Pesto Sauce Recipe | Italian Pesto Sauce | How to Make Genovese Pesto Sauce Recipe from Scratch

pine nuts

🥗Healthier: walnuts

💰Cheaper: sunflower seeds

Walnuts are more affordable and provide a similar texture.

parmesan cheese

🥗Healthier: nutritional yeast

💰Cheaper: grated pecorino

Nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor with fewer calories.

Save the stems of the basil for infusion.

Infuse basil stems in extra virgin olive oil in a small sauce pot.

Add basil leaves to a chopper.

Chop the basil until finely chopped.

Add walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts to the chopper.

Pulse the nuts with the basil until mixed into a paste.

Add about 1/2 cup of Parmesan reggiano cheese to the mixture.

Add a pinch of salt to the mixture.

With the chopper running, drizzle in extra virgin olive oil until desired consistency is reached.

Check the consistency of the pesto; it should be a nice paste, but can be made a bit runnier if desired.

Transfer the pesto into a small pastry bag for storage.

Use small ice containers as molds for freezing the pesto.

Pipe the pesto into the ice containers and freeze for later use.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Dietary

Allergens