Cashew basil pesto is a fresh and flavorful multipurpose spread that uses fresh basil leaves, cashews, and olive oil. Slather on crusty bread, schmear in sandwiches, or toss with your favorite pasta. Delightfully fresh and nutty flavor that’s so easy to make!

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Homemade pesto is something I love to have stocked in my pantry or freezer at all times. It’s the perfect way to preserve the vibrant flavor of summer herbs fresh from the garden and enjoy them all year long!

So, why the cashews? Typically, traditional basil pesto is made with pine nuts. But I’ve never been a big pine nut fan. I also have a friend who’s allergic to pine nuts that causes a metallic taste in her mouth that lasts for weeks. So, to avoid risk of sparking anaphylaxis, I learned to make this creamy and delicious cashew and herb pesto that’s so much better than the original!

The cashews come roasted and salted right out of the can, which yields just the right amount of rich, delicious fat from the nuts along with a heavenly roasted flavor. Just don’t add any salt until the very end so that this homemade cashew pesto isn’t too salty.  (Between the roasted cashews and the parmesan cheese, that can easily happen!)

You can grind the cashews as coarsely or finely as you like. I prefer some texture to my pesto and enjoy tasting the cashews in each bite.

Ingredients

• Grated parmesan cheese (I like grating mine fresh, but you can use the powdery stuff off the shelf in a pinch.)
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Cashew halves (I prefer Diamond brand.)
• Fresh garlic cloves
• Fresh basil leaves (washed to remove any dirt)
• Salt and black pepper to taste

How To Make It

This creamy cashew basil pesto could not be easier to make! Add the basil leaves, garlic cloves, cashews, and parmesan cheese in food processor. Pulse until the pieces are small and combined.

Continue processing while slowly drizzling olive oil into the mixture. Slowly is the keyword here. This ensures a creamy pesto.

Serving Suggestions

Easy cashew basil pesto is so versatile. Slather it on slices of Parisian or European crusty bread for a fabulous appetizer. Toss it with pasta for an easy main dish. Spread it on a Naan. How ’bout pizza? Or a burger? Or wrap. There’s no wrong way to enjoy this creamy cashew basil pesto!

Tips for Success

• If you’re concerned about this pesto being too salty, then use roasted unsalted cashews.
• Add some of your favorite leafy greens to this homemade cashew basil pesto for more color and flavor like spinach, parsley, or arugula.
• Not a fan of cashews? Any nut will work! Pecans, walnuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds are great homemade pesto ingredients.

More Recipes To Try

• Avocado Lime Black Bean Dip
• Homemade Italian Meatballs and Tomato Sauce
• Fresh Whole Cranberry Sauce
• Salted Caramel Sauce
• Maple Praline Pecan Sauce

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Easy Cashew Basil Pesto

Creamy pesto and easy to make. Tastes fabulous slathered on crusty bread, tossed with pasta, on a pizza or Naan.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Allie Taylor

Ingredients

• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup olive oil or more for consistency
• 1/2 cup Diamond cashew halves
• 2 good sized garlic cloves or more to taste
• 4 cups clean basil leaves
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Place basil leaves, garlic cloves, cashews and parmesan cheese in food processor.
• Pulse until pieces are small.
• Scrape down sides of food processor with a spatula.
• Continue processing while slowly drizzling olive oil into the mixture.
• Add more olive if needed until desired consistency is reached.
• Serve on crusty bread, pasta, pizza or a deli sandwich.
• Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Notes

This recipe easily halves to make one scant cup.
I used salted cashews and didn't need to add additional salt.

The post Easy Cashew Basil Pesto appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.

This Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe incorporates all the sweet and peppery garden basil! Fresh basil pesto combines with pasta, sun-ripened garden tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. This is your new favorite summery pasta salad. Make a big bowlful, because this one goes fast.

It’s been an interesting and delicious summer around here. And I’ve got a few basil stories for you. Yep. So last summer my basil was absolutely incredible.

Lush and green, thick and fragrant. I called it bionic basil, and everyone who saw it marveled. I had more basil than I knew what to do with and plenty to share.

