Pesto alla Genovese: the traditional mortar recipe

Pesto alla genovese is a raw sauce of basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmigiano, pecorino, extra virgin olive oil and coarse salt, pounded in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle. It is never cooked or heated: you loosen it with a little pasta water and toss it with pasta. Below you will find the traditional recipe with quantities for 4, every step, the blender shortcut, the mistakes that ruin it, and where to try it in Liguria.

If you have searched for “Ligurian pesto”, it is the same sauce. “Genovese” points to the city where it comes from, and the basil that gives it its character is grown along Liguria’s Tyrrhenian coast, starting from Prà, a district of Genoa.

• Origin: Genoa; Genoese cookbooks of the 19th century
• Total time: 30 minutes, plus cooking the pasta
• Serves: 4 (enough sauce for about 320 g of pasta)
• Difficulty: Medium: technique and speed matter
• Key ingredients: Genoese basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmigiano, Fiore Sardo, extra virgin olive oil
• When: All year; fresh basil is best in spring and summer

Ingredients

Quantities for 4 people. Ligurian recipes do not agree with each other (some use much more basil, others more oil): this is a cautious base, and you adjust to taste. Pesto contains tree nuts (pine nuts) and dairy.

• 50 g Genoese basil leaves (about 60 leaves)
• 2 small garlic cloves, germ removed
• 20 g pine nuts
• 40 g aged Parmigiano Reggiano
• 20 g Pecorino Fiore Sardo
• 80 ml Ligurian extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pinches of coarse salt
• To serve: 320 g trofie, trenette or bavette

How to make it

1. Rinse the basil quickly in cold water and pat it dry on a clean towel, without rubbing or folding the leaves.
2. Grate the two cheeses and mix them. Peel the garlic and remove the inner germ.
3. In a marble mortar, pound the garlic with the pine nuts in a rotating motion until you have a smooth paste.
4. Add a pinch of coarse salt and a small bunch of leaves. Add the rest of the basil little by little, always working in a rotating motion against the walls.
5. Keep going until the basil releases a bright green liquid and the mixture becomes an even cream, still slightly grainy.
6. Stir in the cheeses, then pour in the oil in a thin stream, stirring. Work without breaks: the longer the pesto sits under the pestle, the more it oxidises.
7. Cook the pasta in salted water and set aside a few spoonfuls of the cooking water before draining.
8. In a bowl, loosen the pesto with 2-3 spoonfuls of cooking water, add the pasta drained al dente and toss. Never put the pesto on the heat.

With a blender

A blender is faster, but it heats and oxidises the leaves: the pesto ends up less green and less fragrant. If you use one, chill the jar and blades in the freezer for 20 minutes, pulse in bursts of a few seconds (pine nuts, salt, garlic, cheeses and half the oil first, then the basil, then the rest of the oil) and stop often. Another trick is an ice cube in the jar. It should stay slightly grainy, not smooth like a jarred sauce.

Tips and common mistakes

• Dry, whole basil. Water left on the leaves dilutes the sauce; leaves that are bruised or crushed hard turn dark and bitter. Small, young leaves are best.
• Coarse salt helps. It acts as an abrasive and breaks down the leaves: do not swap it for fine salt.
• Be quick. Every extra minute under the pestle means more oxidation.
• Do not heat it. Heat turns pesto dark. Loosen it with pasta water off the heat and dress the pasta in a bowl.
• Do not overdo the garlic. Too much garlic covers the basil; if it sits badly with you, remove the germ.
• Be careful with jars. Jarred pesto often replaces pine nuts (cashews, walnuts) and extra virgin olive oil (seed oils) and may contain citric acid: those are the producer’s choices, not the traditional recipe.
• Storing. In a closed jar in the fridge for about a week, with the surface always covered by a film of oil; you can also freeze it in single portions.

Variations

Pesto is a set of family habits rather than a fixed formula. Here is what changes, and where.

• Trofie al pesto: the classic pairing. Trofie belong to the Golfo Paradiso: Recco, Sori (De.Co. since 2019) and Camogli.
• Trenette or bavette with potatoes and green beans: the version most common in the Levante.

Pasta with potatoes and green beans

Boil 2 medium potatoes in thin slices and 80 g of trimmed green beans in salted water; after about five minutes, when the vegetables are still very firm, add 320 g of trenette or bavette. Drain everything together and dress with the pesto loosened in a few spoonfuls of cooking water: the potato starch makes the sauce creamy.

• Lasagne al pesto: egg pasta layered with béchamel and pesto.
• Minestrone alla genovese: a spoonful of pesto at the end, just before serving.
• Other shapes: potato gnocchi, corzetti, tagliolini, linguine.
• With focaccia: also try Genoese focaccia or Recco cheese focaccia.
• Historical variations: inland, walnuts replaced pine nuts, and some Genoese and Savona households used butter instead of oil; a 19th-century cookbook suggests parsley and marjoram when basil is not available.

History and origin

Pesto descends from older sauces pounded in a mortar: the Roman moretum described by Virgil and the medieval agliata of garlic and walnuts are the usual ancestors. The recipe with basil appears in Genoese cookbooks of the 19th century: Wikipedia gives Emanuele Rossi’s Vera cuciniera genovese (1852) as the first written record, while other sources cite Giovanni Battista Ratto’s La cuciniera genovese, with different dates (1863, 1865), so here we simply say “19th century”.

The basil has its own protection: Basilico Genovese DOP (EC Regulation 1623/2005), grown on the Tyrrhenian side of Liguria. It has small, oval, convex leaves and a delicate scent without the minty note of other basils. Prà, in Genoa, is the district most tied to this greenhouse crop. The pesto itself is neither DOP nor IGP: it is on Liguria’s list of traditional agri-food products, and the Consorzio del Pesto Genovese proposes a reference recipe with seven ingredients.

Since 2007, Genoa has held the Pesto World Championship (mortar method) every two years at Palazzo Ducale: the eleventh edition took place on 21 March 2026, with one hundred contestants.

Where to try it in Liguria

You will find pesto all over Liguria, but to taste it done well start from Genoa and the Golfo Paradiso.

• In Genoa: trofie and trenette al pesto are on the menu of very many restaurants. To choose, ask whether the pesto is made in house, in a mortar and with Genoese basil; the colour should be bright green and the oil should not separate. More ideas in what to eat in Genoa.
• Prà: the district of the basil greenhouses. The producer Il Pesto di Prà has run the “Serre Aperte” days, with a visit, pesto in a mortar and a trofie tasting: the last edition we found was 27 September 2025; 2027 dates are not known, booking is by email.
• A class: on the Cesarine platform there is a class of about two hours, for up to eight guests, in Italian and English, with pesto in a mortar and focaccia. It is paid: check dates and price on the site.
• The Championship: the next edition after 2026 has not been announced yet; information on the championship website.
• Golfo Paradiso: Recco, Sori and Camogli for trofie.

For the bigger picture read our guide to Ligurian cuisine and the other Ligurian recipes, such as pansoti with walnut sauce.

What to drink

With a dish scented with basil and garlic, Ligurian whites work well: Vermentino, fresher, and Pigato, fuller and more savoury, typical of the western Riviera. More in Ligurian wines.

Frequently asked questions

Is pesto alla genovese DOP?

No. The basil is DOP (Basilico Genovese DOP), not the sauce. Pesto is on Liguria’s list of traditional agri-food products.

Which cheeses are used?

Aged Parmigiano Reggiano and pecorino, usually Fiore Sardo, in a ratio of about two to one. Some sources name Pecorino Romano.

Can I make it in a blender?

Yes, but the result is different: the blades heat and oxidise the leaves. If you do, chill the jar and blades, pulse, and add the basil last with the oil.

How long does it keep?

About a week in the fridge, in a closed jar with the surface covered in oil. You can freeze it in single portions.

Can I replace the pine nuts?

Yes, with walnuts: it is a historical inland variation. If you have a tree nut allergy, avoid both.

Which pasta goes with it?

Trofie, the classic, or trenette and bavette (also with potatoes and green beans). Pesto is also used on lasagne, gnocchi and in minestrone alla genovese.

Are “Ligurian pesto” and “Genoese pesto” the same?

In everyday use, yes: they mean the same sauce of basil, garlic, pine nuts, cheeses and olive oil.