Who doesn’t love a great pesto?! This is one of my all-time favorite things to make because it’s so darn versatile.
I used to eat pesto as a treat when I’d go out to eat at restaurants, thinking it was a total guilty pleasure. Then I tasted pesto made by my (now) in-laws and was in awe of how they made it from scratch. When they told me how easy it was to make, I almost didn’t believe them! I continued to enjoy it when I ate out or bought it from the grocery store.
Fast forward a few years, and I started to realize how many additives and preservatives were added into those jars of pesto on the shelves! Canola oil? Ascorbic acid? No thank ya!
I decided to play around with making it myself by getting the basic ingredients down. It’s SO easy! It’s seriously just 6 ingredients (not including the salt and pepper).
This, of course, is a healthier version of traditional, store-bought pesto since it has no additives or preservatives, uses a higher quality oil and includes less parmesan cheese (but you are more than welcome to add more to your liking! 🙂 )
This pesto is chock full of healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil. **I’ve included a bit of history on the importance of buying a quality olive oil below!
There are some helpful tips to buying a quality olive oil in order to obtain its optimal benefits:
- Make sure it’s certified organic, extra virgin, and cold-pressed
- Buy oils that come in glass bottles
- Check for a harvest and expiration (or “best by”) date
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a good one to link to you all. I buy mine at our local health food store. You can, however, find more information about choosing a good brand here.
I use a full 1/4th to 1/3rd cup of olive oil in this pesto recipe because of all of its benefits.
*If you’re still wary about how much you consume, the trick is to use about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and a couple tablespoons of water to give your pesto the texture you desire.
The main ingredient of this pesto is of course the very flavorful herb, basil, which has a ton of health benefits as well! Basil is a great source of vitamins K and A, contains powerful antioxidants, and is heart-healthy!
- 2 cups basil, packed
- ¼th to ⅓rd cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (~2 cloves of garlic)
- ⅓rd cup Parmesan cheese
- 2.5 tablespoons pine nuts and/or walnuts
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Add basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, nuts, salt, pepper, and lemon juice to food processor.
- Blend until chopped.
- Slowly add in olive oil until desired consistency is reached, scraping down sides as needed.
You can also make this in a Vitamix! It’s even easier, if that’s even possible! I use this version as per chef recommendations, and it has seriously changed my life!
- Add olive oil, nuts, basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to Vitamix in that order.
- Set to Variable 0 and turn the Vitamix on.
- Slowly increase the variable until desired consistency is reached.
And there ya have it! An easy, traditional, healthy pesto recipe!
If you aren’t going to enjoy the sauce right away, you can refrigerate it for up to three days or freeze it for up to 3 months!
Just a tip: If your pesto is a bit dry after freezing and thawing, add some water to it to achieve the consistency you like!
**As promised, here’s a little history in case you aren’t caught up on the olive oil scandal: There’s a huge olive oil fraud going on where the olive oil being sold to you is likely not extra virgin olive oil. I mean, people are calling it counterfeiting and smuggling, terms I usually only hear in news reports about drugs.
But it’s true. In 2011, when Tom Mueller released his book, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, he unveiled the scandal behind the billion-dollar olive oil industry. Based on extensive research, Mueller claimed that 70% of the olive oil being purchased in the US isn’t actually pure, extra virgin olive oil! Most olive oils that have been tested have been found to have other, low-grade oils mixed in.
In an article from earlier this year, Forbes claims, “It’s reliably reported that 80% of the Italian olive oil on the market is fraudulent.” And it’s not just Italian olive oil. This scam has spread to various other countries.
So, I mean, is there any hope? Should we stop buying olive oil if we can’t even reap its amazing benefits (loaded with antioxidants, great for your heart, an awesome source of healthy fat)?
I still do! I just follow the guidelines listed above in this post 🙂
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