Paleo Basil & Olive Pesto

Total time10 min

Prep time10 min

Cook time0 min

4.5

(20)

Most store-bought pestos sneak in cheese, preservatives, or seed oils that make them a no-go for anyone eating ancestrally. This version skips all of that and leans on briny green olives instead of pine nuts or parmesan to deliver that same rich, savory depth — and honestly, it works beautifully. Fragrant fresh basil, punchy garlic, a hit of lemon juice and zest, and a generous pour of extra-virgin olive oil come together in the food processor in just a few pulses. The olives bring a buttery, salty complexity that makes this pesto taste far more indulgent than its short ingredient list suggests. A handful of fresh parsley stirred in at the end adds a bright herbal finish if you want to take it up another notch. Toss it with zucchini noodles, spoon it over grilled chicken, swirl it into cauliflower soup, or use it as a dipping sauce — the possibilities are genuinely endless. Keep a jar in the fridge and you'll find yourself reaching for it all week long.

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Ingredients

6 servings

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
⅓ cup pitted green olives
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp lemon zest
½ tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1–2 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 8–10 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 — about 20–30 seconds. Stop and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, then pulse once or twice more to incorporate.

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