Ingredients

1/4 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic (2 if they’re small)
1/4 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil

Instructions

Add pine nuts, garlic, and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to finely chop. Add basil and Parmesan cheese and process while streaming in the olive oil until it’s all finely chopped and fully combined, scraping the sides of the food processor bowl if needed. Taste and add salt if needed.
Serve as an appetizer with bread to dip in the pesto, or smeared on toasted bread slices, or as a pasta or pizza sauce. The possibilities are endless!

Notes

I use toasted pine nuts – if yours aren’t, you can briefly toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat until they’re fragrant (3ish minutes).

Pine nuts are expensive, but you can get the small amount you need from bulk bins and not have to shell out much money! You can also substitute walnuts or pecans. I really love the taste of pine nuts for this pesto, though.

This recipe is adapted from Simple Pesto by Twinks on Tasty Kitchen. I reduced the amount of garlic since I find the full amount a bit overpowering.

I store leftover pesto in a jar in the fridge with a little olive oil drizzled over the top. The color darkens over a few days but it still tastes great! I’ve never had my pesto last long enough to freeze, but “they” say you shouldn’t freeze it with the cheese. So if you want to freeze your pesto, wait to stir in the cheese after defrosting!