15 Types Of Pesto You Should Know About

If you love Italian food, you no doubt have a soft spot for pesto. Whether you call it a sauce, spread, or dip, this savory tradition can be found on pasta and pizzas across the world, from Italy to America. The pesto you most likely know and love is green and made from basil, pine nuts, garlic, and parmesan cheese. But you don't need to limit your pesto profile to just one. There are dozens of ways to make pesto using a variety of nuts, herbs, vegetables, and aromatics.

The name pesto comes from the Italian word meaning to pound. This harkens to its origin as a sauce made in a mortar and pestle by pounding the ingredients to a fine paste. By this definition, anything made by this method can be a pesto. These days, however, many products sold as pestos are made with more modern methods of preparation, like a food processor.

In all pestos, you will find garlic, oil, cheese and herbs — typically basil, but sometimes thyme or rosemary. Many will contain nuts and acids like tomatoes or citrus to balance out the flavor. On the whole, pesto is a herby and salty spread, but the flavor profile changes vastly depending on which ingredients you use. There are well over a dozen types of pesto you've probably never heard of. So, let's dive a little deeper than basil and pine nuts to find some delicious alternatives to regular old pesto.

If you take a step beyond pesto Genovese, you will find a handful of very traditional pestos that have deep roots in the long history of Italian cooking. pesto alla Trapanese, for example, harkens back to the Southern regions of the country. Also known as Sicilian pesto, this sauce is basil-based like its Northern cousin, the Genovese, but it's finished with fresh tomatoes.

Instead of the distinctive pine nuts, pesto Genovese is known for, pesto alla Trapanese traditionally uses almonds. If you use pine nuts or have walnuts on hand, you will still make a distinct pesto from the traditional Genovese, but it won't be a Trapanese. At least, that's what Italians will tell you.

Despite using many of the same ingredients, pesto alla Trapanese has a very distinct flavor from its sister pesto in Genoa. The fresh tomato adds both a bright acidity and a sweetness not normally found in more savory pestos. This one makes an especially excellent sauce for fresh pasta.

This popular form of pesto is also called pesto rosso. Using sun-dried tomatoes instead of fresh ones will massively change the flavor profile of whatever you are making. This is true in the case of pesto, but a traditional pesto rosso takes some other departures from the pesto alla Trapanese as well.

You will not always find basil in pesto rosso. Instead, the herbaceous quality required for the dish can come from rosemary or thyme. Additionally, this pesto doesn't require pine nuts, and typically, a recipe will call for almonds instead. Many recipes call for the additional inclusion of red pepper flakes or roasted red peppers for heat, while other recipes call for herbs like parsley. 

You can also simply enhance your regular basil pesto by adding sun-dried tomatoes, which will result in a tremendous and different flavor. Feel free to experiment with the nuts and herbs you use in your recipe in order to find your perfect pesto.

Walnuts are another great alternative to pine nuts that can be swapped into any old pesto recipe. It will certainly yield a different flavor than you're used to, but it will be more environmentally conscious, which might even make it taste better. You might be wondering why this is. What exactly is wrong with pine nuts that we need all these alternatives?

Back in 2015, there was a good deal of reporting on the damage that the demand for pine nuts was doing to the pine ecosystems in Korea and Russia. High demand for pesto was framed as the reason for these unsustainable harvest levels. In the years since, global conditions have not necessarily improved. 

Thankfully, there are so many creative pestos you can make using nuts like walnuts and pistachios instead. Combine walnuts with parsley, lemon juice, and a cheese of your choice for a completely unique take on the traditional Italian spread. 

This one is another far cry from the green pesto you know and love on your pasta. Pesto Calabrese is made with roasted red peppers and tomatoes, and the sauce takes on the main ingredients' color and flavor. The rest of the recipe is where the real diversions from the Ligurian tradition begin. Traditionally, a pesto Calabrese is ricotta, olive oil, and almonds in addition to the peppers and tomatoes. 

Actually inspired by the Genovese, Italians in Calabria put their own spin on pesto with this sweet and spicy condiment. The different climates of this part of the country led to different ingredients becoming popular, hence the use of regional favorites peppers and ricotta cheese. If you're making this spicy pesto and want an extra kick of the authentic, you can use Calabrian chilis. You can find them roasted in a can or buy them fresh to roast yourself; just make sure they are roasted since that charred flavor is such a crucial part of this recipe.

Another interesting route to go with your pesto is looking at what other flavors compliment the ingredients you are already using. For example, mint and basil are flavors that are as classic a duo as peanut butter and chocolate. Ok, maybe not quite, but mint adds quite the dimension to your pesto that you might not have thought about. Don't worry; it won't make your tortellini taste like toothpaste.

Basil and mint are a great flavor combination when balanced correctly. Mint also opens up a wide range of possibilities when pairing your pesto with other dishes. It no longer needs to be relegated just to pasta and appetizers. Mint is classically paired with lamb in the form of jelly, or more contemporarily, a chimichurri. If you indulge in lamb, next time you are cooking a kebab or a chop, consider pairing it with a homemade mint and basil pesto.

You might argue and say you might as well call this an olive tapenade, but Italian retail brands disagree and even sell the stuff by jars in the store. Regardless of what you call it, if you make it with enough of the same ingredients as pesto, you can pass your dip, spread, or sauce off as a refined elevation of an Italian favorite. 

The type of olive you use can make a huge difference in the type of olive pesto you create. A more tapenade-like dip will typically use black olives or kalamata olives, oftentimes a mix of the two. Which olives you use and how much of them will influence the color of your pesto, and more often than not this variety will turn out light or dark brown. However, by making a pesto with green olives, parsley, and basil, for example, you can still achieve both the bright green color of a traditional pesto and the briny taste of olives. 

While you can certainly scour the shelves of Whole Foods looking for substitutes for pine nuts in your pesto, the best might be in your house already, just waiting to be extracted from that Halloween pumpkin. That's right; pumpkin seeds are an excellent ingredient for pesto since they share a sweet and strongly nutty aroma and flavor. Although, you actually don't have to use your own pumpkin seeds if you don't have to. It might be better if you don't, in fact.

Instead, this recipe is more commonly made using pepitas, which are an unshelled variety of pumpkin seeds. These small, green-ish seeds are only found in specific pumpkin varieties, which are considered hulless due to the seeds' lack of a shell. While the flavor of pepitas is similar to other pumpkin seeds, when it comes to breaking them down into a fine paste, these smaller seeds make a smoother paste. Along with the myriad health benefits of all types of pumpkin seeds, according to a medically reviewed article on WebMD, this textural makes pepitas an excellent choice for pesto.