pesto

American  

[pes-toh] / ˈpɛs toʊ /

noun

Italian Cooking.

• pestos
  plural

1. a sauce typically made with basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and grated Parmesan blended together and served hot or cold over pasta, fish, or meat.

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pesto British  

/ ˈpɛstəʊ /

noun

1. a sauce for pasta, consisting of basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, oil, and Parmesan cheese, all crushed together

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pestos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pesto

First recorded in 1935–40; from Upper Italian (compare Genoese dialect pésto “pesto”), Italian; noun derivative of pestare “to pound, crush”; see piste

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Explanation

That bright green sauce on your pasta? It's probably pesto, a delicious combination of garlic, basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and pine nuts. The traditional version of pesto, invented in Genoa, Italy, is salty and garlicky, and it's made by crushing all the ingredients by hand using a mortar and pestle. The word pesto itself comes from this technique — its root is the Italian pestare, "to pound or crush." If you want to be absolutely sure you're getting this original, authentic version in an Italian restaurant, you can specify pesto alla genovese, or "Genoese pesto," when you order.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pesto pestos

To keep pesto interesting: we’ll switch between pine nuts and cashews.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

I use it constantly for smoothies and soups or pesto.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

A sausage-and-pepper meal starter eliminates most of the chopping; canned tomatoes provide the sauce’s backbone; and a few spoonfuls of prepared sun-dried tomato pesto pull everything into focus.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

Emma Robins, from Reading, says broccoli hidden in pesto pasta is a favourite for her three-year-old son Alfred, as well as veg pulsed into pasta sauces.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

In the mornings she went to a deli and bought a baguette and little containers of things Dev liked to eat, like pickled herring, and potato salad, and tortes of pesto and mascarpone cheese.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Beyond nut milks, pestos and Romesco sauce, nuts are particularly vital in Mexican and Mexican-American cuisine, enriching salsas and sauces with texture, richness and depth.

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2025

In addition to drinkables, Cunningham makes pestos of basil or arugula, as well as herb blends that she freezes into ice cubes and adds to dishes all year.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2022

Salads, pestos, dishes incorporating fresh tomatoes and cooked clams.

From New York Times ● May 21, 2020

They also put their sprouts in pestos and vinaigrettes, for which the Jacksons say they sourced the other ingredients as locally as possible.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2019

Pound in shallots or fennel seed or chiles at will, as you might when DIYing herby salsas and pestos.

From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2018

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