Gluten Free Easy Hazelnut Pesto

This hazelnut pesto is wonderful served with fresh pasta or spread on lightly toasted bread!

Yield 1 cup

Easy Hazelnut Pesto

This hazelnut pesto really is easy to make! It only calls for a handful of ingredients and instead of grinding away all day at it with a mortar and pestle, I just throw everything in a food processor and get on with the rest of the meal.


I had my first taste of pesto in 2008, when I first moved to Manchester. One of my flatmates, a French guy, introduced me to it after I stared in shock as he slathered a heaping tablespoon of grainy green stuff onto a pile of spaghetti. I guess the look on my face gave me away because he asked if I'd ever tried pesto.

Truthfully, I hadn't even heard of it. He twirled some noddles around a fork and dipped it in the pesto before handing it over to me. At first bite, I didn't like it. I didn't know what to expect; I certainly wasn't expecting the grainy texture. Over time (and after having fresh pesto on a pizza in Milan), I've come to love it! It's a perfect alternative when you don't want a heavy, tomato-based pasta sauce and whipping up your own pesto is easy, too.

Ingredients:

For the hazelnut pesto
1/2 cup hazelnuts
1 whole garlic clove, skin-on is fine
2 cups pecorino cheese
2 cups basil leaves
2 to 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Instructions:

Easy Hazelnut Pesto

1. Grind hazelnuts and cheese in a food processor until nuts are finely ground.
2. Add garlic and basil and process until combined.
3. Add the oil, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing in between each addition to incorporate fully. (You may not need all of the oil.)
4. Season with salt and pepper, mix well.
5. Serve with pasta or spread on toast and top with halved cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella.