Gluten Free Basil & Olive Pesto
Bright, herby, and punchy with a briny twist, this pesto swaps out the usual pine nuts and cheese for green olives that bring a savory, Mediterranean depth you didn't know you were missing. The combination of fresh basil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and good extra-virgin olive oil creates a sauce that tastes genuinely vibrant ā not like a compromise. Because every single ingredient here is naturally free of gluten, there's no label-scanning or substitution stress involved; it's just clean, real food blended together beautifully. The food processor does most of the work in under a minute, making this one of the easiest condiments you'll ever pull together from scratch. Toss it with pasta, spread it on grilled chicken, swirl it into soup, or spoon it straight onto roasted vegetables ā it's endlessly versatile. The optional parsley adds a slightly grassy freshness if you want to stretch the herb flavor even further. Make a jar on Sunday 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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