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.
Table of Contents
What’s in Lemon Pesto?
This lemon pesto recipe comes together with a few basic ingredients that you probably already have on hand. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Lemons: You’ll need a total of three whole lemons for this recipe—you’ll juice one (and discard the peel) and chop the other two (peel included) and throw them into a high-speed blender to form the base for this pesto.
- Pine nuts are a staple ingredient in classic basil pesto. I love the creamy, slightly buttery flavor raw pine nuts add to this recipe, too. Pine nuts can be pricey and hard to find, so feel free to try this recipe with raw cashews, or blanched almonds instead.
- Garlic: You’ll need two large cloves of garlic (or three small ones) for this recipe. No need to mince them since they’ll be blended with all of the other ingredients.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano: For the best flavor, grate an entire cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano by hand on a Microplane zester or grater. This cheese offers a sharp, slightly buttery flavor that pairs wonderfully with the other ingredients. Feel free to use another hard, salty Italian cheese like Grana Padano. If using Pecorino Romano you may need to adjust the salt content, since Pecorino Romano tends to be saltier than Parm.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper: Kosher salt helps to balance the acidity of the lemons and bring out the flavors of the other ingredients, while black pepper adds a little bit of heat.
- Extra-virgin olive oil: Use high quality olive oil for the best flavor and color. Look for cold-pressed, single-origin olive oil in a dark glass or opaque bottle.
How to Make Lemon Pesto
When life gives you lemons, make pesto! This zesty sauce requires a little bit of prep work, but it comes together in a flash. Here’s how to make lemon pesto, step-by-step.
- Prep the lemons. You will need 2 whole lemons and just the juice from a third lemon. Wash the 3 lemons thoroughly. Juice one lemon, save the juice, but discard the lemon rind. Trim off the bumpy ends of the remaining two lemons, then cut each in half the long way, and slice each half into quarters. Remove the seeds and trim out the thick white membrane core from each segment and discard.
- Add the ingredients to the blender. Place the 2 chopped lemons, the lemon juice, 3 tablespoons pine nuts, 2 large peeled garlic cloves, 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a blender.
- Blend. With the blender running on medium speed, blend until the lemons have broken down until smooth, pausing to stir as necessary. With the blender running on low speed, slowly pour in 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil until the mixture is creamy and homogenous.
What to Serve with Lemon Pesto
You can use lemon pesto anywhere you might like classic basil pesto! Try this tangy lemon pesto tossed with pasta, or in this recipe for baked chilean sea bass, this broccoli pesto pasta, or pesto salmon. It would also be delicious served with pita chips for an easy, crowd-friendly appetizer, or drizzled over roasted vegetables for a sunny side dish.
More Recipes for Lemon Lovers
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Lemon Pesto
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 lemons, 1 juiced, and the remaining 2 chopped
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Prep the lemons. You will need 2 whole lemons and the juice from a third lemon for this recipe. Wash the 3 lemons thoroughly. Juice one lemon, save the juice, and discard the lemon rind. Trim off the bumpy ends of the remaining two lemons, then cut each in half the long way, and slice each half into quarters. Remove the seeds and trim out the thick white membrane core from each segment, and discard.
- Puree the lemons. In a high-powered blender, add the 2 diced lemons, the lemon juice, pine nuts, garlic, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, and pepper and blend on medium speed until the lemons have broken down and begin to look smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add the olive oil. With the blender running on low speed, slowly stream in the olive oil until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Increase the speed and blend for an additional 30 seconds.
- Serve or store. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Shop this recipe: Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean ingredients including the olive oil used in this recipe.
- Blender Note: We tested this recipe using a high-powered blender. If you’re working with a blender with less horsepower, it may help to chop your lemons even more finely by hand before adding them to the blender with the other ingredients.
Nutrition
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Delicious! I use this is a dipping sauce for grilled chicken. I’m making a vegetable soup later today and will throw some in as another commenter suggested.
Thanks so much for the great review!
Just made Lemon Pesto and it’s pretty tasty! I used pistachios since that’s what I had on hand, but will make the effort to pick up pine nuts next time. I put a small jar in the refrigerator to have with dinner later and put the rest in ice cube trays that I’ll store for future use. In addition to putting the lemon pesto on pasta and roasted vegetables, I plan to throw a cube or two into various soups – the Fasolada and Lemon Chicken on this site come to mind. Really, anything that can be brightened with a bit of lemon will benefit from this pesto. I also see it as a great recipe to put a personal twist on and will be making a few small batches of lemon pepper, lemon mint etc.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a detailed comment! Very helpful!!
This was delicious – bright and zingy, with a great flavour. Have divided it into smaller portions and frozen some for later use. Tried it with fettuccine with smoked chicken, and some crispy garlic and herb crumbs and a few extra shavings of Parmesan on top, and it was a lovely combination.
Thanks you so much for the great review, Allison!
This recipe sounds amazing but I’m a little confused by the directions. Are the peels left on the two quartered lemons or is the soft lemon removed from the individual membranes? Thank you for clarifying!
Hello! Sorry for the confusion. We went ahead and updated the instructions so they are more clear: You’ll juice one lemon (and discard the peel) and chop the other two lemons (peel included) and throw them into a high-speed blender to form the base for this pesto.
Amazing recipe, noticed that 2 lemons 🍋 are little much but best thing you can do is to play with recipe. I went with one and half lemon used other half for just juice . Didn’t realize how much pine nuts cost but found good deal today at local Costco. Can’t wait to out this on some pasta . 5stars
Haven’t made it yet. But salivating just at the thought of this delicious sounding recipe. I am sure I will give this 5 out of 5 stars.
This is so yummy and bright tasting. I will say when I first tasted it after blending I thought it was much too tart, but then I made some fresh pasta and spooned some of this pesto over it and it was perfect! I will say this made ALOT, more than we will eat in 3 days, so I’m happy I can freeze it. I love every single recipe on this site and I have tried alot of them!
Hello, can this be frozen for later use.
It can! Just be sure to place it in an air-tight container. Enjoy!
OMG this is genius! One of the best sauces I have ever tasted! I want it on everything- I made it with raw cashews instead of pinenuts and it worked perfectly. Will definitely be in my repertoire from now on. Thank you x
Hi, Lesley! I’m Summer and I work here at The Mediterranean Dish. Wow! What a review. So glad you loved it. Thanks for taking the time to let us know.
It was really good and I love lemon pastas, but I think 3 lemons were too much. I followed the directions. But added more pine nuts. The lemon was really overpowering. I think I’ll stick to the 2 lemons and forgo the juice next time. Otherwise it was pretty good. Be sure to add pasta water, it does help emulsify.
Thank you for sharing your feedback, Debra!
I wonder how this would work with preserved lemons! Thanks for the inspiration.
Are you supposed to blend the lemon you’ve juiced as well?
Thanks!
Quick question about the lemon that is juiced: Do we add it to the blender too after juicing it? Or discard it after juicing?