Genovese Pesto
Genovese pesto is a classic Italian sauce that isn’t as hard to make as you might think! This vibrant, no-cook pesto sauce is made from fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic and pecorino romano cheese blended into a rich olive oil base. Learn how to make it at home with this simple recipe.
What we love about this genovese pesto
Traditional pesto is one of those incomparable things. You can make variations of it, but they’re never as good as the real deal. This simple pesto sauce is just that – the perfect original.
Even though the most authentic Genovese pesto is made with a mortar and pestle, or even by hand, this blended (or in our case, food processor made) version is equally delicious and much faster to make.
To ensure that we get a pesto that’s similar to that handmade sauce, we like to make sure that we don’t over process the ingredients. That means using the pulse function and taking our time to scrape the sides manually instead of waiting for the machine to do it for us.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it
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- Basil leaves – Fresh basil leaves are a must for this recipe. Toss them in a quick ice bath for extra bright green sauce. (Make sure you let the leaves dry if you do)
- Pine nuts – These little tree nuts have a subtle, sweet flavor that gives pesto it’s unique flavor profile, but if you can’t find them, cashews or almonds would work really well. Try to use peeled or blanched almonds to prevent bitterness.
- Garlic
- Pecorino romano – We love the salty, sharp flavor for this for pesto, but you can also substitute any good quality parmesan cheese.
- Olive oil – Normally we keep extra virgin olive oil on hand, so that’s what we use, but you can also use a lighter olive oil – it should still have a good amount of flavor.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
How to make this Genovese pesto
Prep your ingredients. Trim any large stems from your basil and peel your garlic (no need to mince it). Wash and dry basil leaves if needed.
If you need to grate your cheese, you can do it right in the food processor before you make your pesto. It’s our favorite way to grate cheese.
Blend your pesto. Combine all of the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor, or blender. Pulse until the basil and nuts have been finely chopped.
Scrape the sides with a spatula once or twice to make sure there are no big pieces remaining. Blend until the sauce is almost smooth.
Adjust your seasonings with salt & pepper to taste. You can also add extra olive oil to thin the pesto sauce if you need to, or if you prefer your pesto to be a bit thinner.
Everything you need to know about making homemade basil pesto
Genovese refers to someone or something being from Genoa, Italy. Pesto genovese is one of the most well known staples of Genovese cuisine. This traditional green sauce is made with fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and grated cheese.
If your pesto is bitter, it might be your olive oil. We recommend tasting your olive oil before using it to detect any bitterness.
You’ll also want to use good quality oil and add it to the food processor last (the less it blends the better). So don’t over process. Pesto is meant to be like a coarse paste rather than a smooth sauce.
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Pesto Genovese
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Genovese pesto is a classic Italian sauce that isn’t as hard to make as you might think! This vibrant, no-cook pesto sauce is made from fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic and pecorino romano cheese blended into a rich olive oil base. Learn how to make it at home with this simple recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 cups basil leaves
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Instructions
- Trim any large stems from your basil and peel your garlic (no need to mince it). Wash and dry basil leaves if needed.
- If you need to grate your cheese, you can do it right in the food processor before you make your pesto.
- Combine all of the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor, or blender. Pulse until the basil and nuts have been finely chopped.
- Scrape the sides with a spatula once or twice to make sure there are no big pieces remaining. Blend until the sauce is almost smooth.
- Adjust your seasonings with salt & pepper to taste. You can also add extra olive oil to thin the pesto sauce if you need to, or if you prefer your pesto to be a bit thinner.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Blending
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 194
- Sugar: 0.1 g
- Sodium: 179.8 mg
- Fat: 20.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.9 g
- Fiber: 0.9 g
- Protein: 3.3 g
- Cholesterol: 7.4 mg
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