Homemade Pesto without Pine Nuts

glass jar of pesto sauce without pinenuts

A delicious and fresh sauce to change up your typical dinner meals.

Course dinner

Cuisine Italian

Keyword pasta, pesto

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 5

Total Time 25

Servings 1/4 cup servings

Calories 427kcal

Author Jessi Holden, MS, RDN

Equipment

food processor

Ingredients

2 cups Fresh basil packed (a 3 oz container is about 1 cup)
3 cloves Garlic
¼ cups Sunflower seeds unsalted
⅔ cups Extra virgin olive oil divided (which means you'll use this amount likely cut in half, in two different spots in the recipe)
½ cups Parmesan cheese not the powder
1 tsp Fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Lemon zest
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Peel your garlic and remove the leaves of basil from their stems.
Add the garlic, sunflower seeds, parmesan, lemon juice, lemon zest, and ⅓ cup of olive oil into your food process.
Pulse for 1-2 minutes.
Add your basil in.
Replace the lid and pulse again for approximately half a minute while drizzling in the remaining ⅓ cup olive oil.
Remove the lid and taste the pesto. Sprinkle in salt and pepper, mix it in with a spoon and taste it again. Enjoy!

Notes

Cooking notes:

Divided: When an ingredient notes "divided" just know that you're going to use the total amount listed, throughout the recipe but not all at once
You can sub out the sunflower seeds for pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds
This is delicious poured over cooked pasta, grilled chicken and cherry tomatoes

Did you make this recipe? I would love to see how it turned out! Let me know in the comments, give it a rating and tag me on Instagram @The.Kitchen.Invitation

Nutrition