This Pesto Pasta recipe is an easy-to-make homemade basil pesto sauce made with a healthy secret ingredient and served with fresh pasta. Ready in 20 minutes or less!
Pesto is one of the most classic Italian flavours and when it comes to fresh homemade pesto we are here for it! This Pesto Pasta recipe is made with a deliciously easy homemade pesto sauce that’s packed with fresh basil and garlic, tossed with fresh pasta and topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
It’s a super easy weeknight meal recipe that takes about 20 minutes to make from start to finish, and it’s absolutely restaurant quality. Trust us, you’re going to want to try this one!
Picking up a jar of pesto at the grocery store is a super easy way to enjoy pesto pasta any day of the week. In our opinion, homemade pesto is FAR superior to anything you can buy pre-made in a jar AND making your own homemade pesto is just about as easy as opening a jar. In all seriousness, the most difficult part of making homemade pesto is washing the food processor!!
To make this homemade pesto recipe just add all the ingredients except for the olive oil to the bowl of your food processor, pouring in the olive oil as the food processor is running. Process the mixture until creamy and smooth, That’s it!!
To make this Pesto Pasta recipe, you’ll need these kitchen items (affiliate links):
- measuring cups and spoons
- a food processor
- a silicone spatula
- a large pot
- a colander for draining the pasta
- a pair of tongs
- a microplane grater
To make this recipe you’ll need:
- pine nuts
- fresh garlic
- lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
- fresh spinach
- fresh basil
- Parmesan cheese
- olive oil
Time needed: 20 minutes
Follow these steps for the best homemade basil pesto pasta!
- Salt the pasta water generously.
When you cook the pasta in salted water, it adds SO much flavour to this dish. Don’t skip this step!
- Use high-quality ingredients.
Choose fresh parmesan cheese instead of the shelf-stable parmesan cheese from the pasta aisle at the grocery store. Use fresh garlic, fresh lemon, fresh basil and spinach, and good quality olive oil. This will make a HUGE difference in this recipe!
- Add the olive oil slowly.
Process the pesto in your food processor while drizzling in the olive oil slowly. This will help the mixture emulsify, which means all the water in the basil and spinach will blend together with the fat in the cheese and the olive oil and won’t separate easily.
- Enjoy fresh!
Toss the hot pasta with the fresh pesto sauce and serve immediately with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Can I make this recipe gluten-free?
Yes! Simply substitute the pasta with gluten-free pasta.
What is pesto?
Pesto is an Italian sauce most often served with pasta.
What is Pesto made of?
Pesto is most often made with pine nuts, basil, garlic and Parmesan cheese.
How to make pesto
We suggest using a food processor to make homemade pesto. This helps create a creamy pesto sauce.
What to add to pesto pasta
We love to enjoy this pasta with some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top!
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do! Let us know in the comments below, what’s your favourite easy pasta recipe? We’d love to know!
Looking for more delicious recipes like this one? You’ll love these:
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Pesto Pasta
Recipe: Equipment
Recipe: Ingredients
- water and salt for cooking the pasta
- 1 pound pappardelle pasta or another wide, flat pasta variety such as linguine, fresh or dried
- 2/3 cup pine nuts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
- 3 cups fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Recipe: Instructions
- Set a large pot of water to boil over high heat and salt the water generously (we like to add 1-2 tablespoons of salt to a large pot of pasta water).
- Once the water boils, cook the pasta according to the package directions to al dente.
- To your food processor, add the pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, spinach, basil and Parmesan cheese.
- Place the lid on the food processor and process on low speed while you slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture as the food processor is running. Turn the food processor up to medium-high and process for 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and reserve about 1/3 cup of the pasta water.
- Add the pesto sauce to the hot pasta in the pot. Toss the pasta together with the sauce and if it appears dry, drizzle in a little bit of the pasta water to loosen up the sauce. This may or may not be necessary, depending on the variety of pasta you are using and its starch content.
- Serve immediately with some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top.
Recipe: Notes
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
To make this recipe ahead of time, prepare the pesto as directed in the recipe and store in the fridge in jar or an airtight container for up to 4 days until ready to serve. Cook the pasta and toss with the sauce right before serving.Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.