Pesto

Pesto is a condiment sauce made with basil, olive oil, Parmesan, pecorino, pine nuts, garlic, and salt; it may also contain butter or cream. Cooks use it as a dressing or in paste blends.

Dairy
Allergen: milk

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Category: Condiments & seasonings
Cooked most in: Europe
Top country: Italy
Dishes: 1 in the catalogue

Photo: Ɱ · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use pesto

Typical ways to cook or use it

Dressing
Paste blend

Made from

Preparing it

Traditionally, pound the ingredients in a mortar with a pestle. Grind the garlic and pine nuts first, then add washed, dried basil and salt.

Shopping

Choosing and storing pesto

Availability: Supermarkets

Around the world

Where pesto is cooked

1 dish in the catalogue uses pesto. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Europe1

Countries whose dishes use it most

Italy 1

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list pesto among their ingredients.

Origins

The 1850s
Basil's use in pesto was first documented in the 1850s.
1928 · United States
An early American recipe included butter and cream.
1946
Sunset magazine published Angelo Pellegrini's pesto recipe.

On the table

Dishes made with pesto

1 dish in the catalogue uses it.

Pesto pasta
Italy

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include pesto.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: pesto in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.

Allergens: Contains: milk
Animal origin: From: dairy

Around the world

What pesto is called

Names in 69 languages, from Wikidata.

Spanish
pesto
French
pesto
Italian
pesto alla genovese · pesto
Portuguese
pesto
German
Pesto
Dutch
pesto · pesto alla genovese
Greek
Πέστο
Turkish
pesto
Russian
песто
Polish
pesto
Arabic
البيستو
Persian
پستو

Show all 69 languages

Afrikaans
Pesto
Armenian
Պեստո
Asturian
Pesto
Azerbaijani
Pesto
Bangla
পেস্তো
Bashkir
песто
Basque
pesto
Belarusian
Песта
Belarusian (Taraskievica orthography)
пэста
Bosnian
pesto
Brazilian Portuguese
pesto
Bulgarian
Песто
Cantonese
羅勒醬
Catalan
pesto
Chinese
青醬
Croatian
Pesto
Czech
pesto
Danish
pesto
Egyptian Arabic
البيستو
Esperanto
pesto · itala pistaĵo
Estonian
pesto
Filipino
pesto
Finnish
pesto
Galician
Pesto
Georgian
პესტო
Hebrew
פסטו
Hindi
पेस्तो
Hungarian
pesztó
Icelandic
pestó
Indonesian
pesto
Japanese
ペスト・ジェノヴェーゼ · ペスト・アッラ・ジェノヴェーゼ · ペストジェノベーゼ · バジルソース
Javanese
Pesto
Kannada
ಪೆಸ್ಟೊ
Korean
페스토 · 페스토 알라 제노베세
Latvian
pesto
Ligurian
Pesto
Lithuanian
Pesto padažas
Macedonian
Песто
Malay
Pesto
Malayalam
പെസ്റ്റോ
Neapolitan
pisto
Norwegian Bokmål
pesto
Norwegian Nynorsk
pesto
Occitan
Pesto
Odia
ପେସ୍ତୋ
Punjabi
ਪੇਸਤੋ
Romanian
pesto
Serbian
Pesto
Simplified Chinese
青酱
Slovak
Pesto
Slovenian
pesto
Swedish
pesto · Pesto alla Genovese
Thai
เปสโต
Traditional Chinese
青醬
Ukrainian
Песто
Urdu
پیستو
Uzbek
Pesto
Vietnamese
Pesto
Welsh
pesto
Western Frisian
Pesto
Western Panjabi
پیستو

Sources and credits

Data

GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
Wikimedia Commons: photos
Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q9896

Photos