This rustic basil sauce, similar to a French pistou is made with just three simple ingredients and comes together quickly in your food processor. It’s an excellent dairy-free, nut-free, and vegan alternative to pesto sauce.
Delicious in Pesto Bruschetta or in a Veggie Pesto Sandwich, it’s a super versatile sauce that packs a lot of flavor into a tiny storage space.
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If you had a lot of basil, you might say, “Make pesto.”
But if you or a family member is allergic to nuts or avoiding dairy, two key ingredients in your standard pesto, you might think again.
Thankfully, there’s pistou, a French version of pesto, with typically similar ingredients, without the nuts and often without the cheese.
The resulting basil sauce is a deliciously flavorful alternative to pesto that is dairy-free, nut-safe, and vegan as well.
Why Make This
It’s a great way to use up that basil in the garden! This sauce is a tasty way to make use of an abundance of herbs in the backyard.
It’s packed with flavor. Every ingredient in this recipe brings flavor to the party, meaning you can use just a little to add great taste to any number of recipes. There are many homemade sauce recipes you can make and this is a great one!
It freezes beautifully. You can easily freeze it in cubes to enjoy your garden harvest for months to come.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this simple sauce:
fresh basil – It’s most affordable if you grow your own. If you can buy a living plant in the produce section of the grocery store, that will be more economical than buying the little blister packs.
olive oil – Use the best olive oil you can for best flavor. The olive oil also helps protect the the beautiful green of the herb.
garlic – Fresh garlic will give the sauce a little punch. Jarred or tubed garlic is fine, too.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- In a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, place the basil leaves and garlic cloves.
- Pulse until both are coarsely chopped. Add enough olive oil until your desired sauce consistency is achieved.
- Scrape down the sides and add more oil if necessary.
- The sauce is ready to use in pastas, pizzas, sandwiches, and appetizers, anywhere you might use pesto.
FAQs
There are several sauces made from basil, including pesto and pistou. Pesto is an Italian sauce made from pesto, garlic, pine nuts, and parmesan. Pistou is made from similar ingredients, but without nuts and sometimes without the cheese. You can also make a simple basil sauce with garlic and oil.
Pesto is a type of basil sauce, but not the only one. This rustic basil sauce contains just three ingredients: basil, garlic, and olive oil, making it dairy-free, nut-free, and vegan.
Use it as you would pesto: to sauce pasta and pasta salads like this pesto pasta salad, on pizzas, drizzled over soup, or in appetizers like a pesto bruschetta. I’ve even mixed it into salad dressings to add a little extra flavor.
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Rustic Basil Sauce
Equipment
- food processor
- rubber spatula
- single-serve airtight containers
Instructions
- In a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, place the basil leaves and garlic cloves.
- Pulse until both are coarsely chopped. Add enough olive oil until your desired sauce consistency is achieved.
- Scrape down the sides and add more oil if necessary.
- The sauce is ready to use in pastas, pizzas, sandwiches, and appetizers, anywhere you might use pesto.
- To store: Cover the surface of the sauce with a thin layer of oil oil. Store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in the freezer. Stir to recombine the ingredients prior to use.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on October 24, 2011. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Kori
You can use sunflower seeds in place of nuts in pesto! Raw taste best and they go rancid fast so check them before using but it’s cheaper than pine nits and you cannot tell the difference!
TSandy
Basil is one of the few things I can grow in Arizona. I have tons of basil since I can grow it year round and like you I’m underwhelmed freezing it for pesto. I finally started dehydrating it since it’s organically grown and giving it away to friends, neighbors, etc. Thanks for the idea of the Basil Rustic Sauce.
BTW a Salad Shooter does a great job grating harder cheeses (Parmesan, cheddar etc) Yes I know it’s one more small appliance but I adore my Salad Shooter. I’m on my second one. I wore out the first one.
Jessica Fisher
Thanks for the tip!
Jenny Ewing
Hi Jessica! When you tried putting the basil in a glass jar filled with water, did you cut the stems first? I have had luck keeping the basil on the counter in a glass jar filled with water (like flowers) but first I cut the stems to make sure the water can access the plant and I also cover the whole thing with a plastic bag.
Jessica Fisher
Thanks for the tip!
Maggie
Hey–
Did you know that pine nuts are actually not nuts? They are seeds.
Check it out and maybe you could have pine nuts in your pesto.
I read up about it after my mom fed my peanut- allergic son pine nuts! Turns out, they’re seeds.
Maggie
Jessica Fisher
We probably could if they weren’t so expensive! Ha!
Sarah
What type of soup do you have pictured in this post?
Jessica
I think it was the bean soup from my cookbook.
