Basil pesto, a sauce made from fresh basil, is a classic of Ligurian cuisine, known as Genovese pesto. The traditional recipe is simple but a bit lengthy because it’s made by hand using a mortar and pestle, with fresh, fragrant Ligurian basil, pine nuts, olive oil, plenty of grated cheese, and garlic, simple ingredients for a sauce that has conquered the world. I propose a simple and quick basil pesto recipe, one to make excellent homemade basil pesto in just a few minutes, without a mortar, but with an immersion blender or a food processor. Whatever tool you use, the taste of our homemade basil pesto remains nearly the same, delicious and much better than store-bought, and without preservatives. It’s so easy to prepare this basil pesto that every time we have fresh basil, we can immediately make a good pesto, in less than 5 minutes we can prepare a few small jars, so we can use some right away and freeze what’s left. The homemade basil pesto with my quick recipe is delicious whether consumed immediately or after several months, as it retains all its aroma and good flavor. To preserve it best, I recommend using small glass jars and not filling them to the brim, this way you have the right portion every time you need it, plus in this way the pesto remains as good as freshly made, without changes in taste and the same quality of the ingredients. To consume the frozen pesto, just defrost it at room temperature, it doesn’t take long, please, do not heat it, otherwise, it darkens. And so, every time we crave the scent of summer, of fresh basil and pesto, just open the freezer door, take out a jar.
Also try the basil preserved in oil to have it fresh all year round for our recipes.
Also try the eggplant pesto or the zucchini pesto cooked or the tomato and basil pesto raw
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 6 small jars
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer, Autumn
Ingredients for 6 small jars of basil pesto (1 jar for 4 people)
- 3.5 oz Basil
- 7 oz Olive oil
- 1.4 oz Pine nuts
- 5.3 oz Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1.8 oz Pecorino
- 2 cloves Garlic
- to taste Coarse salt
Tools to prepare basil pesto
- Food processor
- 6 Jars
Preparation of homemade basil pesto
To prepare the pesto, we need tender basil leaves. Ideally, pick the tender basil in the morning, leaf by leaf, so it can be washed and left to dry gently on a clean cloth in an airy place. It’s important to use the most tender leaves, the green ones, and discard any yellowed ones. It’s crucial to use only the leaves, not the stems, and to use perfectly dried basil, so the pesto remains beautifully green and not dark, and does not taste bitter.
Once the basil is dry, we proceed to prepare the homemade basil pesto. We prepare it half at a time, to prevent the pesto from overheating. Therefore, in a container, we put half of the basil, 50 g, with half of the ingredients we need, one garlic clove, half the oil, about 100 g, and half the pecorino and parmigiano cheeses, as well as 20 g of pine nuts, which is half of the 40 g required. We also add a few grains of coarse salt and blend everything with an immersion blender, or alternatively, a food processor. We can also use pre-grated cheeses. We put all the ingredients together so the blender works faster and the pesto doesn’t overheat, becoming dark and bitter.
Blend everything very quickly, a few seconds at a time, to keep our Genovese pesto perfect. We proceed the same way with the remaining ingredients, to obtain basil pesto as good as the traditional Ligurian recipe, but prepared more simply and quickly thanks to the immersion blender, or a food processor.
Top it with olive oil as soon as it’s ready, so it retains its perfect bright green color.
We can use the pesto immediately to dress pasta, vegetables, or even to fill bread, or in other tasty recipes, but since we’ve made about 6 small jars, we can also preserve it.
To preserve homemade basil pesto, we place it in small glass jars, keeping the pesto as if freshly made or alternatively in plastic cups, without filling them to the brim, because it will expand as it freezes, and once frozen, we remove it from the cups and place it in dedicated freezer bags, so the flavor is preserved better than in cups.
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Basil pesto can be stored in the fridge well covered with oil and closed in its container for a few days, but it can be frozen for up to six months. Avoid vacuum sealing, because basil pesto should never be heated, not even when used to dress pasta.
