Basic recipe for green pesto

This recipe for green pesto is a good basic recipe. However, it can be varied endlessly, depending on what you have in stock and what flavor you prefer. Below you can read how you can easily vary the recipe for green pesto to suit your needs and the contents of your kitchen cabinets. This recipe for red pesto with sun-dried tomatoes is also highly recommended. 

TIP: Try pesto for a homemade foccacia bread such as this foccacia with olives and feta.

Ingredients for green pesto

There are many different ways to make pesto, but this recipe is pretty close to a traditional Italian recipe. As a starting point, you will need these ingredients to make homemade green pesto:

• Basil - Is the typical herb for traditional green pesto. Basil has a wonderful aromatic flavor and the most beautiful green color. However, you can easily use other herbs instead.
• Olive oil - Use a good virgin olive oil. If you want a pesto without nearly as much oil, you can replace half of the oil with water. However, this will significantly shorten the shelf life.
• Lemon juice - Gives the pesto its fresh flavor and balances the fat from the oil, nuts and cheese. As an alternative to lemon, you can use white wine vinegar.
• Garlic - Can be omitted, but gives the pesto a good flavor. Use 1-3 cloves depending on how garlicky you want it.
• Seeds and nuts - The recipe uses a mixture of pine nuts and cashews, which gives a wonderful texture and flavor. However, you can easily use other nuts and seeds as an alternative. However, always remember to lightly toast them in a dry pan to enhance the flavor before blending them into the pesto.
• Parmesan cheese - makes the pesto bursting with umami. For a vegan pesto, you can omit the cheese and use yeast flakes as an alternative.
• Salt - used to flavor the green pesto.

Pesto with various herbs

Try substituting basil with other herbs such as parsley or mint. It also tastes wonderful with a bit of rosemary or sage. It's almost impossible to go wrong, so experiment. Try this recipe for delicious herb pesto in fine puff pastry nests. You can also pick ramsons in the spring and use them to make ramson pesto. It's a wonderful Nordic pesto that really tastes great. 

Vegan green pesto

If you want a vegan version, it's easy to do without the parmesan. The cheese adds what's called an "umami flavor" to the pesto, and therefore it will never taste quite as good if you just omit the cheese altogether. You can therefore choose to replace the cheese with yeast flakes, which give a nice 'cheesy' flavor. It consists of deactivated yeast and can be found in health food stores.

Budget-friendly green pesto

If you think it's expensive to make green pesto from scratch, you can replace half of the herbs with spinach. You'll still get a nice green pesto with basil flavor - and even a little extra nutrition from the spinach. You can also choose to use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and/or almonds, which are cheaper than pine nuts and cashews. 

TIP: Also try making a rustic pesto like in this recipe for grilled carrots with rustic pesto.

Recipes with green pesto

Here you will find inspiration for dishes with green pesto:

• Salmon with pesto crust
• Roasted pumpkin with pesto and mozzarella
• Pasta salad with pesto and baked carrots
• Vegetarian lasagna with pesto and lentils
• Stuffed sweet potatoes with pesto chicken salad