Easy Lemon Pesto

Photography: Mark Beahm

Lemon pesto made with whole lemons, parmesan cheese, garlic, and pine nuts delivers bright, sunny, and savory Mediterranean flavor for tossing with pasta, spooning over fish, or spreading on crostini.

Inspired by traditional basil pesto, this lemon pesto ditches the green herb altogether for a bright and sunny sauce. You’ll find many of the same ingredients in this recipe, with one tart addition. Whole lemons (rind and all) are the base of this zesty, creamy spread that can be stirred into pasta, spread on ricotta toast, or served with pita and crudité for dipping.

I was inspired to make this lemon pesto version after seeing a jarred version at Trader Joe’s. When I first tried making this recipe, I started by infusing olive oil with lemon peels, and then blended the oil with fresh basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, and lemon zest.

The result was good but it tasted like basil pesto with lemon—not a pure lemon pesto. I decided to ditch the basil altogether and found myself cutting up and blending whole lemons, a la blender lemonade. A few more tweaks (a smaller quantity of lemons, more olive oil, more garlic) and I achieved the sunny spread of my dreams.