Classic Pesto Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional pesto made of? ›

Originating from Genoa, the capital city of Liguria Italy, Pesto alla Genovese is made with fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt, olive oil and hard cheese, traditionally Pecorino and Parmesan.

The most common reason for pesto tasting bitter is that the olive oil is past its best and has started to turn rancid. If the pesto has been made in a food processor or blender, there's also the possibility that it has turned bitter from the crude, sheering action of the blades.

Add a touch of heavy cream for creaminess and a good amount of grated parmesan cheese. As always, season your sauce with salt and pepper to taste. I like to finish the sauce with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest. Topping the sauce with fresh basil is also a great way to reinforce the pesto flavor.

The most popular variety of pesto now is made by "crushing" basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and some hard cheese in a food processor or blender, but there are many varieties of pesto like sun dried tomato pesto or kale pesto. It's fun to use a mortar and pestle, but the modern way is much easier.

Basil, Soybean Oil, Garlic, Parmesan Cheese (milk), Olive Oil, Salt, Oregano, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Natural Flavour.

Properly made pesto tastes fresh and zingy and balanced, not muddy. Each flavor component is identifiable—the fragrant basil, the pungent garlic, the buttery olive oil and sweet pine nuts, the tangy cheeses—and yet none dominates. Basil is the star, for sure, but its perfume works in balance with the other ingredients.

Anything sugary will work: granulated white sugar, honey, fruit juices, even sweet dessert wines. Acid in the form of vinegar or citrus juices can make a pesto taste less bitter and could even enhance the flavour of the sauce at the same time.

Pesto Sauce

This fresh and fragrant pasta sauce is served uncooked, so choose a pasta shape that won't overwhelm it. Similar to oil-based sauces, pesto is served best with longer cuts of pasta, like the corkscrew shape of Fusilli. Pesto works best with Bucatini, Capellini, thinner Spaghettini, and Fettuccine.

Anything canned/jarred is heat treated to various extents to create the vacuum and make it shelf stable. Fresh is always better. Even if it is “fresh” from a supermarket's deli, it may have been frozen or components of it frozen. Or preservatives may be added like citric acid.

Some producers cut corners further by simply using a generic "hard cheese." Oil is another ingredient where huge cost savings can be made. While small producers use the highest-quality extra-virgin olive oil, big producers replace some or all of it with much cheaper sunflower oil.

What to use instead of pine nuts in pesto? ›

Cashews. Cashews resemble pine nuts in color, texture and mild sweetness, and can be used as a substitute in just about any recipe. Stick to unsalted versions (roasted or raw varieties both work), and toast them to provide extra depth of flavor.

Many pesto recipes call for raw pine nuts, but toasting the nuts can make the final sauce's flavor deeper and richer. Toast the nuts and then combine them—either as a paste or whole—with fresh basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic.

Pesto is usually made with ingredients like pine nuts, basil, garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. I tend to prefer when those ingredients are fresh in a homemade sauce, but I decided to taste-test six jars from the store to see if anything compared.

You don't need pine nuts to make an amazing pesto. This is collaborative content from Food & Wine's team of experts, including staff, recipe developers, chefs, and contributors.

The reason is because classic basil pesto contains pecorino and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which are both made from milk curdled in animal rennet. That means that most of the pesto sauces you see on supermarket shelves are not vegetarian.

Akin to Genovese, its basic ingredients include fresh sweet basil, garlic, and olive oil. However, the basil pesto typically uses walnuts instead of pine nuts and omits the Parmesan cheese found in its Genovese counterpart.