Pasta al Pesto (Pesto with Linguine)

Pasta al pesto is a vibrant, frangrant noodle dish ready in minutes. This pesto pasta is Italian cuisine at its finest with its simple delicious flavors and easy preparation.

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There are few things in this world that I love as much as I love a good pasta dish.

The Italian DNA really runs deep in me, I guess.

What’s not to love about the simple pleasure of digging into a big bowl of pasta al pesto or pesto pasta.

It’s almost effortless with the few ingredients and like so much of my favorite Italian food (see also real Italian tomato sauce which is the epitome of simple delicious cooking) the emphasis here is on using good quality ingredients well.

This dish is basically al dente linguine with pesto- homemade is best- and a sprinkle of cheese.

The result?

Absolute pasta heaven.

What is pasta al pesto?

Pasta al pesto roughly translates to pasta with pesto sauce.

Pesto translates to English as “to pound” or “to crush.”

You can use the word pesto to describe any type of sauce that involves crushing the ingredients together.

What Americans typically think of as “pesto sauce” is pesto alla Genovese or traditional Italian pesto sauce with basil and pine nuts.

Genovese means coming from Genoa, a city in Italy, where the sauce originated.

Pesto alla Genovese is known for using simple, fresh ingredients to create a vibrant, bright green sauce.

Is this recipe authentic?

While I am not based in Italy, I followed the version of making this that my Italian grandma used so it may not be authentic Italian but it’s fairly close.

We follow traditional practices for making pasta al pesto for our pasta… with a minor exception.

We do not have the time – or energy – with three kids and three dogs to pound the nuts, garlic, and basil together with a mortar and pedestal.

If you do, great! Go for it! You’ll have a slightly more authentic feel to the pesto sauce and much sorer forearms.

Second, sometimes we use walnuts instead of pine nuts since walnuts are less expensive and easier to find.

Pine nuts are the traditional ingredient for pasta alla pesto Genova, but walnuts provide a similar creamy texture to the finished sauce.

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

For traditional pasta al pesto, you will want to have the following ingredients:

• Pesto alla Genovese sauce – We use our own traditional pesto sauce when we made these noodles, but you can sub in store bought sauce. Mind you, that is not following traditional pesto sauce because it is not freshly made and will have a lot of added preservatives and such. If you make your own pesto sauce, make it as the noodles cook or slightly before so you have fresh ingredients.
• Noodles – You really can’t make pasta alla pesto without noodles. You can use just about any variety you like, but we tend to use fettucine or linguine noodles.
• Cheese – Unless you just don’t like cheese for some strange, strange reason, you will want to have some Parmesan, mozzarella, or other Italian cheese to top the noodles.

If you plan to make pesto alla Genova from scratch, you’ll need to make sure you also have:

• basil leaves
• garlic cloves
• olive oil
• pine nuts or walnuts
• salt
• Parmesan cheese

You can make pasta alla pesto Genovese using the following kitchen supplies:

• Food processor – A good food processor chops up all the ingredients and creates the pesto sauce quickly.
• Mortar and pestle – For the most authentic experience, you will want to break out a mortar and pestle so you can crush your own pesto sauce using your own strength and grit. Sure, you might be a bit sore the next day, but your feelings of self-satisfaction will carrry you through.
• Strainer pot – You can use any pot you have, but a pot with a straining lid makes making pasta super easy.

How to Make Pesto al Pesto

1. Prepare your noodles.

We used linguine noodles because they tend to hold the pesto sauce to the noodles nicely.

You can use fettuccini, spaghetti, or other long noodles if you prefer.

You could also use short noodles, like penne or rotini.

No matter which you use, prepare the pasta according to the package instructions.

2. Making Pesto Sauce

While the pasta cooks, make the pesto sauce.

You can choose your favorite pesto recipe:

• Traditional Pesto Sauce– The most traditional option that will give you the most authentic pesto alla Genovese.
• Basil Pesto Sauce with Walnuts (Pesto Sauce without Pine Nuts)– This is a great option if you can’t find pine nuts or they are really expensive.
• Lemon Pesto Sauce– This is a brighter version of basil pesto with fresh lemon juice.

3. Toss the noodles with pesto sauce.

When the noodle finish cooking, carefully drain the noodles, reserving about 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water.

Return the noodles to the pot or put them in a large seving bowl.

Measure out about 2 to 4 tablespoons of pesto sauce and place on the noodles, adding a bit of the reserved starchy water.

Using tongs or large spoon, toss the noodles until they are fully coated in the pesto sauce.

If you feel like you want a saucier pasta al pesto, you can add a little more pesto and mix it in.

4. Toss and top with cheese.

Add in some parmesan cheese and give the noodles a good toss.

Add a portion of linguine with pesto into individual bowls and top with more cheese.

Serve warm with a side of bread, garlic bread, or roasted brussel sprouts.

Simple Variations

If you want to jazz up your pasta al pesto, try these variations:

• Add a protein like blackened shrimp or roasted chicken. If you use chicken, you could use leftover roasted or rotissere chicken.
• Top it with sundried tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes.
• Toss in some roasted veggies, like zucchini, red or green peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, or others.
• Sprinkle some pine nuts on top and a single basil leaf for a bit of class (no body needs to know the truth about how classy you really are).

Serving and Storing

Pasta al pesto works well as a main pasta dish.

You can easily add a side salad, some roasted veggies, and bread to fill out the meal.

Try adding a protein if you want to make it even more filling.

Though best served fresh, you can store pesto pasta in an airtight container and bring it along for lunch.

It should stay fresh for about 3 to 4 days, depending on if you add in any additional proteins.

To reheat, you can place a serving in the microwave or gently reheat in a pot over low heat. It also is delicious cold- but that could just be my personal prefernce.

We don’t recommend freezing pesto with linguine because it can get kind of funny when reheating.

Tips and Tricks

• Follow the instructions for cooking your pasta to al dente according to the box.
• For the love of all things good, please don’t rinse your pasta in cold water. It will rinse the magical starch right off your pasta. And the starch acts as sort of a binder, making the pesto thicker and creamier as it adheres to the noodle.
• Speaking of sticking to the noodle, use a thicker noodle for the best sauce sticking to noodle effect. Angel hair and thinner varieties of pasta don’t work as well with pesto.
• Add your favorite toppings, such as cheese, chicken, steak, shrimp, roasted veggies, sundried tomatoes, or pine nuts.
• There is no need to heat the pesto before you toss it with the warm pasta. It will absorb the heat from the pasta as you toss it. Most pesto dishes aren’t traditionally served with a warm sauce since the sauce is raw.
• The starchy water is key. If you think the sauce is not saucy enough the starchy cooking water will bring everything together. You don’t need a lot, just a quarter to a half a cup and it will make everything creamier.
• If you absolutely do not want to make your own pesto sauce that’s ok. You can use store bought, but I recommend looking for a brand that has primarily basil, olive oil, pine nuts, and garlic as ingredients. Often times, you can find the best pesto in the refrigerated specialty foods.

Other Italian Recipes to Try

You can search for all the Italian recipes we offer here.

If you want to try other pesto recipes, here are a few to try:

• Easy Baked Gnocchi with Pesto Sauce
• Easy Pesto Caprese Salad
• Easy Baguette Caprese Sandwich with Pesto
• Caprese Tortellini Pasta Salad with Pesto

Did you make this? Let me know!

Did you make this pasta al pesto or any other recipe on my site? Leave me a comment below and let me know how you liked it.

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