Jorge uoxinton
I followed your recipe and added roasted unsalted almonds in the end, to give it a little texture. I like pinoles, but wanted to experiment with California almonds, so plentiful and local! I also added a little rock salt. Let us see what tomorrow brings us in terms of flavor! Many thanks
Robin
I went to a cooking demonstration once where the chef made pesto. In order to keep his pesto from turning brown, he very quickly blanched the basil, I kid you not! He had a pot of boiling water, and a bowl of ice water right next to his food processor. He dipped the basil in the boiling water for just a few seconds, then into the ice water, then immediately into the food processor. It’s been a few years, and I forgot about it until now… I’m not sure how he held on to the basil when it went into the boiling water… his pesto stood out for quite a while that afternoon and it stayed bright green!
I always have basil inside in a sunny window in the Wintertime. There is never enough to make pesto, so in the Summer, when there is so much basil I always make pesto and freeze it as ice cubes. Your version will probably freeze better than it does with the cheese and nuts. You can always add these ingredients later after your basil sauce cube is thawed! I can’t imagine life without basil!
teresa
i love tomato, basil, garlic and olive oil together. YUM! one of my favorite meals at Carrabba’s is their grilled salmon with tomato basil vinaigrette. received an amici club email with the recipe. for 2 servings of the sauce: 1 tomato, washed, seeded, cut to small dice; pinch each of sugar, kosher salt, black pepper; 2T balsamic vinegar and 4T olive oil. pulse in food processor to blend leaving some tomato in pieces. pour sauce into a bowl, add pinch of chopped basil, stir. ladle one ounce of sauce across grilled salmon. ENJOY!
Jessica
@teresa, sounds yummy!
Trish
you can also just simply freeze basil leaves without doing anything to them. A pizzaria owner from Sicily clued me in to this. I freeze a few ziploc bags each year. I didn’t have a chance to use up all of last year’s basil, but it is still good. It makes the freezer smell good too.
Jessica
@Trish, a great idea!
Melinda P
I was told the best way to store herbs, especially basil, was to chop it up, put it in an ice cube tray with enough water to cover and freeze. Once they are frozen, pop the cubes out and store in a ziploc in the freezer. Throw a cube (or two or three) in your recipe, and voila: Fresh basil taste whenever you need it. 🙂
Jessica
@Melinda P, I’ve heard that, too.
sarah k. @ the pajama chef
looks good! i grow herbs on our patio in containers…i can’t wait to have a garden one day.
karen
Pesto made with sunflower seeds is awesome! Frugal and you’ll never notice a taste difference. (maybe someone would, but not me!)
Here in the desert, I plant my basil in my planting beds (next to red yucca, texas sage, and lantana). It has it’s own dripper, so I don’t even have to remember to water it. So far, my basil plants have survived since march–yes even through 120+ summer temps–we’ll see how they stand up to cooler temps.
LizAndrsn
Embrace your inner laziness!
Just tell people you’ve learned to work smarter, not harder. It makes them feel better.
Deborah
Basil is far and away my favorite herb. I grow it every year. One of the easiest ways to preserve it is to chop it a little and sprinkle it in ice cube trays. Fill the trays with water and freeze. Then you can just drop a “basil cube” into pasta dishes, soups, sauces, etc.
I’ve never thought of cutting the nuts and cheese out of pesto – it sure is a more frugal way to preserve that wonderful taste. I’m about to strip my basil plant for the winter and I think I’ll try this!
Jessica
@Deborah, I really like this method. I’m not sure I can go any other way now.
Mickie
My children have nuts allergy as well and I love pesto. I use sunflower seeds instead of the pine nuts and it works and still tastes like the real thing.
Jessica
@Mickie, does it turn funky colors when heated?
Mickie
@Jessica, hmm… I don’t think so. At least I don’t remember it turning colors. I do lightly roast the sunflower seeds on a pan first, so maybe that’s why I didn’t notice color changes?
Jenn
Before the first frost I harvested all my basil. I took the leaves off of the stems and ran them through my dehydrator. Now I have basil to last through the winter! Last winter I packed fresh basil in a jar of salt and that worked too. I’m still using last year’s basil in my kitchen right now.
Vanderbilt Wife
I love growing basil! Even when we lived in a condo, I planted it in our flowerbed. So inexpensive compared to buying it all the time. This looks deliciously simple.
Jessica
@Vanderbilt Wife, I feel like it’s all I can do to keep up with the produce box. I’m not sure I could handle growing it! 😉
Nia
Hey Jessica,
Love using my processor for grating parm. B4 making pesto. I’ve used walnuts when I couldn’t afford pine nuts. Have you tried it with sunflower seeds yet?
Jessica
@Nia, I haven’t tried sunflower seeds yet because I heard that they turn funky colors when heated.