Homemade Pesto

Prep time: 15 min
Servings: 6
Yield: 6 servings

Description

The classic basil pesto sauce made with pine nuts or walnuts, lots of fresh basil, and real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese will add flavor to anything to combine it with, from pasta to pizza to spaghetti sauce.

Ingredients

4 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup Italian parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
1 cup pine nuts
1 1/2 cups shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more as needed
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1 Place basil, Italian parsley, and garlic into a food processor, pulse several times to combine, and process until basil is finely chopped, about 30 seconds. Add pine nuts to basil mixture; process until finely chopped, 30 more seconds. Process Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese into mixture until finely ground.
2 Mix lemon juice into mixture with the machine running; slowly drizzle olive oil into pesto in the running machine until incorporated and pesto is thoroughly combined. Turn off machine and season pesto to taste with salt and black pepper.