Basil Walnut Pesto

Summertime smells like basil if you walk out in our garden. We grow it in larges batches because of how good it smells and tastes. You can mix it into anything too from smoothies to sauce. I particularly love it on pasta and bread, but it can easily be mixed into muffins or as a dip for crudite.

I swap out traditional pine nuts in favor of walnuts for my pesto because I like the flavor and walnuts are much less expensive! I also always have them on hand.

This is the best way to use up a lot of that basil bounty you have growing in your summer gardens. I hope you like this as much as I do!

Basil Walnut Pesto

Servings: 6-8
Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Print

Ingredients

2 cups basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, whole
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup walnuts
Pinch of salt and pepper
2/3 cup olive oil

Directions

Place the basil and garlic in food processor or blender. Process until coarsely chopped, about 10 seconds. Add walnuts, salt, pepper and process until mixture resembles a paste, about 1 minute.
With the processor running, slowly add the olive oil through the feed tube/top of blender until throughly blended. Add cheese and process 10-15 more seconds.
Use pesto immediately or store in a tightly sealed container. Enjoy!