Is There A Michelin Star Pesto Recipe?

While there is no such thing as a "Michelin-star pesto recipe," that doesn't mean that several Michelin-starred chefs haven't attempted to add a touch of flair to the traditional recipe.

Massimo Bottura's Pesto Recipe
Widely regarded as one of the best chefs in the world, the three-Michelin-starred chef Massimo Bottura ruffled a few feathers when he recommended switching the usual pine nuts for breadcrumbs. If he were French or Spanish, there might not have been too much backlash, but for an Italian chef to "mess" with pesto in this way caused quite a stir.

Simon Martin's Pesto Recipe
Not immune to controversy surrounding his CV and management style, Simon Martin bought Manchester its first Michelin star in decades with his restaurant Mana, which food critics praised. His English summer-inspired pesto is one of the more daring we've seen, thanks to its use of parsley, lemon thyme, elderflower, and Doddington cheese. In an interview with I Love MCR, Martin explained his approach to cooking: to take something humble and well-known and reimagine it to celebrate the best locally grown produce.

Adam Gray's Pesto Recipe
On the Great British Chefs website, Michelin-starred Adam Gray shared his recipe for pesto. It's the most traditional on this list, although switching half the basil for parsley is not something you will find traditionalists condone.

Josiah Citrin's Pesto Recipe
The two-star Michelin-starred chef Josiah Citrin makes avocado the star of the show in his pesto recipe. Rocket and spinach join basil, cashews replace pine nuts, and he also adds a generous squeeze of lemon juice.

David Kinch's Sicilian Pesto Recipe
David Kinch was the owner-operator of Manresa, a 3-Michelin star restaurant praised by culinary heavyweights such as Anthony Bourdain and Jay Rayner. His book,Sicilia: A Love Letter to the Food of Sicily, contains a pesto recipe he knows will win him no friends in Genoa, where one exact pesto recipe is recognised.

His recipe calls for one of Scilly's most prized ingredients, Bronte pistachios. These nuts are considered the finest in the world and provide pesto with a more vivid green colour than the classic basil pesto made in the north of Italy. Even more controversial is the omission of cheese (he adds Parmesan and ricotta much later, just before serving) and the inclusion of lime, which gives his pesto a refreshing summer tang, elevating it to new heights.

Angela Harnett's Sicilian Pesto Recipe
Angela Harnett, a Michelin-starred chef and protégée of Gordon Ramsay, is known for her informal and unfussy approach to cooking. Therefore, she's not the first chef we would naturally think of to collaborate on a jarred pesto. By their very nature, long-life food products require super-precise ingredient measurements and many additional ingredients that you would never dream of putting into a fresh product.

Nevertheless, in 2023, Harnett partnered with Belazu to launch a limited-edition Sicilian-inspired pesto that reflected the island's North African influence. The main ingredient was onion, followed by raisins, rapeseed oil, and thirteen other ingredients, including capers, sunflower seeds, water, and saffron.