Pasta with lemon and basil pesto is an irresistible summer first course, fresh, quick, flavorful and very easy to make, just like Pasta with basil and walnut pesto or Cold pasta with arugula pesto.
The method to make lemon pesto is really very simple and once prepared you can use it within a few days to make a healthy, Mediterranean, fragrant and delicious first course to enjoy for lunch or dinner. But let’s go to the kitchen and discover how to make pasta with lemon and basil pesto. Before heading to the kitchen, if you want to stay updated on all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: for 1.1 lb (500 g) of pasta
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients to make pasta with lemon pesto
- 1.1 lb pasta
- 2.6 oz lemon zest (organic)
- 0.9 oz basil
- 0.9 oz pine nuts
- 3.2 oz Parmesan
- 1.1 oz Pecorino (Sardinian or Tuscan)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- 1 pinch black pepper (or pink)
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
Tools
- Pot
- Blender
Preparation
For this recipe, preferably use basil and lemons freshly picked. If you have slightly green (not fully ripe) lemons, the pesto will be even more aromatic. I blanched the lemon peels to reduce bitterness; simply avoiding the white pith is not always enough, and the result was excellent.
Quickly rinse the basil in cold water, then drain it and lay it on a kitchen towel. Peel the lemons with a vegetable peeler, avoiding the white pith.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, drop the peels in and blanch them for less than 1 minute, then remove them with a skimmer,
immerse them in cold water to stop the cooking, then drain and place them on a towel. Toast the pine nuts in a pan until golden, then put them in the blender together with all the ingredients listed in the recipe.
Blend without heating the mixture too much, until you obtain a flavorful pesto with a gentle green color.
The pesto is ready and can be used to dress pasta, bruschetta and much more, but we will dress some fusilli.
Cook the pasta, drain it al dente
and toss it with the pesto you just made. Adjust the creaminess by mixing in a little reserved cooking water, plate immediately, and you’ll get a super creamy first course.
STORAGE NOTES AND TIPS
Prepare only the amount of pasta you intend to eat. With this quantity of pesto you will be able to dress about 500–600 g (1.1–1.3 lb) of pasta. Any leftover pesto for smaller amounts of pasta can be kept in the fridge for 3–4 days or frozen and thawed as needed directly in the fridge, or for a few minutes at room temperature.
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