Creamy Pesto Sauce
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Mar 12, 2026 
Whenever I want to elevate a dish, I love to make my quick and easy creamy pesto sauce. With just a handful of simple ingredients like fresh basil pesto, cream, and parmesan, this homemade sauce adds bold, bright flavor to everything from pasta and salads to sandwiches and grilled chicken.
While my family is a big fan of classic basil pesto, I wanted to create a richer sauce to elevate all of that herby, garlicky goodness. And this creamy pesto sauce recipe does exactly that. It has all the bold and yummy flavors of a traditional pesto, plus a smooth, crave-worthy creaminess that is totally addictive. Every bite tastes just like summer, packed with garden-fresh basil, a hint of lemon, and lots of savory garlic. One of the things I love most about this sauce is that it’s effortless and ready in a few minutes, just like my ranchero sauce recipe. Of course, this is great on pasta, but that’s just the start. You can also smear it on any sandwich, drizzle it over a bowl of salad, or even serve it as a dip with some fresh veggies and homemade tortilla chips.
Elizabeth – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I made this and it is super good. Just like I had in the restaurant! I used extra garlic as you suggested . Awesome!
Table of Contents
Sommer’s Recipe Highlights
Creamy and Indulgent – When I say “creamy” I mean that it is actually made with cool, delicious heavy cream. Combined with pine nuts, pecorino (or parmesan) cheese, and extra-virgin olive oil, you will love how wonderfully indulgent this sauce tastes, while also being tangy and light.
Versatile – Like my traditional basil pesto, this dreamy pesto sauce is delicious to enjoy in any number of ways, like chilled as a zippy dip or tossed with pasta and served warm or cold for a satisfying dinner or side dish. Try this pesto recipe over your go-to crispy potatoes recipe and add some excitement to your favorite foods!
Quick and Easy – There is no real cooking required, so this pesto is perfect for a hot day when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. You can even make a large batch to keep in the fridge and enjoy for several days.
Key Ingredients and Tips
- Fresh basil leaves – Enter the star of the show! Fresh basil really brings all that signature flavor, taste, and beautiful color to this pesto recipe.
- Pine nuts – Raw, unsalted pine nuts add a buttery and rich creamy texture. You can swap with almonds if needed.
- Pecorino or parmesan cheese – Whichever you choose to use, both of these Italian cheeses add a sharp nutty flavor, and perfect amount of saltiness to this sauce.
- Garlic cloves – To get that incredibly depth and savoriness, add a lot of fresh garlic cloves!
- Lemon zest – Fresh lemon zest adds a perfect punch of citrus flavor and a gorgeous pop of color.
- Olive oil – Extra-virgin olive oil is a must for making any pesto! It’s the perfect complement to the pine nuts and basil flavors.
- Heavy cream – And to get that signature creaminess that sets this pesto recipe apart, my secret is a splash of heavy cream!
How to Make
Find the full recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Make the base – The first thing I do to make this seriously easy basil sauce is toss the fresh basil, pine nuts, cheese, garlic, and lemon zest into a food processor. I blend it all up until everything is finely ground.
Add some flavor – Next, I add a dash of salt, pepper, and a generous drizzle of fragrant olive oil, and I blend again.
Make it creamy – Now the fun part. To make this creamy, I pour in the heavy cream and blend again until the pesto is seriously smooth. If the sauce comes out a little thicker than I like, no worries! I just add in a little bit of water and blend again.
Taste and adjust – I looove to taste test, and this is the part where I adjust with as much salt and pepper as I want. Then I pop the pesto into the fridge for a bit until I’m ready to serve.
Recipe Variations
- Greens – Basil is typically the green herb used in pesto sauce recipes, but you can also use other greens like spicy arugula or watercress. Or make a mint pesto by adding a combination of spinach and mint! I like to add spinach because it’s high in nutrients.
- Cheese – If you are adding cheese to your creamy pesto, use a hard cheese like shredded or grated parmesan, pecorino Romano, or grana padano.
- Cream – You can swap full-fat coconut milk or cashew cream instead.
