Simple and Easy Homemade Basil Pesto (and Tips For Growing Great, High-Yielding Basil Plants)

Every summer, my favorite thing to grow in the garden is basil. It’s easy to grow, nearly maintenance free, and because I grow two plants every year, it’s quite cost-effective, producing hundreds of dollars worth of basil every summer for me.

I’m no master gardener, but I think there are four keys to growing healthy, high-yielding basil plants:

1) Plant it in the ground. And if that’s not possible, plant it in a very large pot. None of these tiny terracotta pots, if you want a big basil plant, give it a big pot to grow into!

2) Lots of sun and heat. My basil never really gets that big until about late June, and then it just takes off. It needs the heat to really get growing.

3) Fertile, well-drained soil. I don’t water my garden in the summer unless we’re having a slight drought, so I may pull out the sprinkler about two times all summer. To me, the key isn’t as much frequent watering, but good soil to keep the plant healthy.

4) When harvesting your basil, pick off individual leaves, usually from the bottom up. And when the plant starts to “bolt,” or rather flower, at the top, pinch those flowers off so the plant continues to put its energy into producing more leaves. I usually need to start doing this at the end of July about once a week or so until the end of the season.

Here’s one of my plants in mid-August. It’s hard to show perspective but it’s about three and a half feet tall.

While I find there are lots of uses for basil, hands down, my favorite way to use it is to whip up a batch of homemade pesto. It comes together in about 5-10 minutes and often our summer dinners will consist of nothing but fresh, homemade bread, tomatoes with basil oil drizzled on top and of course, lots of this pesto.

When I first started making my own pesto, I found I didn’t want to make it too often, because typically it’s made with pine nuts, which are fairly expensive, so I wanted to use them sparingly. In addition, I felt like everything I read about homemade pesto seemed too intensive for it to become something I make every week. But over time, I found that pesto pretty much tastes delicious with whatever you have on hand and however you throw it together. I mean, when you combine anything with tons of parmesan, it’s bound to taste pretty amazing.

Most days, I skip toasting the nuts and garlic. I don’t “bruise” the basil leaves, and I rarely – if ever – actually use pine nuts. Usually I roll with walnuts, but I’ve used all types and it always turns out delicious.

So while I’m sharing my “recipe” with you below – know that: 1) I never measure. (I had to reverse-engineer my process just to get this one written down.) I’m usually big on following recipes well, but with pesto, it’s incredibly forgiving and is more about the consistency rather than exact measurements. And 2) There are lots of “swaps” you can make in the recipe. Clean out whatever nuts you have in the pantry and grab whatever hard cheeses are in the fridge and I promise, this will still taste good.

This makes a pretty large batch (you could easily halve it), I use old jelly jars to store it in the fridge for up to two weeks, but it never lasts that long. It’s great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Put a dollop on your eggs in the morning, add it to your grilled cheese or BLT for lunch, and whip up a pasta for dinner with nothing but noodles, tomatoes, chicken and this pesto. The uses are endless once you get going!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese (or another hard white cheese)
• 3/4 cup walnuts (or another type of nut)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp kosher salt (plus more to taste)
• Juice of one lemon
• about 1 cup EVOO

Directions: Combine the basil, parmesan, walnuts,  garlic, salt and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in about a cup of EVOO, until desired consistency is reached. Add salt to taste.

If you want to really make it fancy, feel free to toast your walnuts in a skillet over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, and your garlic cloves for about 7 minutes before putting them in the food processor.