Chicken Free Basil & Olive Pesto
Bright, herby, and punchy with briny depth, this pesto swaps the usual pine nuts and parmesan for pitted green olives, letting the basil and good olive oil truly shine. The olives bring a savory, salty backbone that makes the whole sauce feel rich and satisfying without any dairy or nuts in the mix. A hit of fresh lemon juice and zest keeps everything lively and stops the basil from tasting flat ā it's the kind of detail that separates a great pesto from a forgettable one. Everything comes together in a food processor in under a minute, so you get a vibrant, restaurant-quality condiment with almost no effort. Toss it with pasta, spread it on crusty bread, swirl it into soup, or use it as a dipping sauce ā it's endlessly versatile. The optional parsley adds a slightly peppery, fresh note if you want to stretch the flavor even further. Keep a jar in the fridge and you'll find yourself reaching for it all week long.
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Learn more āIngredients
6 servings
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- ā cup pitted green olives
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Ā½ tsp lemon zest
- Ā½ tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
- Ā½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1ā2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the basil leaves, green olives, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 8ā10 times until the mixture is coarsely chopped and the garlic is broken down.
- 2
With the processor running, pour the olive oil in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube, processing until the pesto is smooth with a few flecks of texture remaining ā about 20ā30 seconds. Stop and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, then pulse once or twice more to incorporate.
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