How To Make Homemade Pesto

Homemade Pesto

Fresh Homemade Pesto has an amazing flavor combination featuring basil, parmesan, and pine nuts. I know some people use different nuts when making pesto because pine nuts are not the cheapest nut. If you must substitute the pine nuts — like for an allergy or something — you can use walnuts or cashews instead. But if you want that true authentic pesto flavor you have got to use the pine nuts! I got my pine nuts from the bins at Winco and they weren’t too expensive and totally worth it.

A Great Way to Use Your Own Herbs

I am especially proud of this batch of pesto because I made it with my own home grown basil from my little Italian herb garden! This was my first time growing herbs and I am absolutely loving it. It’s been much easier than I thought to take care of it. I have been using these fresh herbs in a lot of my cooking and the flavors are so much better than the dried stuff. We made our Rosemary Tri-Tip on Sunday with the fresh rosemary and it was awesome!Here is a pic of when I first started my little garden and what it looks like now, just one month later. It’s growing like crazy! The funny thing is that I took this picture after I cut down my basil plants to make the pesto (which I used 2 cups of packed leaves), so you can just imagine how big the basil was before this picture! I have had success with thyme, basil, parsley, rosemary and oregano. If you decide to use your homegrown herbs in this, or any of our recipes, leave us a comment and let us know how it tastes!

More Delicious Pesto Recipes

We love pesto and use it in tons of our recipes! I love it spread on sourdough toast like the picture above but here are a few more recipes you need some delicious ideas: Turkey Pesto Croissant SandwichesGrilled Pesto PizzasGourmet Steak SandwichesMargherita Grilled Cheese SandwichesHomemade Pesto RollsBAM SammysStuffed Pesto ChickenPesto Potatoes