Homemade Pesto and How to Preserve It

Homemade Pesto is so easy to make and preserve. If you are a gardener like me, you will have basil coming out of your ears in the summer. This is a way you can use and preserve it for your family.

What is Pesto?

Pesto is a sauce made from basil. I typically use sweet basil for our pesto, and it turns out delicious. This can be coated on any sort of pasta, meat, bread, spread on sandwiches, the uses are really limitless!

Ingredients For Homemade Pesto

Now if you watch our YouTube channel, you know I do not measure anything when cooking. I know, I know this makes it hard to give out recipes. This will allow you to experiment on texture and taste.

You will need a food processor or blender.

Ingredients:

Basil
Olive oil
Parmesan Cheese
Pine nuts, or any kind of nut really. I have also used walnuts because they are cheaper
Garlic
Lemon or lime juice
Salt and pepper

Instructions for Homemade Pesto

Wash basil and fill your food processor to the top (you can add more as you start to process}. Add your garlic (about 4 cloves), parmesan cheese, pine nuts, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
Drizzle about 1/4 cup olive oil into your processor to get started, pop the lid on and turn on low. As everything is being processed slowly add in more olive oil, a little bit at a time until you know what consistency you are going for.
If you have a lot of basil to use up, once your pesto is blended add more! Fill that processor up! This may mean you will need to add more of all the other ingredients to get the taste you want. I am always doing BIG BATCHES!

I like my pesto somewhat thick but spreadable if that makes sense. You can let the processor go until it forms a paste, but I find this uses more oil than what I want to. Good organic olive oil is just so expensive.

Make sure to taste your pesto to see if it needs more seasoning. You can even add another taste profile and add garlic and onion powder. Play around with the seasonings to find what you like.

Preserving Homemade Pesto

All of the research I have done says that it is not safe to can pesto. I assume it is due to the oil. Freezing is said to be the best option. I have seen people freeze their pesto is half pint and pint jars for later use. This is great but jars can become costly when you are producing as much basil as we do. Not to mention the freezer space!

I love using Souper Cubes for freezing our pesto. I find for our family of five, 1 cup is sufficient for a meal.

The Souper Cubes are silicone molds that stack nicely in your freezer. Once the pesto is frozen, I pop it out and store in a gallon size bag…..this way I can put a few servings in one bag. I have also put pesto into sandwich sized zip locks and laid them flat to make them stackable. This can become costly and wastes a lot of plastic. The Souper Cube is easy for measurements as well.

How Long Does Homemade Pesto Keep in the Freezer

We eat a good amount of pesto, so we go through it. I strive to make enough to last us the year during peak growing season. I would say, it lasts about a year to eighteen months, but probably longer.

I hope this gave you an idea for a clean pasta sauce for your family. Many store-bought pesto brands have awful ingredients and oils. this way, you can control what oil is being used. It can be incorporated into so many different things! Pesto is also a way to use up your abundant harvest in the summertime. It is so easy to make and keeps for a long time in the freezer!