Surprisingly Easy Fresh From the Garden Oregano Pesto

Basil shouldn’t have all the fun! Make the most fresh and yummy oregano pesto – you may never go back to basil again!

Ok, I might be in the minority here, but I have a love/hate relationship with basil. It is SO summery and I absolutely love it! But then sometimes I pick it and the basil leaves taste like black licorice. What is the problem!?

I cannot get consistently basil-y tasting fresh basil. As a result, sometimes my fresh pesto tastes like garbage – please forgive me if you are a black licorice fan! I know it’s personal preference, but I really can’t stand it!

My other problem is that oregano is one of my favorite herbs so I have a really bit plant. But, it literally takes over the herb garden and produces SO much! I mean, it’s mid May in Northeast Ohio, and this guy is already a monster! It’s a great way to use that oregano when it goes crazy!

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So I took a risk!!!!

Last year I decided that I would take a risk. I would try to make a traditional pesto recipe with oregano and see how it turned out. Wouldn’t you know that it was absolutely unbelievably amazing?! That taste of fresh herbs and had not a hint of gross black licorice flavor!

I froze it and I can’t tell you how delicious it was in the middle of winter. All that summer goodness packed into a quart zip top baggie or in ice cube trays for me to use when the ground is covered in ice and snow. What a treat! It’s SUCH a great feeling to grab the frozen cubes of pesto in the middle of winter. The bright green color of the pesto sauce is so beautiful and it makes that summer flavor last all year.

Whether you normally make homemade pesto, or buy it in a jar at the grocery store, I think you’ll agree that this recipe is the best thing that came out of your herb garden this year! So here is the delicious recipe. You’ll never go back tot a traditional basil pesto again!

Homemade Oregano Pesto Recipe

With just a few simple ingredients, you can make homemade oregano pesto. It’s quick and easy in a Vitamix or a food processor. I don’t love to clean out my huge food processor for a small dish like this, so I tend to use my Vitamix. I have this one and I absolutely love it! I’ve owned it for around 13 year and it is worth every single dollar I paid for it!

I’ll show you how it’s made in a Vitamix and you can just do the same thing in a food processor if you have that instead. I suppose a blender also works too! I just haven’t had a regular blender in a while but I bet that would work fine.

Harvest your fresh oregano leaves

You’ll want to start with garden fresh oregano leaves. You can pick this from your own herb garden, or get it from someone else’s. I am not shy when harvesting my oregano. I cut it totally down to the ground and it always comes back with a vengeance! This is all that’s left after my harvesting and I bet it will be completely back in about 3 weeks.

I use a few very large handfuls because it really blends down into a very small amount. Bring it in and wash it and then put it through the salad spinner to get all the water off.

If you can’t use it right away, that’s ok. Just put a paper towel in the bottom of an airtight container and store it in there after it has been washed. It should last a few days until you can get to it.

Gather ingredients for homemade oregano pesto

Really good extra virgin olive oil

parmesan cheese – or pecorino romano

fresh oregano leaves

lemon juice

fresh garlic cloves

salt

Grate the cheese

If you bought a block of cheese, get that grated. If you bought already grated parmesan, you’re in luck! Just measure it out! Isn’t that parmesan so dreamy?! I love cheese too much…

Microplane your garlic cloves

Rachel Ray taught me years and years ago to use a microplane for my garlic cloves and it is one of my favorite ways to use the microplane! I know some people would just throw the whole clove in the blender, but I don’t want to take the chance that there would be a chunk left!

Juice the lemon

This part is pretty simple. Roll the lemon on the counter to get the juices flowing, then juice the lemon. Strain the seeds out of the lemon juice and you’re ready to go! This is my favorite kind of citrus juicer.

Fill up the Vitamix with fresh oregano pesto ingredients

This part goes SO fast!

Strip the leaves off the oregano stems and throw those in the Vitamix first. They’re light and so the heavier ingredients will hold them down.

We do the same thing when we make green smoothies by putting the spinach or kale in the bottom and then piling all the heavier items on top. It really helps to blend it quicker without leaves flying all over the inside of the Vitamix.

Add a bit of lemon juice, parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil and salt to taste. Everyone has a different salt level that they like, so add to your taste. Blend until all the ingredients are incorporated into a loose paste. Some people like a chunkier pesto but I prefer it to be pretty smooth.

You may have to use the stick that goes with the Vitamix to get it all pressed down into the blades. If you do use a Vitamix, you’ll want to make sure you don’t let it blend for too long. Because the machine heats up, it does tend to heat what’s in the blending container if you let it go for a while.

OPTIONAL ADDITION – Toast your pine nuts on low heat

Sometimes I add a handful of toasted pine nuts to this. My son has a nut allergy, so it’s not super often. But if he’s not eating dinner with us, I LOVE to add pine nuts! Here’s the instructions on how to add those.

Put the pine nuts in a cast iron pan and put them on low heat until they begin to brown up. I keep moving them around with a wooden spoon while they work their magic. This toasting gives them so much flavor!

Once they start toasting, they go really fast, so make sure to get them out of the pan as soon as they look golden brown. Put them on a plate and let them cool.

Serve your oregano pesto

That’s it! I toss mine with freshly made pasta and it’s unbelievable! If you reserve a little of the pasta cooking water, it makes it a bit saucier. As I’m dreaming about it right now, I think it would taste absolutely amazing mixed with creamy Alfredo and then topped with grilled chicken.

Serve it immediately, because as it hits the heat of the pasta, it turns from bright green into a darker green. So it’s prettiest when it is first mixed.

You could also:

*add a little more olive oil and slather this on chicken or pork tenderloin before you grill it

*Make my cold fermented pizza crust and use it as a sauce and then top it with chicken and cheese

*mix it with mayo and dip fries into it (this is AMAZING – I couldn’t stop eating it!)

*add it to more vinegar and oil to make homemade vinaigrette salad dressings to top leafy greens

*use it as a condiment on sandwiches

*stir a little bit into your spaghetti sauce to deepen the flavor and brighten it with the flavor of the fresh herbs

*add some nutritional yeast in place of parmesan for a vegan homemade pesto that still tastes cheesy

There are so many ways you could use this!

Freeze leftover oregano pesto – if there is any!

I put my leftovers in a quart ziplock bag and freeze it flat. Then when I want to use it, I just open the frozen baggie and break off a chunk. It works perfectly! Alternately, you can use ice cube trays and freeze the fresh pesto in those. Just pop out the frozen cubes and store in an airtight container or freezer bag. Just make sure to try to get as much air out as you can in order to prevent freezer burn.

Of course when I made it today, I only had one snack baggie and that’s all! So I improvised and used that. Make sure when you freeze it, you put it on something to make it lay flat. With quart baggies, I normally use a cookie sheet. Today, since I just had a snack baggie, I put it on an ice pack for lunchboxes.

Can I use different nuts?

I think this could be good with all kinds of different nuts! Walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans…they could all be great!

Can I use dried oregano?

No. Definitely not! This is one of those recipes where only fresh herbs will do!

Next time you have an abundance of fresh oregano leaves in your herb garden, try this simple recipe. Just a little bit of time for so much flavor. Your taste buds will thank you!

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