Easy Italian Basil Walnut Pesto (Keto)

Enjoy The Taste Of Summer Basil Walnut Pesto All Year Long

Summer fresh herb flavours of Italian Basil Walnut Pesto used in our favourite Keto recipes or as a dip is a treat for us.

If you find that you’ve grown too much basil in your garden there are many ways to use it up without wasting it.

Anyone who visits our house over the summer thinks we have an addiction to basil since we grow 2 or 3 massive pots full.

Our basil growing starts from seed around April and is in full bloom from June to the middle of August.

It’s at that point that we start harvesting the basil down to make our Basil Walnut Pesto and dry the rest.

The reason for this is more so because we use basil in so many of our recipes and we freeze basil pesto into cubes.

A favourite of ours is garlic basil mayo that we use the same way we’d use original mayonnaise.

You can make the same mayo using the walnut basil pesto too!

Making The Best Basil Walnut Pesto

What makes up an amazing Basil Walnut Pesto are quality ingredients:

• Fresh organic basil
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Italian Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• Organic garlic
• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil cold-pressed
• Nuts are optional but for this recipe, we are using Walnuts
• Fresh Chives and Parsley (optional)

Another one of our favourite pesto recipes is a garlic scape pesto that we made two years ago.

Walnut Nutrition and Italian Culture

Not only do we grow massive amounts of Italian basil every summer but we love nuts and seeds in the CBB family.

You’ll never find us without almonds, peanuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, cashews, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, coconut, and walnuts.

In fact, you may notice that I use nuts in many of my recipes as it adds texture and nutritional value.

For example, walnuts help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol accompanied by good fats, protein, and fibre.

Eating 100 grams of walnuts is equal to 14 grams of carbs and 7 grams of fibre with a net carb count of 7 grams.

Making a pesto using walnuts is keto-friendly but it’s also a traditional way of making basil walnut pesto.

Walnuts are a big part of Italian culture and have been used in recipes and for trading among farming families.

Most of Italian walnuts are grown in Campania, where the Sorrento and Malizia qualities are produced and in Polesine with variety Lara, Chandler and Tulare.

This dried fruit are a popular ingredient in many recipes: they enrich the taste and the smell of bread, cakes and pasta sauces. – Source

If you don’t care for walnuts you can use almost any other nut or seed as a substitute to make basil pesto.

Another wonderful nut you can substitute is the pine nut however there’s nothing frugal about that nut.

You’ll pay for pine nuts however a classic basil pesto with pine nuts is just as delicious as using walnuts.

There are no magical ingredients that transform it into a keto recipe so for those of you who block out keto don’t panic.

The great thing about Keto is the variety of fresh vegetables, herbs, fats, meats, seafood, and dairy that make this lifestyle sustainable.

Best Place To Buy Nuts and Seeds In Canada

We buy our walnuts from Costco Canada and get 2kg for around $16 which is a pretty amazing price.

Actually, we buy all of our nuts at Costco as we have yet to find another store to offer us competitive pricing.

If you don’t have a Costco nearby I’d go with Amazon Canada for your nuts and seeds secondly.

We’ve purchased almost all of the same nuts that we can buy at Costco from Amazon Canada by Yupik for the best prices.

• Brazil Nuts
• Walnuts
• Almonds
• Sunflower Seeds
• Coconut Chips Unsweetened
• Hazelnuts
• Pine Nuts
• Peanuts
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Raw Cashews
• Macadamia Nuts

We store our nuts either in the freezer, refrigerator ,or the cupboard based on what the bag suggests.

Typically nuts last up to a year in the freezer, 6 months in the refrigerator ,or 3 months in the cupboard.

If you don’t think you will use them up quickly enough just freeze them as we do.

It makes life far easier especially if you are using a freezer inventory list where you can track your stash.

Walnut Basil Pesto Pasta Recipe

Making pesto with walnuts adds a meaty texture and pairs well with Parmigiano cheese and acid from the lemon juice.

This is why the first dish we always prepare after making our homemade walnut basil pesto is pasta.

Although we don’t eat traditional fresh pasta in our house as we are gluten-free we love NuPasta.

NuPasta is a pasta alternative for people who are gluten intolerant, or on a keto or low-carb diet.

Above is Nupasta that is drained and put in a dry frying pan on medium heat to remove moisture and heat through.

Then we added some cherry tomatoes and walnut basil pesto with more Parmigiano cheese grated on top and that was it.

It’s a delicious and super fast lunch or dinner you can add to your weekly meal plan.

How To Store Walnut Basil Pesto

We store one bottle of walnut basil pesto in the refrigerator and the rest we freeze.

If you want to use canning techniques to keep them on the shelf you can do that as well.

To be honest we only make a few jars every summer so it’s just as easy to store the finished product in the freezer for us.

How To Make Italian Walnut Basil Pesto

Printable Recipe Below

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of fresh basil
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt (add more as you go if needed)
• 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Regiano cheese or Pecorino

Instructions:

In your food processor add all of the ingredients and mix until combined.

Stop partway and use a spatula to push down any of the ingredients that stick to the sides to incorporate them.

I hope you enjoy this simple Walnut Basil Pesto as much as we do and that it helps save you some grocery money.

Discussion: What type of nuts would you add to your basil pesto?

Leave me your comments and questions below and I’ll make sure to answer them.

Mr.CBB

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