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Purple Pesto

Name: Purple Pesto
Prep time: 11 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 19 min
Yield: 400 g
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 125 g pine nuts; 1 bunch Purple basil; 1 lemon; 5 tablespoons olive oil; 125 g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano); Salt; Pepper; 3 tablespoons olive oil

You may already be familiar with the classic green basil pesto , but here is a version with purple basil that gives a very aesthetic purple pesto with a more peppery taste, quite similar to ginger.

59 K 5/5 (2 reviews)569466

Duration

23 min.

Difficulty

Easy

Last modified on: November 1^st 2026

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments Support the site ❤️

For 400 g, you will need:

1 125 g pine nuts
2 1 bunch Purple basil
3 1 lemon
4 5 tablespoons olive oil
5 125 g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano)
6 Salt
7 Pepper
8 3 tablespoons olive oil
Total weight: 495 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation

15 min.

Cooking

8 min.

All in all

23 min.

Preparation 15 min.

Cooking 8 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around: ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Step 1 - ⌛ 8 min.

Roast 125 g pine nuts in a small pan over medium heat until golden brown.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Step 2 - ⌛ 4 min.

Remove all the stems from the purple basil, keeping only the leaves.

Step 3 - ⌛ 3 min.

In a high-sided container, pour the basil leaves, roasted pine nuts, juice and zest of 1 lemon and 5 tablespoons olive oil.

Step 4 - ⌛ 1 min.

Mix a first time.

Step 5 - ⌛ 3 min.

Add grated 125 g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano), salt and pepper and mix again adding 3 tablespoons olive oil, adjust the volume of olive oil to obtain a paste not too thick.

Your purple pesto is ready.

Remarks

The second addition of olive oil is very indicative, do not hesitate to adapt more or less to the result obtained.

Keeping: Several days in the refrigerator in a closed jar

Source: Homemade.

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Nutritional information

	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats	Calories	Energy
Per 100 g	14 g RDI=22 %	7 g RDI=3 %	45 g RDI=61 %	488 kcal RDI=24 %	2,042 kJ RDI=24 %
Whole recipe	69 g RDI=105 %	37 g RDI=14 %	219 g RDI=300 %	2,390 kcal RDI=120 %	10,008 kJ RDI=120 %