12 Pesto Recipes to Perk Up Any Dish

Harking from Genoa, Italy, pesto is a hero in the kitchen. Traditionally made with pine nuts, basil, olive oil, salt, and Italian cheese, it is an OG sauce for tossing with hot cooked pasta. With a food processor, and just a handful of basic ingredients, you can blend it up in minutes, and stash it in a sealed jar in the fridge up to a week (or see our tips for freezing pesto, below), so you'll always have some on hand. On busy weeknights, all you have to do is boil up some pasta noodles, stir in some pesto, and boom—you've got a delicious Italian dinner in minutes.

Beyond pasta, there are so many other ways to use this staple Italian condiment in your kitchen. You can spread pesto on your sandwiches and wraps to add flavor, slather it on pizzas, drizzle it over soups and salads, use it for dressing up grilled fish or chicken breasts, stir it into steamed rice, smear it on crostini, or serve it as a party dip for crudites and crackers.

Want to try something different from the traditional basil and pine nut pesto? While the classic sauce tops our list below, there are oodles of yummy variations you can try. Here are 12 pesto recipes that will transform your simple cooking, and convince you of the glories of pesto. You'll find pestos made with a variety of nuts, and leafy greens other than basil, plus a few ingredients that may surprise you. We've even included a nut-free pesto, and vegan pestos to suit plant-based diets.

Note: While the other ingredients may vary, all pestos use olive oil as their base. Because pesto is an uncooked sauce, you'll want to use the best-quality olive oil you can afford, and use the extra-virgin variety to yield the proper consistency and flavor.

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