This Best Nut-Free Basil Pesto is the perfect recipe to add to your dinner rotation. It is SO versatile and can be used on pasta noodles, as a dip for bread or veggies, spread on bruschetta or paninis, or even used as a base sauce for pizza! This recipe is perfect as a means to use up the extra basil from your garden at the end of summer too!
The best part about this recipe is that it is SO easy to make (ONLY 4 ingredients: basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, and olive oil) and provides an unforgettable fresh flavor that will have you and your friends and family impressed and craving more! Because this recipe is NUT-FREE, there is no concern about nut allergies when making this for a group! Another perk is that this recipe is made in just a few minutes by combining everything into your blender (I use this one literally EVERY day-it’s amazing in the dishwasher)! It doesn’t get easier than this!
Pesto is believed to have originated in the beautiful city of Genoa, Italy. Just look at this picture and feel inspired while you are cooking! In Italian, the word “pesto” is the past tense of the verb “pestare,” which means “to crush or to pound”. This references the original method of preparation of pesto with a motor and pestle rather than a blender.
Go ahead and give this recipe a try! Happy cooking!
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Best Nut-Free Basil Pesto Recipe
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Ingredients
2 cups (about 2 big bunches) of packed fresh basil leaves
3 cloves of garlic roasted
0.75 cups of Parmesan cheese
0.75 cups of olive oil
Directions
- In a blender, combine basil, olive oil, roasted garlic (here’s a simple recipe for roasting garlic), Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper (to flavor).
Note: The key to great pesto is not over blending (will cause over oxidation). Pre-chop basil and pour 0.5 cup of the olive oil into the base of the blender to encourage the basil to break down as quickly as possible. - Pulse for about 20 seconds and scrape down sides of blender with a spatula, and pulse again until smooth, approximately another 30 seconds.
- Use pesto on warm noodles or however you wish, but note to keep pesto bright emerald green don’t heat the sauce. Enjoy!!!
Storage: Pesto can be stored for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. It freezes very well (up to 3 months!) and can be frozen in ice cube trays to provide manageable portions to pull out and use when you need a quick meal!
Consider growing your own basil! Basil grows SO fast and is truly one of the easiest herbs to grow at home! If you are interested in trying to grow your own, but don’t have a lot of space or time, check out these raised bed boxes, they are awesome and can sit on your patio or deck! I have been using them for years! They feature a water reservoir with a self-watering system and overflow holes to prevent over-watering and are very low maintenance! Check out this post for more info on how I have used them to grow tomatoes for our family on our back deck!
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Interested in other cooking ideas like this best nut-free basil pesto recipe?? Check out our best braided challah bread recipe or our best red, white, and blue jello recipe! Both have been tested and are delicious, repeatable, and reliable every time!