I buy the plants each year on Memorial Day weekend at Tanglewood Nursery, just one town over. The nursery is run by an elderly Polish couple and their son Tom.

Meander down a long, wooded winding drive in the country and you’ll come upon their modest ranch home, with three large and orderly greenhouses set behind it. All in a row.

During the warmer months they grow flowers, veggies and herbs in the greenhouses. When it’s cooler, they make and sell amazing homemade pierogi right from their kitchen. (Pierogi are delicious, stuffed Polish dumplings.)

I enjoy buying my seedlings at Tanglewood because it’s a small family-owned business and I like buying local.

And Tom does most of the growing. He treats the plants like his own children. That’s what his dad says anyway. And I believe him. All the herbs, veggies and flowers are always in top condition. Never root-bound or yellowed leaves.

Tom is knowledgeable, always willing to help. I’d been going to Tanglewood for years, and it wasn’t ’til last year I learned that he’s completely deaf. But he’s a lip reader, and obviously a good one! Truly an amazing can-do kind of person, aside from his green thumb.

So this year my basil wasn’t as prolific as usual and I lost a few plants. I’m still not sure why. (But I can promise the fault lies with me, not Tom.) My herbs are all in pots by my side door as usual. But while watering the geraniums on my front door step, I noticed basil sprouting from the pot.

Somehow it seeded itself in my flower pots on the opposite side of the house! It turned out to be the best basil of the season – produced big, fragrant and peppery leaves alongside the bright red geraniums. Perfect for all our fresh summer pizzas, salads, and pestos.

This summer I discovered how resilient basil can be. I snipped a big bunch to take with us on vacation to the Cape. Put it in water in a big glass mason jar. I was going to use some in recipes and also gift some to my aunt, who we’d see on vacation. We left for the Cape on a warm Sunday morning, packed the car early, stopping in for church on our way down.

The day heated up and the basil sat in a fairly warm car. It was pretty wilted when we got back to the car a few hours later. We all thought it was done for, but then the air kicked in and it started perking up. A few hours later when we got to the Cape, it looked nearly perfect again. That bionic basil.

During the week we visited my aunt and uncle in Mashpee and I forgot to bring some along. So by week’s end, we still had plenty in the jar. We checked out of the cottage rental mid-morning on a Saturday, then spent the entire day at Megansett Beach in Falmouth. It was a scorcher, and the basil sat in the front seat console, baking in the sun.

By the time we left the beach around 5ish to head home, the basil was completely wilted. Dead. Or so we thought. Because slowly over the several hour ride home to New Hampshire it rallied. And by the next morning? A few dead leaves, but otherwise, completely fine. Crazy.

Several days later it actually started rooting. And now, weeks later, it’s still going strong on my kitchen counter. I tell you, my bionic basil has nine lives!

This Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe is so easy to assemble. Use store bought pesto, or while your pasta cooks, make a fresh basil pesto in the food processor. Combine pesto, pasta, garden tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Stir to combine. This makes a beautiful and delicious summery pasta salad for all the picnics and barbecues!

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Summery Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe

Fresh basil pesto combines with pasta, sun-ripened garden tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Allie

Ingredients

• 12 ounces semolina pasta I used radiatore
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella balls halved or quartered
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves snipped into thin strips
• 1 cup fresh pesto
• salt and pepper
• Or make fresh basil pesto w/ the ingredients below
• 1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves packed
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
• olive oil

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Rinse and set aside to cool.
• If making fresh pesto, add 1 1/2 cups basil leaves, grated parmesan cheese and garlic cloves to food processor.
• Process with just enough olive oil to make a thick pesto. Set aside.
• Combine chopped tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, pesto, chopped basil and pasta in a large serving bowl.
• Allow to sit for a few minutes for flavors to meld before serving.

Notes

I loved using the radiatore pasta because the pesto stuck in all the crevices! Mmmm. A smaller pasta seems to work best for this salad.

You may also like: Caprese Pesto Flatbread

The post Summery Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe appeared first on Through Her Looking Glass.