Lemon pesto pasta a main dish that’s fresh and light, ready in just a few minutes, very fragrant and a lifesaver for lunch or dinner when you have few ingredients at home. Make sure to use an untreated lemon because the peel will be used as well as the juice. For the pasta shape, I used spaghetti to have lemon pesto spaghetti, but you can also use other shapes like trofie or penne. In the preparation of the lemon pesto, you can use parsley leaves or basil leaves. With parsley leaves, you’ll have a more delicate flavored pesto, and with basil leaves, a more pronounced flavor. I prepare it both ways and can’t say which I prefer because both are good. Another alternative I can recommend is to use pine nuts instead of almonds. Now let’s see how to make the lemon pesto pasta, and if you try it, let me know. Barbara
I recommend trying these lemon-flavored main dishes too:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 11.25 oz pasta
- 1 lemon (untreated)
- Half clove garlic
- 0.7 oz almonds (or pine nuts)
- as needed parsley (or basil)
- 2.7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- as needed salt
How to prepare lemon pesto pasta
Let’s start preparing the lemon pesto pasta. Pour water into a pot, place it on the stove and bring it to a boil. When it starts boiling, add salt. Pour the spaghetti, cook them according to the time indicated on the package and make sure they are al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the lemon sauce. Wash the lemon very well and use a peeler to take the peel and put it in the blender glass. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze it to get the juice, and set it aside.
In the blender glass, along with the peel, add the almonds, garlic, parsley leaves, and half the oil, and start blending. When you see that the ingredients are more chopped, then add the remaining oil in a thin stream and the lemon juice little by little. The amount of lemon juice varies depending on the ingredients, so add it gradually until you get a smooth and creamy sauce.
Pour the very al dente spaghetti into a large pan, add the lemon sauce, and add a little pasta cooking water to blend everything well.
Serve the creamy spaghetti with a sprinkle of lemon zest
How to store lemon pesto pasta
Store it in the fridge for 2 days
