EASY, BUDGET FRIENDLY Basil Pesto Pasta recipe made with fresh basil and almonds! This easy, healthy homemade recipe makes delicious basil pesto that can be served over pasta, as appetizers or on a sandwich! Pine nuts are expensive so this is a much more budget friendly pesto. Recipe also includes a vegan alternative.
I’m in love with this Basil Pesto. Big time.
Growing up, pesto wasn’t big in our house. It’s one of those things that I honestly can’t even remember having until I was in my 20’s. Then I started to make it and fell in love. Then when started to grow our own basil and could pick it and immediately make the freshest pesto possible, then I really fell in love with it.
Even though we’re still growing vegetables under the greenhouse on the roof, there’s no herbs growing there. All our herbs are growing inside our loft thanks to hydroponic gardening, or more specially our AeroGarden. Can we take a look at how bushy this indoor herb and small vegetable garden is getting? There’s basil, mint, thyme, cherry tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. If you have seen these AeroGardens and were wondering if they work well, they do! We’ve had ours for about half a year now and everything is grown so tall that we can’t even push our AeroGarden to go higher. The basil specifically grows wonderfully with this. There’s 3 basil plants (in the back to the right) and those plants are just awesome. They just grow, grow, grow. I honestly don’t even feel like I can keep up with the amount of basil it grows so I find myself picking some to dry, then suddenly I look a few days later and it’s already grown to the top again. This fresh basil has been feeding us yummy pesto for so many dinners lately.
I know lots of people prefer using pine nuts in their pesto recipe but have you seen the price of pine nuts? Every time I see the price of a package in the store I nearly faint. I like using other types of nuts, especially almonds and pistachios – that’s how I came up with this Easy, Budget Friendly Basil Pesto Pasta recipe! I’m a almond and pistachio nut (hahaha, get it?) so I always have a bunch stocked up in my pantry. 
Enjoy this Easy, Budget Friendly Basil Pesto Pasta!
Ingredients
- 3 cups of fresh basil leaves
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3/4 Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup roasted almonds or pistachios
- pinch of salt
- pasta of your choice cooked
- red pepper flakes to garnish
Instructions
- Combine basil, garlic, Parmesan Cheese, olive oil, almonds and salt in a food processor. Blend to a smooth pesto.
- Pour on hot cooked pasta and stir so pesto is evenly combined.
- Garnish with red pepper flakes for a added kick.
Notes
If you want to make this dairy free, substitute the Parmesan cheese with 1/4 cup of Nutritional Yeast.
Suzanne says
Love fresh basil, never heard of aero garden, must look that up. You are just a natural with plants. I am not at all, they do not usually thrive under my care. I love your pesto!!
Pamela says
You should give the AeroGarden a shot Suzanne, it really works wonderfully and it tells you when to water and add nutrients! Good luck!
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
I try and make my pesto with other nuts besides pine nuts too. Holy pricey little nut! I’ve used walnuts before, but never almonds. Can’t wait to try! And I once made a vegan pesto with nutritional yeast instead of parmesan. It wasn’t bad! You should try it since you’re trying to not eat dairy : )
Pamela says
Hey Natalie, be sure to check out my notes for this recipe. I included a Nutritional Yeast substitute to make it dairy free. Enjoy!
Abbie @ Needs Salt says
Mmm, I could totally go for a bowl of pesto-covered carbs right now. This dish looks amazing! Your homemade pesto looks so delicious – I miss having fresh herbs in the garden.. (spring, come soon!)
Pinning this!
Prudy says
I love pesto, and especially on pasta. I could eat it anytime of the day. Every day. <3 Lovely recipe Pamela!
Traci says
YUM! I have a jar of pesto in my fridge I’ve been needing to use up. Sounds like the perfect lunch today!
ela@GrayApron says
That fresh basil, I mean Fresh…I’m jealous. Your pesto looks perfect! The pine nuts – I think I bought them only once. 🙂 ela
Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic says
I haven’t had pesto in a while and now you have me craving it. I also prefer almonds and pistachios 🙂
Mary Frances says
Homemade sauce is always so good! All that fresh basil – yum. Give me parm and noodles and I’m a happy girl!
marcie says
I never grew up with pesto, either, so when I tried it the first time I went nuts over it, and couldn’t believe how easy it was to make. Now I make it all the time. Yours looks incredible…I need to whip up another batch!
Davida @ The Healthy Maven says
Pesto wasn’t a big thing in my house either because my family doesn’t like cheese…I know, what’s wrong with them? Fortunately I’ve compensated in adulthood!
Ashley says
I need to look into growing herbs inside – I always miss our fresh herbs from the backyard during the winter (and hence have not made pesto since early Fall!). And this sounds delicious – I’ve used walnuts before to make pesto but never pistachios – I need to try that!
