Pesto Pasta is insanely easy to make and has the best flavor. Using a homemade pesto sauce and your favorite pasta, this dinner comes together in minutes!
Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Once it is boiling add a Tablespoon of kosher salt. Sdd the pasta and cook it according to the package instructions. Before draining the pasta, make sure to reserve about ½ cup of water from the pot. Drain the rest of the liquid from the pasta.
While the water is heating up, combine fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt, and pepper in a blender or mini-food processor. Pulse the mixture about 10-15 times until the ingredients are roughly chopped.
Next, add lemon juice, cheese, and olive oil to the blender or food processor with the basil mixture. Blend everything together until it is well combined, and then set it aside.
Add the pesto to the cooked pasta and toss to coat the noodles evenly. If the pesto is too thick, add the reserved pasta water, a little at a time, to thin the sauce until all the noodles are covered in pesto.
Finally, top the pesto pasta with grated or shaved parmesan cheese before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Please refer to my FAQ’s and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
You can add any protein to this dish to round it out. Cooked chicken, shrimp, or even pork would be good.
Feel free to trade out the pine nuts for other nut choices or ditch them altogether.
You can use spaghetti or other pasta like linguini or fettuccini.
If you want less basil, you can swap half the basil out for fresh spinach.
Lemon juice helps give some yummy flavor to the pesto and helps the pesto to stay a beautiful shade of green.
Using the reserved pasta water helps the sauce stick to the pasta easier.
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in a container for up to 5 days. I don't recommend trying to freeze leftovers and using the microwave in 30-second bursts is the best way to reheat leftovers.