Authentic Italian Pesto Recipe
This authentic Italian Basil Pesto (Pesto alla Genovese) recipe is made with basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil. This will be your favorite pesto recipe and you can make it in less than 10 minutes! It’s the perfect sauce to elevate pasta, sandwiches, or grilled veggies!
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Y’all, I love me some basil pesto. Ever since my husband was stationed in Vicenza, Italy when we were first married I have been making this authentic Italian pesto recipe given to me by a friend from the region.
Luckily I passed down the pesto-loving gene to my three boys. Since they were babies they have gobbled up anything with pesto-veggies, pasta, bread. If I add pesto, they’ll love it. If you haven’t made this pesto yet, get ready for a treat!
What readers say
“It was wonderful!!” -Mackenzie
What Is Pesto alla Genovese?
Pesto alla Genovese is a classic Italian sauce originating from Genoa, the capital of Liguria. It’s made with fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and extra-virgin olive oil, all blended into a smooth, tasty green paste.
Traditionally, it’s served with pasta like trofie or linguine, but it also pairs beautifully with bread, vegetables, and meats.
Ingredients
Making delicious pesto is all about using the freshest ingredients you can, don’t skimp on quality for this recipe!
- fresh basil – choose smaller leaves for the most flavor if possible
- freshly grated cheese – the traditional choice is pecorino fiore sardo, a sheep’s cheese but this recipe uses Parmesan and Romano as they are much easier to find in the US
- minced garlic -freshly minced or jarred minced garlic are both fine
- pine nuts -store in the fridge to keep fresh
- extra virgin olive oil – choose an extra virgin oil for the best flavor
Don’t want nuts? Leave them out or try this nut-free pesto on our sister site.
Expert tip: Chilling the olive oil before making the pesto will keep it nice and bright green longer!
Step by step
It couldn’t be easier to make your own homemade pesto. All you will need is a food processor and a few minutes!
- Remove the stems from your fresh basil and add it to the food processor along with garlic, cheeses, pine nuts, and olive oil.
- Pulse until you get the desired consistency. I find that after pulsing a few times, about 30 seconds of continuous processing on high gives me the perfect basil pesto!
Tips for best results
- Fresh is best for this recipe, I prefer fresh basil, freshly grated cheeses, and fresh garlic. Pregrated cheeses have a powder coating and should be avoided, however jarred garlic can be used if needed.
- Add additional olive oil if necessary to adjust to your desired consistency.
- If you can’t find pine nuts, walnuts are an easy substitution in a pinch.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.
Serving suggestions
Pesto has such a great flavor you can add it to almost anything!
Pesto is traditionally served tossed with hot pasta, but you can serve it with gnocchi, use it in lasagna, spread it on toast or make pesto garlic bread, make pesto potato salad, toss with roasted vegetables, make pesto pull apart bread, the possibilities are endless!
I rounded up 18 of my favorite ways to use pesto if you need more inspiration on how to use this tasty sauce!
FAQs
Yes, it is always important to give basil leaves a quick rinse to make sure there are no dirt or bugs on the leaves. Don’t rinse excessively though, as it washes some of the aromatic oils off the leaves.
Be sure to the pat the basil dry or allow to air dry after rinsing, you don’t want excess water in your pesto.
While the traditional pesto recipe uses pine nuts you can feel free to omit them or substitute another nut like walnuts, pistachios, or almonds.
This recipe is best made fresh but you can make it up to 3 days ahead and store in the refrigerator or freeze until ready to use. (See notes below.)
You can use basil stems and even the flowers in pesto. For very thick stems you may want to chop or remove them as they might affect the final texture.
Storage
Store in an airtight container for up to three days. For longer storage freezing is recommended.
Pesto will brown if exposed to air so wrap tightly with plastic touching the top surface to avoid discoloration or top with a thin layer of olive oil before covering.
Pesto freezes well. I find it easiest to freeze it flat in a plastic freezer bag. You can even freeze it in an ice cube tray and then transfer the cubes to a freezer bag for single serving sized portions!
If you try this recipe please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!
Authentic Italian Pesto Recipe
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Authentic Italian Homemade Basil Pesto recipe made with basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil. This will be your favorite pesto recipe once you try it, no more store bought pesto! Plus you can make it in less than 10 minutes!
Ingredients
- 30–40 fresh basil leaves
- 2/3 cup freshly shredded Romano cheese
- 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency.
Notes
Store in an airtight container for up to three days. For longer storage freezing is recommended.
Pesto will brown if exposed to air so wrap tightly with plastic touching the top surface to avoid discoloration or top with a thin layer of olive oil before covering.
Pesto freezes well. I find it easiest to freeze it flat in a plastic freezer bag. You can even freeze it in an ice cube tray and then transfer the cubes to a freezer bag for single serving sized portions!
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Category: sauce
- Method: food processor
- Cuisine: italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 258
- Sugar: 0.1 g
- Sodium: 410.9 mg
- Fat: 28 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.2 g
- Protein: 3.1 g
- Cholesterol: 6.6 mg
It was wonderful!!
This recipe looks delicious and easy! I can’t wait to try it. Just a quick question regarding the pine nuts: do you have to heat them up/ “cook” them first? Or just blend them in raw?
Just blend them in raw Charlotte!
I love Pesto!!! I can’t wait to try this recipe. TFS!! Stopping by from Serenity Now linky party and your newest follower on FB, Linky and Pinterest.
Here is what I shared this week: https://craftybrooklynarmywife.blogspot.ca/2012/09/another-fur-baby-coat.html
Oh yum, that looks almost exactly like the recipe we use for pesto (except we only use parmesan, no romano). I bet it’s fabulous! Thanks for sharing at The Fun In Functional!
SO easy. Who knew? Perfect for a night when I need a quick dinner. I’m here from the hop, glad I found you. Thanks for sharing the ease of pesto.
Pesto is the BEST!!! I just wish I could grow some Basil…
Um, I think I have to make this today!!! Thank you, you saved dinner tonight and my family gets to have something good!
Yum! I was just looking at my basil plants and wanting to make pesto yesterday! Now I have an “authentic” recipe. Just got to get some pine nuts!
Yum! And pesto is one of the things my husband will actually eat! I find pine nuts here to be crazy expensive. What are they like there? Might have to add that to my cross-border shopping list.
Try pumpkin seeds, no shell on. Ive done this on several recipe that called for pine, it works great
I’ll give that a try next time I make it, thanks for the suggestion! ~Melissa