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small jar of lemon balm pesto with a spoon in it.
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4.60 from 27 votes

Lemon Balm Pesto

Flavorful lemon balm pesto – the best thing you can do when you have a huge bush of lemon balm growing in your garden.
Prep Time20 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Preserves and Canning Recipes
Cuisine: German, Italian
Servings: 10 about 350 g/ 12.2 oz
Calories: 67kcal
Author: Adina

Ingredients

  • 120 g/ 4.2 oz lemon balm leaves Note 1
  • 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ½ cup Parmesan Note 2
  • 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ⅓ cup raw whole almonds (Note 3)
  • 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed, to taste
  • 120 ml/ 4 fl. oz/ ½ cup extra virgin olive oil Note 4
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • fine sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Prepare lemon balm: Wash and dry the herbs thoroughly. Remove the leaves from the stalks and weigh the needed amount, only the leaves.
  • Process herbs: Chop them roughly, place them in a food processor, and process to a rough paste. Scrape the walls of the machine.
  • Add cubed cheese, whole almonds, roughly chopped garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and oil. Process to obtain a smooth paste. Scrape the walls of the food processor a few times in between.
  • Transfer to small jars, pressing well with a teaspoon to avoid air holes. Place the lids on the jars, but don't screw them too tightly if you intend to freeze the pesto.

Notes

  1. Weigh just the leaves, not the stalks.
  2. Freshly grated cheese from a wedge. Pecorino Romano is great as well.
  3. With their brown, soft peel still on, they don’t have to be blanched.
  4. Use a mild olive oil, it should not be too bitter, you will taste it if it is. A fruity, mild sort would be great. As an alternative, use a milder oil, like avocado oil or a mix of olive oil and a neutral-tasting vegetable oil, like canola.
  5. The recipe can be easily scaled. I always make the triple batch in the Thermomix, but that is a large food processor. If you scale the recipe, make sure that everything will fit in your food processor.
  6. The lemon balm pesto keeps well in the fridge for at least two weeks. To keep it for longer, freeze it, it will keep for at least 1 year.
  7. The nutrition was calculated considering that 350 g/ 12.2 oz pesto would be around 23 tablespoons of pesto and you would need 2 for one serving. That is, of course, not very accurate, but the best I can offer. The whole batch has 1507 kcal.

Nutrition

Serving: 2tablespoons | Calories: 67kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 97mg