A vibrant, garlic-forward basil pesto that’s ready in just 15 minutes. Fresh basil leaves, sharp garlic, and rich Parmigiano-Reggiano are emulsified with liquid gold olive oil and toasted pine nuts into a deeply savory, nutty sauce. It’s a naturally gluten-free, vegetarian masterpiece that only requires a few quick pulses in your food processor.
Use as a pizza sauce, pasta sauce (or pasta salad), diluted with just a little more olive oil to drizzle on a Caprese salad. But what I love to do with this when I have the time is take a sheet of puff pastry (or homemade rough puff), spread the pesto all over it, top with cheese, fold or roll, and bake for a wonderful savory pastry.
🧾Ingredients in this recipe
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🥜 How to Toast Pine Nuts
While Genovese pesto can get away with using raw nuts, we need to toast them to balance the amped up garlic in this recipe. Raw pine nuts have a sharp, heavy oil profile that can come across as bitter. Toasting them transforms the fats, resulting in a mellow, warm, sweet, and buttery flavor that perfectly balances the sharp, raw bite of your 4 garlic cloves.
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.
👩🍳How to Make This Recipe
Add the stemmed basil, peeled and quartered garlic, toasted pine nuts and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in the food processor bowl. 
Pulse (don’t run) the food processor while slowly adding the olive oil. Finely grate the parmesan into a medium sized bowl. (The parmesan is salty so we don’t add salt until the end.) Add the contents of the food processor to the parmesan and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Does your pesto usually brown quickly?
Candice Recommends
Make sure to pulse instead of run the food processor to prevent the blade from getting too warm. This is usually the culprit for quick-browning pesto. I’ve heard of people putting their food processor blade in the fridge before using it, but I think that’s over-kill unless you have a really old food processor that gets super warm when you run it.
This is also why I recommend using a food processor over a blender. Blenders get too warm for pesto!
❄️ How to freeze it
Pesto is perfectly good to freeze. 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.
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15-Minute Garlic Basil Pesto
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
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients by trimming the stems off the basil, and quartering or roughly chopping the garlic (if you put it in the food processor whole they will not break down).4 oz. fresh basil, 4 cloves garlic
- Toast pine nuts on the stove top 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 375°F 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.1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
- Add the basil, garlic, and pine nuts and 1/4 tsp pepper in the food processor.
- Pulse (don't run) the food processor while slowly adding 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.) Add the contents of the food processor to the parmesan and mix to combine.1/2 cup parmesan
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.1/4 tsp pepper, salt
Notes
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!🌿 Some spins on pesto
You’ll love these spins on classic pesto, plus new ways to use pesto in your cooking.
Homemade pesto is THE best. Your classic version rocks.
Glad you liked it, Michelle!
This homemade pesto is the best! And I love that there are so many dishes you can use this in too. 🙂
So glad to hear you liked it, Carrie!
This was so easy! Great idea, it can be used for so many things!!
Glad to hear you liked it, Noelle. My favorite is on gnocchi!!
This basil pesto is just the thing my pasta and grilled chicken is calling for! So fresh and delicious.
So glad to hear you liked it, Sharon!
Yummy! This is so delicious and has amazing flavor! Thank you!
Thanks, Beth! Glad to hear you loved the flavor 🙂