Jess says
This looks delicious! I love pesto- you really can’t beat it! Beautiful pictures too 🙂
Daniela @ FoodrecipesHQ says
This pesto with pistachio and almonds looks really great! I like the proportions of the ingredients in this recipe.
Zainab @ Blahnik Baker says
I love pesto too. But my herbs were outside this summer and now only my rosemary and thyme are alive. This basil pesto looks so good. Love adding nuts!!
Katie says
So jealous of your basil!! Mine sort of died over Christmas. Not all the way, but they aren’t looking very happy right now. I went home for about a week longer than I was expecting so the cold and lack of water was….well, they are plants, so you know.
I love pesto, but I can’t have cheese. I have an old recipe I used to make basil pesto. I should resurrect that. i used pine nuts, but they were so expensive I felt guilty eating it.
Pistachios….favorite nut. Hands down.
Pamela says
Hey Katie, in the recipe I give the option of using Nutritional Yeast instead of cheese. Both came out delicious, couldn’t even tell!
Deb@CookingOnTheFrontBurner says
I love this entire post – it’s so colorful! Of course the food looks pretty great too 😉
Madonna/aka/Ms. Lemon says
Such a great dish. I love basil.
Kelly says
I love pesto and can eat up it up with a spoon any time:) Yum, I wish I had your pasta for dinner earlier 🙂 Almonds and pistachios sounds fabulous – we’ll use cashews or walnuts sometimes too since pine nuts can be pricey. Your herbs look gorgeous and I love that you can make fresh pesto even in the winter – the aerogarden sounds awesome too – my mom and I were thinking about whether it really works so thanks so much for the positive feedback 🙂
Pamela says
I totally hear you about the spoon Kelly, I’m guilty of that… a few times guilty. 😉
Dan from Platter Talk says
Beautiful post, Pamela! I can’t imagine how this could not be anyone’s favorite Basil Pesto Pasta – wonderfully done!!
Sarah & Arkadi says
ohh…the smell of fresh basil is just fantastic! love the pesto!
John@Kitchen Riffs says
I love this dish! One of my favorite pastas. And I love the idea of the Aero Garden – I gotta look into that! Thanks!
Mimi @ Culinary Couture says
I gotta get me an Aero Garden! I love fresh pesto, the store-bought kind is BLEH.
Pamela says
You’ll love it Mimi!
Erin | The Emerging Foodie says
I love that you used almonds in this! I agree–pine nuts are ridiculously overpriced. This looks absolutely delicious and your photos are gorgeous! Love love love.
Debra says
I am jealous of your herbs. I have some basil growing from seed in our greenhouse but it is still too small to do anything with (but try to watch it grow).
Michelle says
Hi Pamela!
I recently found your blog while searching for a “Monkey Bread Muffins” recipe. Yours is the one I ended up following…they were amazing!! I lost count of how many I ate the first night! 🙂
I am hoping to get into gardening soon. It is new to me, so sorry if my question sounds silly…how do you keep the cats from disturbing your AeroGarden? We have five cats…I can imagine them going nuts for a fresh plant!
Pamela says
Hahaha, so happy to hear that Michelle! They sure are yummy, aren’t they?
You know, the only cat issue we ever had was when Essy (the Queen of the house) would lay in a window box and completely crush the plants a few years ago. Since we started growing herbs hydroponically inside, they don’t seem interested, maybe because there’s no soil to lay in and be comfortable? We do keep them off the ground, but our Siamese is known to be crazy and jump everywhere (really, everywhere) and even she doesn’t care. When I hold them in my arms while pruning, sometimes I let them smell the herbs and they still seem disinterested. Good luck, let me know how it goes!
Abbe@This is How I Cook says
There is nothing like fresh pesto. The smell of it just melts my heart. And I’m with you on pine nuts. Pistachios sound great!
Monica says
Pamela – wow! That AeroGarden and the greens and herbs you’re growing is inspiring. I love pesto, and it sounds great with almonds. Pasta is the best but I could top that on just about anything and I’d be a happy girl.
Pamela says
I know what you mean Monica, I’ll eat it with a spoon! 🙂
Laura @ Lauras Baking Talent says
I think that I really really need one of those aerogardens. It looks like so much. The pasta looks amazing as usual. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Nora (Buttercream Fanatic) says
I’m pretty pesto-obsessed too! Unfortunately my herb plants were outside and are long since dead (and I don’t have an aerogarden) so I will have to live vicariously through you. Have you ever tried making it with walnuts? Those are my favorite, although pistachios are pretty great too.
Pamela says
I’ll try walnuts next time Nora, thanks for the suggestion. I happen to have a bag that I hardly have used!
Jessica @ Jessiker Bakes says
Gosh, fresh basil is the best! I have some in the my fridge right now that I’m dying to use. I love your recipe for pesto!