Everyday Easy Pesto Recipe

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This everyday Easy Pesto Recipe is the only pesto recipe you need. It's delicious on pasta, sandwiches, or even by the spoonful. Once you learn how to make this basic basil pesto recipe, you'll have the skills you need to get creative with your pesto.

Friends, we're heading back to the basics today. Only except when I say basics I mean the most delicious, life-changing, 5-minute sauce you'll ever make. We're talking about an easy pesto recipe because we LOVE good food and love it even more when it's EASY.

They (←who the heck are “They” anyway?) say that there are five sauces that every chef should know by heart. I think that “They” don't know what they're talking about. I mean, who makes Espagnole and velouté, anyway?

Helllloo, it's 2016 and the ONLY sauce you need/ want/ have to have every day for always is this one.

Once you master how to make this easy pesto recipe (and I can assure you that it is super crazy easy) then you'll have the building blocks to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for the rest of your life. No lie.

So here's what you're going to do:

Throw the ingredients into your food processor or blender.
Blend until everything gets nice and cozy together.
Put your easy pesto on EVERYTHING.

Get your pesto on all day long, yo!

Breakfast pesto →

In an omelet
Dip for your hash browns
Over eggs benny
Dripping out of your breakfast sandwich

Lunch pesto →

Dip for your veggies
Mixed with mayo and spread on your sandwich
Rolled up in your wrap
Tossed with quinoa and veggies
Spooned into your soup

Dinner pesto →

Pasta!
Over grilled meat
Over seared fish
Mixed in with rice
On your roasted veggies
As pizza sauce
On your burger
Dip for your fries

Pesto basically begs to be changed and made new every time you make it. Did you see that picture up there with all the ingredients? ☝ Every one of those can be swapped for something else. Don't worry, it's easy to get creative.

As long as you have some greens, nuts, and oil you can make your own 5-minute pesto. You've got this!

Create your own easy pesto recipe:

The Greens

Choose one or more of any of these:

Basil, kale, parsley, spinach, steamed broccoli, green onions (green part only!), cilantro, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic scapes, carrot tops, radish tops, beet greens, or peas

The Nuts

Make different combinations and use them toasted for more flavor or untoasted for a more subtle pesto. Choose any or all of these:

Pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or Brazil nuts.

The Cheese

Parmigiano Reggiano is the traditional pesto cheese, but you can use others or leave it out entirely for a vegan pesto sauce. Try these:

Parmesan, grana padano, pecorino, asiago, goat cheese, or nutritional yeast.

The Citrus

Lemon is classic, but you can leave it out in a pinch or experiment with different flavors. Extra lemon juice for pesto with fish, orange pesto with basil and mint or lime pesto with cilantro.

The Oil

Olive oil is traditionally used as it is flavorful and goes well with basil. While any oil will work, avoid using flavorless oils (canola, grapeseed, sunflower seed) as you'll miss out on a big part of the flavor in pesto. Try these:

Olive oil, walnut oil, avocado oil, argan oil, pumpkin seed oil or hazelnut oil.