Homemade Basil Pesto + How I Freeze It for Later
The basil harvest is big now.
Future dinner doesn’t have to be.
There are few things that make me feel more accomplished than looking at an absurd amount of something from the garden and successfully making it disappear into food we’ll actually eat.
Enter: pesto.
When our basil was ready for a big harvest, pesto was an obvious choice.
It’s one of our favorite ways to use fresh basil, but the best part is that I don’t have to use all of it immediately. I can make a large batch while basil is abundant, portion it, freeze it, and have little pieces of summer waiting for us later Which sounds very poetic considering that most of the actual process involved children running around my kitchen while I tried to operate a food processor.
Our Homemade Basil Pesto
You’ll need:
– 2 cups basil leaves
– 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts**
– 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
– 2 tbsp lemon juice
– 1 small garlic clove
– 1/4 tsp sea salt
– pepper to taste
– 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional but recommended!)
– sun dried tomatoes (optional but do add an extra layer of flavor if you have any on hand)
**I didn’t have enough pine nuts to quadruple the recipe I substituted some for walnuts and it worked great!
Making the Pesto
Start by removing the basil leaves from the larger stems. Wash the basil if necessary and dry it thoroughly.
Then add pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper to the food processor and pulse until well chopped.
Then add the basil and pulse until combined (or if you are me and you just threw everything in at the same time, that still worked just fine).
With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil and pulse until combined. Add the Parmesan cheese (if using) and pulse again. If you want a smoother pesto, add more oil.
Taste it. This sounds silly, but it is important.
Recipes can give you measurements, but basil varies. Parmesan varies. Garlic varies. Adjust the salt, garlic, cheese, lemon, or whatever else you’re using until it tastes good to you.
That’s your pesto.
Using Fresh Pesto
Obviously, pasta is the first answer.
But pesto is one of those things I’m always happy to have around because it can make a very ordinary dinner feel like I tried harder than I did.
We use it for things like:
– Pasta
– Chicken
– Sandwiches and wraps
– Pizza
– Roasted vegetables
– Potatoes
– Mixing into sauces
– Spreading onto bread
But with a large garden harvest, there’s only so much pesto we’re going to eat in one week.
So most of mine goes into the freezer
How I Freeze Pesto
This is my favorite part.
Instead of freezing one giant container, I portion the pesto into small individual portions before freezing. That means later I don’t have to thaw an entire batch just because I want a little pesto for dinner.
Fill your freezer molds, ice cube trays, or containers with the pesto and freeze until completely solid.
Once frozen, remove the portions and transfer them into a freezer-safe container or bag.
Label it. Yes, I am saying that partly because I have absolutely played “What frozen green substance is this?” before.
Now you can pull out one portion, three portions, or however much you actually need. This prevents you from thawing a large batch and then having to use all of it before it goes bad. Trust me — the extra step is worth it.
From One Basil Plant to Future Dinners
The basil recipe that I loosely follow is from Love & Lemons. Basil pesto safely lasts 3-5 days in the fridge (keep in mind, basil does oxidize so add a thin layer of oil on top or press plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent browning). If you are freezing your pesto, it stores safely in the freezer for 3-6 months.
This is why I love preserving what comes out of the garden.
It’s not really about having shelves and freezers full of homemade things just for the sake of saying we made them. It’s about taking something that’s abundant right now and making it useful later.
The basil doesn’t care that Tuesday night three months from now is going to be chaotic.
But frozen pesto?
Frozen pesto understands.
Pull out a few portions, make some pasta, add whatever else we have, and dinner suddenly has a head start. That’s the kind of preserving I have room for in this season of life.
If you got here because your own basil plant has gotten slightly ambitious and you still have leaves left after the pesto check out our homemade basil salt:
→ Homemade Basil Salt: One of the Easiest Ways to Preserve Fresh Basil
You can also watch the entire harvest, including my extremely professional garden and kitchen assistants, here:
One giant basil plant.
A whole lot of pesto.
And several future dinners that just got easier.
I’ll take it.
Growing as we go.