Hi Elise,
Will this freeze or can well? We have a whole lot of basil and it sounds like this would be a wonderful way to fix it.

I dont know about canning, but I have been freezing a pesto base for years. I use about 5 cups of leaves, and enough olive oil to make it process well. I freeze this flat in freeser bags. Then when you want it, (in January!), just peel off the bag, break it up into a bowl and defrost, then you can add garlic, oregano, and enough cheese to turn the color pea green. I prefer
Romano too. Then I add a ladleful of the pasta water just before i serve. Taste before you add salt.

So easy, so good. I have been fortunate enough to spend some time in Liguria, basil capital of the world, and I think the substitution of walnuts for pine nuts might meet a reception that involves pitchforks and flaming torches.

I can't even imagine what would happen to anyone substituting Parmigiano Reggiano for something else.

My pesto may be even easier, and I also freeze FPed basil with only oil for winter use-- it is usable for more than just pesto that way.
My part of Italy is not a pesto zone, so I am the only one in my neighborhood who makes it. And they all love it when I do! Last week's treasure was poached chicken breast, cut into large cubes and tossed with pesto while hot. Then it was chilled and eaten with chunks of ripe ripe tomatoes on the side.

I have a lovely 'lighter' recipe for pesto that adds about 1/2 cup of mine for every 1 cup basil and substitutes lemon juice and lemon zest for most of the oil and cheese. (Is this pitchfork territory, again?)

I've never thought of freezing it, but that sounds like a great way to remember summer in the middle of a drizzly autumn.

I made pesto a few weeks ago, and the recipe I used called for toasted pine nuts. I usually just use raw, but I thought I'd give it a try. While I was whizzing them in my food processor, they gave off the most indescribably delectible smell, and my pesto tasted amazing! I highly recommend it, as it only takes a minute to toast them dry in a frying pan.

We love pesto. Instead of olive oil I use a cake of firm tofu and 2/3c. milk for the base. Makes up for the high calorie nuts, I guess!

I sent this recipe to my friend Meredith, who purchased half a pound of basil on Sunday. We just had it with a really great pasta, with a bit of wilted spinach. Our minds are officially blown, this was delicious. She was going to freeze it, but I have a feeling this is going to be gone by the end of the week before that actually happens.

I was wondering, is it possible to make pesto using almond meal instead of pine or walnuts?

Thanks for this recipe. My husband is allergic to pine nuts so I was looking for a pesto recipe without them. Our basil plants are going crazy, I've got to use them! I'm going to try freezing some pesto.

Wonderful recipe, I can't wait to try it! I have a ton of basil from my mom's very overgrown garden. What I can't figure out, however, is how 2c basil, plus 1/2c cheese, plus 1/2c olive oil, plus 1/3c nuts yields only 1c of pesto...

I have been making pesto for several years and have found that the top of the pesto turns black or brown after refrigeration or freezing. What causes this and what can be done to prevent it? It doesn't change the taste, just looks awful. Thanks!

I have successfully frozen pesto for years and prevent the top turning black by adding a thin film of olive oil to the container before I place it in the freezer (I think it prevents air discoloring the basil). Good to freeze in an iceblock tray, although it freezes soft and it is not difficult to break small amounts off a largish block for use. Happy eating!

I haven't made pesto in about 10 years. I worked at a country club in Harrisonburg, VA.
This recipe brought it all back. The toasting of the pine nuts brings out all the wonderfull flavors in this pesto. This is a must make!

Two pesto comments:
We freeze just the basil leaves tossed with a bit of olive oil. This works perfect and you can use the frozen basil leaves for other dishes. We stuff 2 cups into zip lock bags and squeeze the air out. I usually put up about 40 packages a year. You can cut your basil back, put up the leaves and it will grow again for another harvest.

We use almonds in our pesto. I don't know how we got started on that, but we're used to the taste and actually prefer it to walnuts or pine nuts. We also toss the pesto with about 2 cups of cottage cheese per one pound of spaghetti. We like it that way. We eat pesto about once a week here!

I started two different types of basil this year for my herb garden. Once it started coming up in such huge quantities, I wondered, "What have I done?" Now I know what to do with it all. My husband and I LOVE pesto! Thank you!

This is my first time in trying to make pesto. Always waited for my friend to make it. I found your receipe on the internet and tried it. It was so easy and great. The only thing I did different was that I didn't have any pine nuts only smoked almonds I used them and it was great. Looking forward to finding more receipes from you.

Hello, can you freeze basil leaves and not make pesto? Thanks. Juanita

I also make a pesto that I freeze, I learned this from my mother. We put lots of fresh basil into food processor, add about 3 bulbs of garlic (yes lots of garlic!), and while processing add very good quality olive oil until it makes a nice consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. This time I added too much olive oil so I went into my backyard picked our flat leaf Italian parsley and added that for extra flavour! Let mixture sit in bowl for an hour to cure. Then put pesto into small canning jars. Don't fill too much leave room to cover pesto with olive oil (this keeps air from getting to your prized basil.) Screw caps on clean jars tightly then freeze. When you need pesto take a jar out of freezer let dethaw and keep in fridge. After each time you use pesto out of fridge put a bit more oil on top to keep air off pesto again. Pesto will last a few weeks in your fridge. When done that jar get a new one out of freezer. Hope this idea helps someone.

Was just browsing on a break at work and was looking for new uses for pesto. I saw the chicken cubes with tomatoes (above). I could see those wrapped up in some butter or boston lettuce leaves for a quick lunch wrap. Yummy will have to try.

I also noticed other pesto recipes hanging out in the recipe shop and thought I'd add my 2 cents. I've made variations of both cilantro and arugula pestos (I've also added the parsely before like Rhonda). All delicious!

