15 Pesto Pasta Recipes That Bring Northern Italy to Your Dinner Table (2024)

FAQs

Is pesto pasta popular in Italy? ›

Pesto pasta is one of the most popular dishes in Liguria, Italy—and it's one that's found lots of popularity worldwide! But in many cases, what you find when you order a pesto dish abroad just isn't the same as what you'd find in Liguria.

Italian Tradition

It can be mixed into tomato sauce to enhance the flavor of pasta dishes or used with fish fillets to make them more appetizing. There are other versions of pesto with variations in the ingredients, but these are not part of the Ligurian tradition.

Pesto Sauce

This fresh and fragrant pasta sauce is served uncooked, so choose a pasta shape that won't overwhelm it. Similar to oil-based sauces, pesto is served best with longer cuts of pasta, like the corkscrew shape of Fusilli. Pesto works best with Bucatini, Capellini, thinner Spaghettini, and Fettuccine.

According to a survey conducted in September 2023, 19 percent of Italian respondents reported Barilla as they favorite brand of pasta. Rummo followed, chosen by 18 percent of respondents, while De Cecco had a following of 12 percent of Italians.

As long as it forms part of a diverse diet with plenty of vegetables, fibre, and moderate levels of protein and dairy, there's absolutely no need to worry about pesto being bad for you. It's packed full of nutrients and healthy fats, which are needed in a well-balanced diet.

Pesto pasta is easy to make and full of flavor. It tastes good hot or cold!

Yes, pesto can be used straight from the jar and doesn't require cooking or heating. In fact, we actively discourage applying too much heat to pesto, as this will destroy many of the fresh flavours that producers work so hard to retain.

You'll want to be mindful of the sodium content. Some jars have more than 500mg per serving and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines recommend you eat no more than 2,300mg per day. It would be hard to stay within those guidelines if you get more than 20% of your sodium from pesto.

What Kind of Cheese Should I Use? I used fresh mozzarella because I love the way it melts, but you can use block or grated mozzarella in its place (that's usually more affordable as well). Other types of cheese that would work great with pesto are: smoked mozzarella, gruyere, swiss, brie, or white cheddar.

Do you heat pesto before adding to pasta? ›

PESTO SHOULD NEVER BE “COOKED”. If you cook Pesto Sauce, you change the make up of the fresh basil and cause it to turn darker in color. It is best to warm it up and use it at room temperature. If it needs to be thinned out, you can do so by adding a little water, chicken stock, cream or white wine.

What is the difference between expensive and cheap pesto? Ingredients. Real pesto is made only of fresh Genovese Basil leafs from Prà near Genoa, Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Peccorino Romano cheese, pine nuts and fresh garlic.

Pasta alla Genovese. This pasta alla Genovese recipe from Manuela Zangara stays true to tradition in this classic Ligurian dish, with basil pesto gently coating al dente pasta, cubed potato and green beans. It's incredibly quick to make, and packed with flavour.

As is the case with everything we buy from supermarkets, economies of scale and the quality and quantity of ingredients explain how they can sell products, including pesto, unfathomably cheaply. The process of making pesto on a commercial scale isn't too dissimilar from how you'd knock up a small batch at home.

Among the most popular types of pasta follow penne rigate and fusilli. The wooden medal goes to the rigatoni and the ranking also includes farfalle, linguine, bucatini and lasagna. In Southern Italy ziti and ditalini, orecchiette and mixed pasta also triumph, almost impossible to find in the North.

Pesto is one of the sauces of the Italian culinary tradition typical of the Liguria region, a jagged arch on the sea, cradle of aromatic herbs. The original pesto is a cold sauce made from basil and cheese, enriched with pine nuts, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.

'Genoese pesto') is a paste made of crushed garlic, pine nuts, salt, basil leaves, grated cheese such as Parmesan or pecorino sardo, and olive oil. It originated in the Italian city of Genoa, and is used to dress pasta and sometimes soups.

Pizza pesto Genovese is a variety of Italian pizza that is traditionally topped with pieces of mozzarella and the famous pesto sauce. The pizza is typically finished off with a drizzle of olive oil before serving.