Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

A delicious twist on traditional pesto, this sun-dried tomato pesto is easy to make and even easier to eat. