How To Use Leftover Pesto

Never Waste an Ounce of Pesto Again

There are so many ways to use pesto besides just a sauce to stir through pasta, so here we've compiled our top 15 ways to ensure those pesto leftovers never go to waste.

Use leftover pesto as a pizza base

Nothing beats a rich, homemade tomato sauce as the base for a pizza, but pesto makes a rather fine alternative if you fancy a change.

Add it to soups

A tablespoon or two of pesto can be mixed into your favourite soup to add an extra dimension.

Use it in baking

We've successfully added pesto to focaccia, pinwheels, cheese straws, bruschetta, and many more bread and pastry dishes.

Stir it through literally anything

Once you start thinking of pesto as an ingredient rather than just a sauce, you'll find the options limitless. A dollop of pesto can elevate mashed potatoes, salads, scrambled eggs, rice, and numerous other dishes to an entirely new level.

Add it to roasted vegetables

Before roasting, we love tossing carrots, parsnips, and onions in oil and honey. However, stirring through some pesto in the final minutes of cooking elevates the veggies to a new level.

Spice up your breakfast

Most people don't associate pesto with breakfast, but try drizzling some pesto over fried eggs, buttery English muffins, or American-style pancakes. You'll immediately kick yourself for not thinking about doing it before.

Make a pesto dressing

For years, whenever we made a salad, we'd whip up a quick vinaigrette of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, occasionally adding wholegrain mustard and honey for an extra layer of complexity. Since adding pesto to the equation, we've never looked back.

Make pesto stuffing

We're huge fans of stuffed chicken breasts, so next time you stuff your meat with breadcrumbs, spinach, cheese, or herbs, ask yourself whether pesto would be a nice addition. The answer is almost always "yes!"

Use as a marinade

One of our favourite ways to use leftover pesto is to marinate prawns or thin strips of beef with it. It can easily elevate a dish from the mundane to the divine.

Make pesto sandwiches

You can add pesto to almost any sandwich, so when you automatically reach for the mayonnaise, think about whether pesto could be a good substitute.

Add it to béchamel and other sauces

Béchamel is the cornerstone of many classic dishes, such as lasagne, moussaka, and fish pie. Whenever you add milk to your butter-flour roux, consider whether pesto might be a good addition.

Make compound pesto butter

We know the term "compound butter" sounds a little pretentious, but it requires nothing more than mixing equal quantities of pesto with room-temperature butter and then refrigerating or freezing it. Our favourite use is to baste a steak or fish fillet during the final stages of pan-frying.

Make a pesto dip

If we're feeling lazy, mixing pesto with sour cream, hummus, or cream cheese makes for a mighty fine dip that can go from the fridge to the table in 2 minutes flat.

Add it to breadcrumbs

We're partial to sprinkling generous amounts of breadcrumbs onto fish fillets before finishing them under the grill. Mixing those breadcrumbs with a little pesto, though, makes the results delicious.

Freeze it

Pesto freezes remarkably well. Dedicating an ice cube tray to storing frozen sauce nuggets will ensure that you always have some flavour bombs on hand to enliven your dinner.