Pesto Butter

5 from 1 vote

This Basil Pesto Butter is creamy, luscious, and the perfect combination of vibrant pesto and softened butter! Everything from your morning eggs and toast to proteins, veggies, pasta, and more get a major flavor boost with this easy-to-make condiment comes together in 20 minutes or less!

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American, Italian-American

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 289kcal

Author: Briana

Equipment

food processor

Ingredients

Pesto (if making homemade, can use store bought)

⅓ cup walnuts toasted, about 38g, can substitute with pine nuts (traditional pesto ingredient) or any nut of choice
1 cup fresh basil tightly packed, about 56g
1 clove garlic peeled
⅔ cup parmesan cheese freshly grated, about 42g
¼-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Butter

½ cup unsalted butter softened, 1 stick, reduce added salt in pesto if using salted butter
¼-1/2 cup pesto added slowly and to taste to prevent separation

Instructions

Pesto

If making your own pesto, add toasted walnuts, basil, salt, garlic, and Parmesan cheese to the food processor and pulse to combine until a coarse mixture is created.
⅓ cup walnuts, 1 cup fresh basil, 1 clove garlic, ⅔ cup parmesan cheese, ¼-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
To finish the pesto, pulse and stream in olive oil until the pesto is silky smooth.
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Pesto butter

Remove about half of the pesto from the food processor and set aside for now.
To the same food processor, add in the softened butter. Food process until smooth, adding more pesto slowly and to taste to ensure it tastes how you'd like, and to prevent any separation from occuring.
½ cup unsalted butter, ¼-1/2 cup pesto
Enjoy right away as softened butter, or roll into a log on parchment paper or plastic wrap and refridgerate until solid, about 1-2 hours.
Enjoy with your favorite sides, pasta, vegetables, protein, and more!
STore leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 7 days. Freeze for up to 3-6 months.

Notes

Use softened butter. Make sure the butter is nice and soft. This will ensure easy spreading and blending for a silky butter.
Use high-quality butter. High-quality, European-style butter has a higher butterfat percentage than standard American-style butter. It makes this spread even more tasty!
Make your own pesto. If you can, fresh, homemade pesto is going to give the butter incredible flavor, so make it yourself if possible!
Drain excess oil from pesto. Too much oil can break the emulsion with the butter and pesto.
Add pesto slowly. Again, we don't want to break the emulsion, and we want to ensure that the pesto flavor is right where you want it, so make sure to remove some of the pesto from the food processor before adding the butter.

Nutrition