Can you use a blender instead of a food processor for pesto?

Short answer, yes. One of my favorite summer sauces is Homemade Pesto in a Blender. Why use a blender? Because I hate pulling out my food processor, and my blender is always out and ready for use (I am a lazy cook!).

My mom always plants basil in her herb garden in the summer, so she always has a ton of fresh basil to use up. The best thing about pesto though is you don't have to just use basil. You can add spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley... the options are endless.

I love topping my pizzas with pesto, using it as a spread on sandwiches, and of course pouring it over a big bowl of pasta!

How to make Homemade Pesto in a Blender:

Dump basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, lemon, garlic and salt into a blender.
Pulse the blender while slowly pouring in the olive oil.
Blend for another 30 seconds or so, until everything is thoroughly combined.

Here are some other ingredients you could add or swap out:

Add a handful of spinach or kale
Swap out pine nuts for walnuts, pecans, or almonds
Add sun-dried tomatoes

What can I use instead of pine nuts in pesto?

If you are not a fan of pine nuts, you can substitute them for any other nut! Some of my favorites are pecans or walnuts.

If you love this recipe I would love to know! You can rate this recipe and leave a comment, and tag a photo on Instagram @hungrywaitress! Here?s the recipe:

Homemade Pesto in a Blender

★★★★★

4.5 from 11 reviews

Author: The Hungry Waitress
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 1x

Print Recipe

Description

This recipe makes 1 cup of pesto. Making Homemade Pesto in a Blender is an easy way to enjoy this summery sauce. Enjoy Pesto over pasta, sandwiches, or pizza! It's so versatile.

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups packed basil leaves, if you don't have enough basil, you can mix in spinach or parsley
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Juice of one lemon
1/8 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, optional
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Dump the basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, lemon, garlic and salt into a blender.
Pulse the blender while slowly pouring in the olive oil.
Blend for another 30 seconds or so, until everything is thoroughly combined.

Equipment

Blender

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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Category: Sauce
Method: Blend
Cuisine: Italian

Keywords: pesto, basil pesto, pine nuts, sauce

What should you serve with pesto?

Top this Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Zucchini and Mushroom Pasta (to make this pesto vegan just skip the Parmesan Cheese)

This is a quick vegan weeknight dinner recipe. This healthy recipe is hearty you won?t even realize it?s vegan.

Or this Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Artichokes!

Or this Easy Chicken Pesto

Easy Chicken Pesto is a great weeknight dinner. This pesto pasta is a 30 minute dinner, and it?s a crowd pleaser!

