15-Minute Garlic Basil Pesto

Homemade Garlic Basil Pesto is incredibly versatile and tastes amazing on everything from pizza and pasta to jammy eggs, Caprese salad, and avocado toast. Blend it into hummus, bake it into bread—the possibilities are endless!

🧾Ingredients in this recipe

• pine nuts – also known as pignolias, but you can substitute with walnuts or cashews for a slightly different flavor.
• basil – this recipe uses fresh basil. You cannot substitute dried basil in this recipe. Trim the stems off your fresh basil leaves. Quarter or roughly chop the garlic cloves, because if you put the cloves whole in the food processor, they will not fully break down.
• olive oil – use high-quality olive oil because the flavor it brings is a large part of the pesto. Using low-quality flavorless olive oil will yield a less flavorful pesto.
• garlic – I use a ton of garlic in my pesto but feel free to scale back if that is your preference.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to Toast Pine Nuts

There are several ways to toast pine nuts. My two favorites are on the stove or in the oven:

Stove Top Method

Spread the pine nuts in a fry pan in a single layer. Cook over medium-low heat until golden brown and fragrant. Toss them around in the pan frequently to avoid burning.

Oven Method

Spread the pine nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 5-10 minutes at 375F until golden brown and fragrant. It helps to shake the pan every couple of minutes to avoid burning. Immediately transfer to another dish to stop the cooking.

Step by Step Homemade Basil Pesto

Put the prepared 4 oz. basil, 4 cloves rough chopped garlic, 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper into the food processor. Run the food processor, slowly adding in 1/2 cup of olive oil as the processor is running.

Transfer the basil pesto to a bowl (photo 1). Finely grate 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese into the bowl (photo 2). Mix until the parmesan is fully incorporated (photo 3).

Finally, season with salt and pepper to taste. Your pesto is ready to be used however you like!

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Author: Candice Walker

15-Minute Garlic Basil Pesto

5 from 11 votes

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Homemade Garlic Basil Pesto is versatile and delicious on pizza, pasta, eggs, salad, and more. Blend it into hummus or bake it into bread!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Italian

Diet: Kosher, Vegetarian

Servings: 4

Calories: 413kcal

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 oz. fresh basil Stems removed
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic Rough chopped
• ▢ ½ cup toasted pine nuts
• ▢ ½ cup olive oil
• ▢ ½ cup parmesan grated
• ▢ ¼ tsp pepper to taste
• ▢ salt to taste

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Trim the stems off the basil.
  4 oz. fresh basil
• Quarter or roughly chop the garlic (if you put it in the food processor whole they will not break down)
  4 cloves garlic
• Toast pine nuts.
  1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• Put the basil, garlic, and pine nuts and 1/4 tsp pepper in the food processor.
• With the food processor on, slowly add the olive oil.
  1/2 cup olive oil
• Finely grate the parmesan into a medium sized bowl. The parmesan is salty so we don’t add salt until the end.
  1/2 cup parmesan
• Add the contents of the food processor to the parmesan.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  1/4 tsp pepper, salt

Video

Notes

You can toast the pine nuts on the stove in a fry pan or in the oven on a baking sheet. See blog post for detailed instructions.

Pesto is perfectly good to freeze. If you’ve made a lot of pesto, it’s a good idea to freeze it in small portions so that you can remove and defrost small amounts as and when needed. The easiest way to do this is to use an ice cube tray. Pack each tray with some of the pesto mixture, and freeze so that you have little pesto cubes. Then. remove the frozen cubes and store in an airtight container/bag in your freezer, and defrost as needed.

Nutrition

Calories: 413kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 203mg | Potassium: 208mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1593IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 206mg | Iron: 2mg

Did you try this recipe?I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a Review to let us know how it came out, if you have a successful substitution or variation, or anything else.