezing it in a small glass jar or ice cube trays for use in the winter time.  
  • To make vegan basil pesto, just use a non-dairy cheese in this delicious pesto, or add ¼ cup of nutritional yeast and a squeeze of lemon juice to give it a cheesy flavor
  • Basil pesto will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator.

How To Enjoy This Classic Basil Pesto Recipe

  • Fresh pesto is great on crackers or with chips as a dip
  • Homemade pesto sauce tastes great on fresh sourdough pasta.  It’s best if the pesto is stirred into warm pasta, because it really soaks into the noodles.  This is good leftover as well.
  • On toast, with or without a fried egg.
  • Make pesto pizza by using the pesto as pizza sauce and topping it with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.  This is really good on our favorite sourdough pizza.
  • On scrambled eggs or in omelettes.
  • As a sandwich spread with fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.
nuts for basil pesto

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Fresh Ingredients For The Best Basil Pesto

Fresh basil – my favorite kind of sweet basil is a variety called Geneva.  You can try making pesto out of thai basil or other varieties of basil as well.  If you can’t pick the basil right out of the garden before making the pesto, just keep it in a cup on the counter with some water.  It will keep at room temperature for quite awhile, as long as you change the water every so often.

Parmesan Cheese – I like to use my aged grated asiago cheese because it’s something I have produced on my own homestead and don’t have to buy at the store.

ready to blend basil pesto

Fresh garlic cloves – I grow my own garlic, which gives the pesto the freshest flavor, but you can use whatever kind of garlic you have.

Nuts – You can use almost any kind of nuts that you’d like.  Walnutscashews, pine nuts, or sunflower seeds will all work.  You can roast them if you’d like, or use them raw. I like to source my nuts in bulk from Azure Standard and then store them in my freezer. They keep a long time and are a lot cheaper to purchase this way.

Salt – Redmond real salt is always the best, but use what you have.

Black pepper

Oil – I like to use extra-virgin olive oil because it gives this pesto such great flavor.  

Tools You May Need

Food processor – you can also make this in a high-powered blender, but it tends to chop it up too finely

Measuring cups and spoons

Airtight container for storing in refrigerator

How To Make The Best Homemade Basil Pesto

Add basil, garlic, nuts, salt, pepper and cheese to the bowl of a food processor with a chopper blade.  

adding garlic to food processor for basil pesto

Process until fairly fine.  

Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the food processor while it is running.  Process until pesto is smooth and is the consistency that you like. 

fresh garlic scape pesto

Remove from the food processor using a rubber spatula. Store in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator. 

Pesto can be served immediately, or placed in an airtight container to keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

It can also be frozen in ice cube trays and then placed in an airtight freezer bag for up to one year.  I like to keep some frozen for a fresh treat in the middle of winter.

I hope you enjoy this classic pesto recipe as much as we do.  If you do, please let us know in the comments below and give the recipe a 5 star rating.  Thanks for following along as we teach you how to grow a simple, sustainable life.

Yield: 4 cups

The Best Homemade Basil Pesto

The Best Homemade Basil Pesto

The best homemade basil pesto is made with a ton of fresh basil and garlic from the garden, includes some healthy nuts and oil and finishes with a bit of cheese.  This basil pesto recipe is one of our favorite things to make every summer when the basil is ready to harvest in the garden.  The mild flavor of the garlic combined with the basil is one of our absolute favorite things to eat every summer, and I like to freeze some for wintertime too.  

Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups basil
  • 1/3 cup walnuts, or other nuts
  • 4-5 raw garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

Add basil, garlic, nuts, salt, pepper and cheese to the bowl of a food processor with a chopper blade.  

Process until fairly fine.  

Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the food processor while it is running.  Process until pesto is smooth and is the consistency that you like. 

Remove from the food processor using a rubber spatula and store in an airtight container for up to one week in the refrigerator. 

Pesto can be served immediately, or placed in an airtight container to keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

It can also be frozen in ice cube trays and then placed in an airtight freezer bag for up to one year.  I like to keep some frozen for a fresh treat in the middle of winter.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 200Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 388mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 1gSugar: 0gProtein: 4g

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