Comments

ruben sainz
July 12, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Excellent, I'm also a lazy cook, thanks for the receipe
- thehungrywaitress
  July 13, 2018 at 10:10 pm
  You're welcome!
- LCR
  September 29, 2021 at 7:40 pm
  Thanks for confirming blender. My food pro is packed away. Easy to follow
  ★★★★★
Debbie
July 19, 2018 at 8:23 pm
I just made this in my blender, it worked! I excitedly bought all the ingredients for pesto but later dreaded pulling out my giant food processor. I roughly chopped my basil & nuts (I used walnut) before adding them to blender. I needed my rubber spatula to work the leaves down after each of the first few pulses before it would really catch. Thank you for letting me leave my food processor hidden away.
★★★★
- thehungrywaitress
  July 20, 2018 at 4:06 pm
  Haha! I feel the same way about my food processor... that's why I throw everything in the blender!
thehungrywaitress
September 21, 2018 at 7:06 pm
Of course you can add garlic! As much as you like.
Tom
October 19, 2018 at 6:39 pm
Juice of one small lemon was just perfect
- thehungrywaitress
  November 06, 2018 at 8:49 pm
  Good! Thank you!
notafanofcookingbutmustlearn
February 15, 2019 at 8:46 am
Made alot of pesto before and none was really that amazing. this recipe was a knock out! Love it so much! Thank you! Added juice of 1/2 of a lemon and some garlic and it was perfection.
★★★★★
- thehungrywaitress
  February 16, 2019 at 4:37 pm
  Thank you!
Sharon Cooper
April 28, 2019 at 4:19 am
Can I freeze
- thehungrywaitress
  June 10, 2019 at 8:47 pm
  Yes! You can freeze this pesto for about 3-4 months
- Ronda
  July 13, 2021 at 11:35 am
  Awesome! My lemon was a little too large but fortunately, I like tartness! Just ‘taste tested’ my 1st batch (as I know there will be more) on some linguine! Perfection!
  ★★★★★
jackie
May 07, 2019 at 11:02 am
How hard was it to clean the blender? I have a vitamax but only use it for smoothies.
- thehungrywaitress
  June 10, 2019 at 8:49 pm
  It's not too bad. I have a Ninja and it only takes a few minutes to rinse out and clean. I do make sure to get all of the olive oil out using a paper towel.
  - Anonymous
    July 27, 2021 at 1:25 pm
    You can fill the blender with water and then pulse away. It makes cleaning so much easier!
Chelsea
May 14, 2020 at 3:47 pm
How many servings does this make? Will it be enough for about 9 servings of pasta?
- thehungrywaitress
  May 23, 2020 at 1:22 pm
  I'd say it's enough for one pound of pasta (which is four servings) ... if you like a lot of sauce. A trick I use if I don't have enough sauce is reserve a cup of the pasta water before you drain it, and add it to the pasta after you toss it with the sauce. It will spread the sauce a little farther.
Barbara Tocco
June 06, 2020 at 2:20 pm
Had lots of Spring mix lettuces and some leftover basil leaves. Toasted pine nuts first on stove. Finally after all in blender it finally started blending! Delicious and added some smoked sea salt and 3 cloves garlic! Will freeze! Thank you for inspiration!!!
★★★★★
- thehungrywaitress
  June 07, 2020 at 12:04 pm
  Yum! You're welcome!
Marilyn Levy
July 20, 2020 at 2:14 pm
Great and easy recipe!
★★★★★
Rutvik
October 09, 2020 at 6:46 am
It is looks healthy with the organic and real taste. Made alot of pesto before and none was really that amazing. this recipe was a knock out!. Can you please share more with us?
- thehungrywaitress
  October 10, 2020 at 11:49 am
  Yes! Thank you
Vrushali
October 19, 2020 at 8:00 am
I tried this recipe and it's delicious and organic. I never tried this type of pesto. his really increase my knowledge about this Looking forward to such helpful and lovely recipes.
Ruhanika
November 10, 2020 at 5:57 am
I tried this recipe as well as it's scrumptious and also natural. I never tried this sort of pesto. his truly raise my expertise concerning this Expecting such valuable and wonderful recipes.
★★★★★
Susan Dubose
February 21, 2021 at 7:58 pm
After making a skewered caprese salad with basil, I used the remaining basil leaves plus the olive oil and spices from the marinated mozzarella pearls to make this pesto recipe. Very easy to make. Fresh is best!
★★★★★
Anonymous
May 24, 2021 at 4:23 pm
Can I use lime instead of lemon?
- Leanna Myers
  May 28, 2021 at 5:16 pm
  It won't taste like traditional basil pesto but you can!
Vera
June 03, 2021 at 10:18 am
I tried with my Vitamix blender and the result is far from the actual Italian pesto but the taste was good. The Vitamix made the sauce very "velvety" which is nice but the metal blender affected the colour (the real pesto is pale green).
★
janet blocker
July 25, 2021 at 4:41 pm
This was the best and easiest recipe! Thanks soooooo much. I did have to add some water as my blender is an older gal and didn't process the pesto unless I did add some water. I still loved this and will be for sure making this again. Actually, this will be my go to for pesto!
★★★★★
- Leanna Myers
  July 26, 2021 at 3:45 pm
  Thank you so much! This makes me so happy!
phyllis
November 18, 2021 at 5:37 pm
very easy! i still had basil growing out of control in my garden so pesto it was! i had tried a different recipe before and just couldn't get it going to get it smooth. my new blender handled it like a charm! thanks
★★★★