Basic basil pesto recipe or Basil pesto sauce is a very rich, colorful, and flavorful sauce. Using Basil in your diet has many awesome advantages due to its antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. It also has phytochemicals to prevent cancer, helps aid digestion, and glowing skin, and has ingredients that naturally decrease stress. It not only tastes good but helps your body in many ways. The pesto sauce was on my list of things to make ever since my potted organic basil plant was ready for harvest. We usually plant basil every time we start gardening beginning of April every year.
Why you'll love the Pesto Sauce?
- Pesto sauce is very simple to make and just needs a handful of ingredients
- This can be used in various dishes and makes a wonderful side dish.
- It is good for your health and has numerous advantages.
- This is an uncooked sauce and can be made in bulk and stored for later use
Ingredients you need
- Basil leaves fresh - cleaned and washed.
- Olive oil extra virgin
- Parmesan cheese
- Almonds or Pine nuts or Walnuts
- Garlic
- Salt and black pepper
- Lemon juice
How to make Pesto sauce using the Basic Basil Pesto Recipe?
Pesto sauce is a very simple sauce to make and tastes much better than the ready-made store-bought ones. It is also very versatile and pairs well with a wide variety of dishes, including pizza, sandwiches, bruschetta, hummus, fried rice, and pasta. This is an uncooked sauce, unlike the sauce used in Creamy Chicken Alfredo pasta, which can be made in bulk and stored for later use.
I used almonds in this sauce as I had them handy; the traditional recipe calls for pine nuts. Some others also use walnuts. The other ingredients are Parmesan cheese, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
Basil pesto sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups basil leaves origin
- ⅓ cup olive oil extra virgin
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese
- ⅓ cup almonds
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Add the basil leaves, olive oil, almonds, garlic, parmesan cheese into a blender or food processor and blend well.
- Once the paste is smooth, transfer the contents to a bowl.
- Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix well.
- Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator for a week or freeze for about 3 months and use as needed.
Notes
- To make bruschetta , spread some sauce on the french bread slices topped with chopped tomatoes, onions, mozarella and parmesan cheese and bake at 400 deg till the cheese melts.
- To make spaghetti, cook spaghetti in boiling water , drain and cool. Stir fry your choice of veggies, tomatoes, garlic in olive oil .Add the pesto sauce and mix the spaghetti into it.
- To make sandwiches, layer the breads with pesto sauce, sliced vegetables, cheese, pepper,salt .
Nutrition
This looks yummie
Thank you so much!
Wow, lovely creamy green pesto! I like the idea of using almonds in here.
Thank you so much Megala , Almonds are healthy and I like using them as well!
Fabulous recipe!!!!!
Thank you so much Diane for the wonderful comment!
Such a greeny goodness...I always use cashews instead of pine nuts...almonds' is a nice choice too...
Ah I see, cashews are a good choice as well! Thank you Jyo appreciate your comments!
Wow, I love Basil leaves! Will try this recipe for sure!❤
I'm pretty sure you will love it .Thank you so much!
I love basil!! This sounds delicious, thank you for sharing Nisha 🙂
Thank you so much Anita, I love basil as well, wish I had been introduced to it sooner 🙂
I have never tried it with almonds, I always use pine nuts, will have to give this a go 🙂
Sure Lorelle do give it a try , I could not make much of a difference . Thank you so much!
Sounds Delish ! Love the flavor of basil leaves 💚
Do we need to blanch the almonds?
Me too love the flavor . I used the almonds as is Smitha . Thank you so much for the comment!
Yummy!
Thank you so much!