Easy Italian Green Pesto (Recipe + Tips)

Inspired from my travels around Italy, you can master up your own easy, cheap green pesto in less than 10 minutes! Making just one change to the ‘authentic’ Italian green pesto recipe, you can make this at home for a fraction of the price. This recipe has just 5 ingredients and is so easy to make, so give it a go and whizz this up super affordable and easy Italian green pesto recipe!

I first learnt how to make the authentic Italian green pesto when I visited the Liguria region of Italy a few summers ago. With the region being home of pesto, it can be found on pretty much everything – pasta, pizza, bread and even ice cream! My AirBNB host gave me a free whistle-stop-tour of pesto making and damd right I listen very carefully. I never knew making something so delicious could be so easy!

Despite falling in love with the authentic Italian recipe, I couldn’t bring myself to spend money on expensive pine nuts (around £3.90 per 100g). I took the time to experiment and found that both almond nuts and walnuts work as a perfect substitute at a fraction of the price (around £1.40 for 100g).

Pesto is such a versatile dish so gives you even more reason to start making this at home! You can mix this into a pasta dish, add it as a topping to pizza or toss it into a salad. Even better, it’s totally freezer friendly, so you can make a big batch and freeze, ready for another day.

My top tips for perfect pesto:

1. Basil – using fresh basil will give the best flavour. You can easily grow basil at home to save yourself money. Also, do not wash the basil leaves – washing the leaves removes some of the essential oils that give pesto its aromatic flavour.
2. Olive Oil – pesto is not a dish to subtitle olive oil for an alternative (sorry!). The olive oil plays an important role in amalgamating all the ingredients, enclosing the essentials oils given off the basil leaves and also gives the pesto its sparkling green colour.
3. Parmesan Cheese – although one of the pricier cheeses, this recipe only requires 40g and I believe it really is worth the money. For vegetarians, you could substitute the cheese with nutritional yeast, just keep an eye on the consistency.
4. Food Processor – an essential for making a perfect blended pesto sauce. You can pick one up pretty cheap and you’d be surprised at how much you’ll use it! You could try the traditional mortar and pestle way, but that requires some serious effort and really doesn’t add any extra taste.

So there you have it! An alternative green pesto recipe that will still leave you enjoying the heart of the Liguria region of Italy. Give it a go and whizz this up super easy and cheap green pesto recipe! Drop a comment below about how this turns out for you!

Until next time – live your best life, low cost!

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Print Recipe

Easy Italian Green Pesto

Course

Main Dish

Cuisine

Italian

Cook Time

10 minute

Servings

250ml

Ingredients

• 50 g Almond nuts (or walnuts)
• 80 g basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 40 g Parmesan cheese (or veggie/vegan alternative)
• 150 ml olive oil

Course Main Dish Cuisine Italian Cook Time 10 minute Servings 250ml Ingredients 50 g Almond nuts (or walnuts) 80 g basil leaves 2 garlic cloves 40 g Parmesan cheese (or veggie/vegan alternative) 150 ml olive oil

Instructions

1. In a dry skillet or frying pan, toast the almonds on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, shaking occasionally.
2. Put into a food processor with the basil, parmesan, olive oil and garlic cloves and process until smooth. Add a pinch of salt to season if desired.