Flying on Jess Fuel

Fueling my Navy pilot, one meal at a time...

Navigation
  • Home
  • A little about us…
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Gardening

Thai Basil Pesto

August 15, 2013 by jessfuel 12 Comments

Don’t know what to do with your harvest of Thai basil? This Thai Basil Pesto is full of great Asian flavors and is a unique and flavorful variation on a traditional pesto. It’s perfect on soba noodles or on top of fish or seafood.

Thai Basil Pesto

When I worked in Boston, my coworkers and I frequented a super delicious Thai restaurant called Thai Basil. My favorite thing to get was the Thai Basil Salad, which was a huge fresh salad topped with tons of shrimp and chicken and these curious pointy-looking basil leaves that had a little more bite to them than your typical basil.

I still dream about that salad once in a while.

When I was planting my garden, of course basil was one thing that was definitely going in. But while shopping for regular, Italian sweet basil, I stumbled upon seeds for Thai basil!

Thai basil has that basil-y taste, but is a little more anise-y/licorice-y. It’s different and just… really good. It’s the unique flavor you find in my favorite Thai dish, Pad Kee Mao – Thai Drunken Noodles, on your plate of pho add-ins, and in lots of other Asian specialties.

Turns out it grows really well, too! While my regular basil was looking scraggly and yellowed from the heat, my Thai basil was OUT. OF. CONTROL.

Thai Basil

So I had to make something with it! Too much basil = pesto, naturally. But Thai basil? I wasn’t really sure the licorice flavor with go with parmesan and pine nuts in a traditional pesto. But how about pesto with Thai flavors like peanuts and lime? Heck, yes!

So instead of pine nuts, we’ve got peanuts. Instead of lemon juice, we’ve got fresh lime juice. Instead of parmesan, we’ve got fish sauce to add that salty umami depth. Plus it’s kicked up with some fresh ginger and jalapeños.

Thai Basil Pesto

I tossed some soba noodles, shrimp and red pepper strips with the pesto, then topped it all with crushed peanuts. It was super yummy. I’m thinking of using some of the leftover pesto in fresh spring rolls!

I love a good Italian pesto, but this one is unique and extra flavorful. It would be great with seafood and shrimp, or even as the base of a Thai chicken pizza. Any dish you’d use regular pesto in– think of it’s Asian counterpart, and this is your perfect condiment!

This is great for gifting to friends because no one expects it. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who have never had or even heard of Thai basil, so this is a great way to get your friends to try something new. When the next garden planting season rolls around, you’re definitely going to want to keep an eye out for some Thai basil seeds!

Thai Basil Pesto
 
Print
This Thai Basil Pesto is full of great Asian flavors and is a unique and flavorful variation on a traditional pesto. It's perfect on soba noodles or on top of fish or seafood.
Author: Jess
Recipe type: Condiment
Ingredients
  • 2 cups packed Thai basil leaves
  • ½ cup dry roasted peanuts
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • ½ inch fresh ginger, roughly chopped
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 1-2 jalapenos, halved
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • Salt, to taste
Instructions
  1. Place basil, peanuts, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, lime juice and jalapenos in a food processor.
  2. Pulse a few times to roughly chop.
  3. Turn the food processor on and, while it's running, drizzle in olive oil. Process until smooth.
  4. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.
3.5.3251

Enjoy!

Thai Basil Pesto

You Might Also Like:

Thai Chicken Enchiladas {and wedding, part two}
Thai Shrimp Salad with Coconut Curry Dressing
Thai Fish and Noodles
Thai Peanut Chicken with Coconut Rice

Share this:

  • Share
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Pasta & Pizza, Sauces, Toppings, Ingredients, Etc Tagged With: basil, herbs, pesto, sauce, thai

« Mint Oreo Cookies ‘n Cream Ice Cream
Healthy Veggie Muffins »

Comments

  1. Andrea says

    August 26, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    That looks so good! I love Thai food but I’m not sure if I’ve had Thai basil before. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

    Reply
  2. Sally says

    September 22, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    This turned out amazing! I swapped out some roasted red chili paste for the jalapenos. I could not stop licking the spoon while putting it in the container. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. John fox says

    October 2, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    I was skeptical but this is really good! Super flavorful. Didn’t need extra salt after the fish sauce and I swapped 2 Thai peppers for the 2 jalenpenos.