Other pestos I've made: turnip greens and walnuts, mushroom with walnuts, sundried tomatoes with pine nuts/walnuts (particularly tasty over baked polenta), a mixture of arugala and watercress and pines ( I've used pecans before too).

When pesto was put to me in simply terms I could understand (simply a thick raw sauce), I kinda went a little crazy.

Now I'm off (when I leave work) to make the traditional pesto and dress some of those chicken cubes for some some mini wraps....My mouth is watering already.

Pistachio nuts also work well instead of pine nuts.

We add about 3 serrano chili's to our pesto just to give it a kick. We have also made pesto using cilantro ..same recipe you would use for the basil pesto and that is delicious mixed in a black bean soup or black bean paste served with lightly seasoned and grilled turkey. Yummm
The serranos in our garden are not very hot which is why we add so many but add per your taste. I don't roast mine before adding them to the basil. I drop them in while the basil leaves are being blended. We also use about double the garlic.

Thanks to Rhonda Wright. I needed a recipe without nuts. I'll try it. I planted 4 plants and have a bumper crop--Woo Hoo!

I'm a teacher at a child care center and one of my groups this summer was to plant fresh basil, chives, mint, and thyme. Now that we have a bumper crop (yikes) I'm searching for some quick and easy recipes to create with my 6 & 7 year olds!! Last week we had fresh basil leaves on tomato slices and olive oil...not a stretch there. Looking forward to putting this pesto recipe to the kids! Thanks for all the extra ideas!

I never add salt to pesto because there's enough salt in the cheese. The pine nuts add much more flavour when toasted but heat a single layer gently in a frying pan until they are just golden.

Adding a little lemon juice will help to stop the pesto darkening when defrosted.

Here's a fabulous and absurdly easy main dish:

Set oven to 350 degrees. Place salmon fillets on a greased sheet of aluminum foil, in a pan or cookie sheet. Slather with pesto, and bake 20 minutes at 350 (or until fish just starts to flake).

That's it! Saute some fresh veggies while the fish is cooking, serve with rice or potatoes, and you have a wonderful meal.

If the fillets have the skin on, and you don't want to serve it that way, don't grease the foil. The skin will stick to the foil, and you can cleanly lift the cooked fish with a spatula.

I do not have a food processor, I have a hand chopper. Could I use this to make the pesto?

Note from Elise: You can chop the basil by hand. My friend Heidi has a great approach for hand chopped basil pesto that you might want to consider.

I love pesto - and I have 72 Basil plants out in the Greenhouse... just finished making several batches of it and some is in Mason Jars in the Fridge with a layer of Olive oil covering it. Some is in a jar for immediate use over the next couple of days (partially consumed during the pesto making session).

I am also trying to freeze some in ice cube trays and once frozen I hope to save the cubes in a foodsaver bag...(this is an experiment as I have never frozen pesto)- I am curious about the freezing of pesto in those small mason jars as Juanita mentions above... would the jars not break when the pesto freezes and expands? I would love to hear more on that as this way I can top with olive oil to prevent the discoloration I hope.

My Pesto recipe is as follows;

2 cups Fresh Basil leaves (Well Packed)
4 large cloves fresh Garlic
1/2 cup Pine Nuts (Toasted GBD)
3/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano freshly grated
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

GBD means Golden Brown and Delicious. The Sea Salt is the table salt grain size not kosher size. Parmigiano-Reggiano... There is really no substitute in my opinion for the real thing - and finally Extra Virgin Olive Oil - yes this is the time for the good stuff!

Well, here in Greece basil is... everywhere...and we also have "winter basil" plants which means that they have leaves during winter too... I simply love pesto. I add it almost everywhere. Just a spoonflull almost on top of evry salad, sandwich, grilled meat, even fish... I cannot get enough of it. And my questions are rwo:
1)The same as dru asks Juanita. Dont the jars break in the freezer or are they special for freezers?
2)I have tried everything and i cannot avoid discoloration. Even if you add oil on top, you have to keep on doing it everytime you scoop out some pesto from the jar. That means that with each addition the mixture turns more oily everytime. Plus, everytime you take some from the jar, even to use it as spread on a slice of warm whole weat bread, you put all that oil on it too. So any other ideas would be appreciated although i think there is no solution to this.
God bless you all, keep those mixers spinning!

Not having pine nuts on hand, I used cashews. I also grated the garlic on a micro plane ensuring there would be no bits of garlic to bite into. I greased a muffin tin, put the pesto in and quick froze. Then I popped the frozen pesto "cupcakes" out, put them in a big freezer bag and stored in freezer for future use. I varied the size of the "cupcakes" so that I would have all sizes and not have to deal with leftover pesto.

I have been freezing my pesto for years in jars-no breakage, just remember to leave a little space at top for expansion. I also put a layer of plastic wrap directly on the top of the pesto before I put the lid on. Press the plastic wrap firmly down and smooth out with fingertips so that no air can get to the pesto. It's worked for me. I have also added the cheese and garlic before I freeze and it seems to taste pretty good that way, too. Thaw in refridgerator. I have kept it as long as two weeks in the fridge afterwards with no problems, but think one week is probably safer. Loretta

The chilli aspects sounds interesting. I normally use pine nuts (toasted), but saw a recipe using sunflower seeds, so made some yesterday. Really good.

First blanch the basil, squeeze out the water and continue-always beautiful green even when frozen.

My question is about jaring in a presure cooker. Can this be done with basil? I would like to make basil and add it to my basket of jared goods that I give out.

Hey Dru Cook,I tried your recipe. It is very yummy. The olive oil tastes very "green" for my taste but I think with pesto it is all about specific ingredients and adjusting to tastes.

This is the first time I have made Pesto and this recipe is wonderful. Used Walnuts, not pinenuts but just tasty. The husband loved it too.