Basil Pesto: Easy and Versatile Recipe

Written by on in Accompaniments, dips, and sauces, Recipes, Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes
pasta with basil pesto
Image credit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/

If you want a quick, simple, and tasty tea, then pasta served with green pesto is a great choice. Making your own pesto is simple, and in addition to serving it with pasta dishes, you can use the pesto as an ingredient in many other recipes. Here is an easy recipe for basil pesto. 

Preparation time: 5 minutes 
Cooking time: 5 minutes 
Serves: N/A 
Vegetarian/ Vegan: Vegetarian, yes Vegan if you omit the Parmesan cheese 
Dairy-free: No, unless you omit the Parmesan cheese 
Gluten-free: YES 

Ingredients for Basil Pesto

  • 80g fresh basil
  • 50g pine nuts
  • 50g Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 150 ml olive oil

How to Make Basil Pesto

  1. Put a small pan over medium heat on the pan and add the pine nuts.
  2. Cook for five minutes, shaking occasionally, to lightly toast the nuts. 
  3. Transfer the pine nuts to a food processor with all the other ingredients.
  4. Blitz to combine the ingredients.
  5. Your pesto is now ready to use with pasta or as an ingredient for another dish. 

Tips for Making Basil Pesto

  • Feel free to experiment with the quantities to get the taste and texture you desire.
  • You can use a pestle and mortar to make this pesto if you do not have a food processor.
  • If you like this recipe, you might also enjoy our recipe for tomato and basil pasta sauce.

How to Use Pesto

A bowl of spaghetti with basil pesto topped with a cherry tomato

There are many ways that you can use pesto, including many vegan options. The following are some of the simplest ideas:

  • The easiest way to use pesto is to cook spaghetti or another pasta variety and then stir the pesto through.
  • Add pesto to a sandwich, toastie, or panini for extra family.
  • Use it as a salad dressing.
  • Stuff a chicken breast with mozzarella and basil pesto, then wrap with parma ham before roasting in the oven.
  • Smear over a beaten pork loin and then roll to oven roast.
  • Use the pesto as a tasty dip with bread, breadsticks, or crudites.
  • Create a herb-crusted rack of lamb by smearing pesto over the rack and then adding the ingredient you are using for the crust.
  • Similarly, create a herb crust for fish using pesto.
  • Flavour mashed potato using pesto.

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