Mediterranean Diet Friendly Basil & Olive Pesto
This bright, herb-forward pesto swaps out the usual pine nuts and cheese for briny green olives, letting fresh basil and good extra-virgin olive oil take center stage. The result is a sauce that's deeply savory, a little tangy from fresh lemon juice and zest, and genuinely addictive in the best way. It comes together in a food processor in just a few minutes, making it one of those recipes that feels far more impressive than the effort involved. The olive oil base and abundance of fresh herbs are exactly the kind of ingredients that make this style of eating so satisfying ā nothing feels like a compromise here. A handful of fresh parsley stirred in at the end adds another layer of green, grassy flavor if you want to take it even further. Spoon it over grilled fish, toss it with pasta, spread it on crusty bread, or swirl it into roasted vegetables ā this pesto is endlessly versatile. 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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