- Nuts – If you don’t enjoy or can’t find pine nuts, you can substitute walnuts, almonds, or pistachios in this easy pesto recipe for a similar mild flavor and great texture.
Serving Suggestions
You want to be sure that you don’t cook the pesto sauce directly, as this would greatly change the lovely, fresh flavor. Instead, incorporate the raw pesto into cooked (and at least slightly cooled) dishes, serve it chilled, or enjoy it at room temperature. Here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy it:
- As a cold dip with seasonal veggies, crackers, pita, baguette slices, baked beet chips, baked zucchini chips, or baked sweet potato chips.
- As a unique sandwich spread on both cold cut sandwiches and hot paninis
- Top off your homemade low carb cloud bread pizza with some creamy pesto
- Drizzle some pesto over any salad like this quinoa lentil salad
- Coat any pasta with this delicious pesto like fusilli or tortellini
Frequently Asked Questions
I like to use short noodles with lots of curves so that they soak up the creamy pesto! Try using cavatappi, fusilli, rotini, or mafalda pasta.
Yes, this homemade pesto sauce recipe is completely gluten-free! While it is fairly high in fat, it is low carb and can be enjoyed on a keto diet.
Only use the lemon zest! Many pesto recipes also call for the addition of lemon juice, but incorporating it can cause the cream in this recipe to separate. The lemon zest will still add lots of lemon flavor without all the acid.
Storing
Store your homemade pesto sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. Do not freeze; it will lose its fresh flavor.
More Easy Dips and Spreads Recipes
Help Me Spread the Word about this Fabulous Free Recipe! Sharing this recipe link on Pinterest and Facebook is super impactful, and I greatly appreciate it! Find the share buttons below the recipe form.
Creamy Pesto Sauce
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves packed
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ½ cup grated pecorino cheese or parmesan
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3/4 – 1 cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Set out a food processor. Place the basil leaves, pine nuts, pecorino cheese, garlic clove, and lemon zest in the food processor. Cover and pulse until finely ground.
- Then add in the olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground pepper. Pulse again until a smooth, thick pesto sauce is formed.
- Add 3/4 cup heavy cream. Pulse just a few times to incorporate the cream. Add an additional 1/4 cup of heavy cream if needed. However, if the sauce is too thick, you can thin it out with a little water.
- Taste, then salt and pepper as needed. Refrigerate until ready to use.
So good! I doubled the garlic but otherwise made no changes – found myself wanting to just eat it by itself with a spoon, no pasta needed!
I made this and it is super good. Just like I had in the restaurant! I used extra garlic as
you suggested . Awesome!
Delicious pasta sauce. I added about half the amount of olive oil the recipe called for, but used half olive half truffle infused olive oil. Added the sauce to penne with mushroom and bacon.
Great recipe, thank you!
Have made this a few times, it is a super legit recipe. Very tasty, doesn’t take that long. I add chicken breast seasoned w salt pepper garlic and onion powder with linguine and it is bomb AF
Everyone enjoyed this. The only addition I made was a tablespoon of sugar because I felt it needed a bit of a sweet quick. I used this as a sauce for Arancini (Sicilian rice balls) and I used the remaining sauce for a roasted pork tenderloin the next day. Very good – thank you!
I love pesto and have been making it for quite some time. I had the creamy version in Italy and wanted to try at home. Your recipe tasted very good but a tad bit too creamy for me. I would use less cream and more garlic. I used 2 cloves. Otherwise I found it to be very good! I also enjoyed the addition of the lemon zest.
Thanks very much
Agree–adding more garlic improves the flavor. Only 1/2 cup cream was plenty for me. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Love this creamy pesto recipe! So easy to make and so delicious!
Can you freeze this recipe? Not sure how the cheese would thaw.
Hi Beth,
Honestly, it’s better if you don’t. It definitely changes the texture a bit. ;)
a nice change from my own pesto recipe, a garden variety one, so thank you!
We love making pesto but this creamy version takes it to a whole new delicious level! Perfect!
This is really amazing!! Such a new staple at my house!
The perfect pesto sauce