How We Turn Summer Basil Into Winter Pesto 🌿
We grew basil and parsley all summer—now we’re turning that fresh garden harvest into enough homemade pesto to enjoy throughout the entire year.
🌿 Winter Pesto Recipe 🌿
4 cups fresh basil
2 cups fresh parsley
¾ cup lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
6–10 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts
1 cup Parmesan cheese, added last
Combine the basil, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and walnuts in a food processor and blend until the pesto reaches your preferred consistency. Add the Parmesan cheese last and pulse just until combined.
For the finished dish, we used our favorite pasta: Bionaturae Organic Sourdough Fusilli. It’s organic, full of flavor, and has such a satisfying texture that once you’ve tried it, nothing else will do. @
From just five basil plants and five parsley plants, we made an incredible 30 jars of pesto to store in the freezer and enjoy long after the summer garden is gone.
What begins as a handful of summer plants becomes homemade pesto for pasta, sandwiches, pizza, soups, and easy meals all year long.
Try this pesto recipe with your next basil harvest and save a little taste of summer for winter. 🌱
Preserving the vibrant flavors of summer herbs like basil and parsley is a wonderful way to enjoy garden freshness long after the growing season ends. Freezing pesto, as shared in this winter pesto recipe, is one of the best methods to keep that green goodness intact. When making large batches, it’s helpful to freeze pesto in small portions such as ice cube trays or small jars to make thawing just the right amount easy and reducing waste. I’ve found that using walnuts instead of the traditional pine nuts adds a rich, earthy flavor and cuts down costs considerably without sacrificing taste. The addition of fresh lemon juice not only brightens the pesto but also helps preserve its vibrant green color during freezing. Another tip is to pulse the Parmesan cheese in at the end rather than blending it fully, which helps maintain a nice texture. Homemade pesto isn’t just for pasta—it’s fantastic stirred into soups, spread on sandwiches, or dolloped on pizzas. Choosing good-quality pasta, like the organic sourdough fusilli mentioned, elevates the meal and offers a wholesome base that complements the herbal flavors perfectly. Gardening enthusiasts who grow their own basil and parsley can really maximize their harvest by preparing pesto in early autumn. This way, you capture those herbs at peak freshness and have ready-to-use pesto for quick, nutritious meals all winter long—a great way to bring a taste of summer into colder months and reduce dependence on store-bought sauces.