    Reply
  4. Austin says

    June 18, 2015 at 5:29 am

    Would this work as a pesto substitute for a pizza?

    Reply
    • jessfuel says

      June 24, 2015 at 3:34 pm

      Definitely!! It would be good on some kind of Thai chicken pizza!!

      Reply
  5. Jannelle says

    September 17, 2016 at 8:40 am

    Thanks for the recipe it’s delish! I wasn’t sure what to do with all my Thai basil!

    Reply
  6. Tam Francis says

    September 13, 2017 at 10:12 am

    How about freezing it? Anyone try that? I make Italian basil pesto every fall to stock up the freezer and it freezer beautifully, but it only has olive oil, pine nuts, cheese, basil, and garlic. I’m wondering how these ingredients would freeze. I like the inclusion of ginger and jalapeno in your recipe. If I can freeze it, I’ll try it.

    It’s funny b.c in my vintage fiction novel, my character eats Thai food for the first time and it’s Hot Thai Basil! hee hee hee!

    Thanks for the recipe

    Reply
    • jessfuel says

      September 13, 2017 at 10:39 am

      It freezes like any other pesto! Just defrost it in the fridge over a day or two and it’s good to go!

      Reply
  7. Ira G says

    July 12, 2019 at 8:36 am

    I made this recipe last week as is and it was killer- except my grocery has thai spiced cashews which I subbed

    I want to make more but low on thai basil- However, have purple basil, italian basil, mint and choc mint in our garden-any suggestions for a filler? (Iam thinking a little mint will not diminish the thai basil concentration too much)

    Also, I am thinking possibly, a little black garlic for 1/2 the cloves to add flavor/sweetness? ..comment?

    Reply
  8. Surani says

    July 23, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    Thank you for this recipe! It turned out delicious!!!! I was so excited when I saw this as I had just bought a whole bunch of Thai basil from the Farmers Market, and didnt want to waste one single leave, as I absolutely love the Thai basil ❤. Thank you again!

    Reply
  9. Cecelia says

    May 24, 2022 at 5:06 pm

    This recipe is delicious!! I’ve made it 3x already 😋 thank you for sharing

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Thai Black Rice Bowl • Nourish and Nestle says:
    April 19, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    […] We made a Thai Basil Pesto in order to use up our Thai Basil as well as a Thai dressing.  Both these ingredients really upped the WOW factor on our Thai Black Rice Bowls.  While the rice was soaking, I prepared the pesto, vinaigrette and chopped my vegetables and poached my chicken.  I slightly altered this pesto recipe from Flying on Jess Fuel.   […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Fueling my Navy Pilot, one meal at a time…

Welcome to Flying on Jess Fuel! I love to cook and share my recipes and adventures in the kitchen with everyone. Take a look around... you might just find tonight's dinner!

Search Flying on Jess Fuel

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Flying on Jess Fuel and receive notifications of new posts by email.

ABOUT JESS

Jess is home cook, foodie and proud Navy wife. She grew up in Boston and now lives on the West Coast. She loves to blog, travel, read and write. When she's not working or blogging, she can be found running or relaxing with a glass of wine. Read More…

Check out these healthy recipes!

Dilly Cucumber Bites
Kale and Black Bean Enchiladas with Avocado Cream and Homemade Enchilada Sauce (Vegan)
Banana Almond Chia Seed Pudding

*Click Here* to read Flying on Jess Fuel’s Privacy Policy.
This site contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase through them, we will receive a small commission.

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress