Once you discover pesto, you’ll never want tomato sauce again. Just kidding. Tomato sauce is still amazing, but honestly, over the years I’ve come to adore pesto more and more. I want it on my pasta, I want it on my pizza, and once I discovered making my own pesto, it was game over for me. I love the stuff. 

Pesto is an Italian sauce traditionally made with fresh basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, a hard cheese (like Parmesan or Pecorino), and olive oil. As long as you have these ingredients on hand or they’re easy to find, pesto is incredibly easy to make. You can do a grittier pesto by mashing all the ingredients together with a mortar and pestle, or you can make it smooth by blending in a food processor. Both options are great! 

I’ll also be the first to admit that when I’m in a pinch, I’ll get a store-bought pesto. And they aren’t all that bad! But making fresh, homemade pesto is so much more rewarding, and it tastes like a warm evening along the canals of Venice. Truly. 

So that’s regular pesto, though. A cool thing about this incredible sauce is that you can take the basis of it and customize it however you like. For example, when I’m out of pine nuts or don’t feel like shelling out (no pun intended) twelve bucks for a bag, I’ll make pesto with hazelnuts, slivered almonds, or walnuts. All can be equally as yummy! Additionally, I recommend adding some basil to all pesto if you have it, but you can also throw different greens in there as well. Consider spinach, kale, and, oh yea, watercress.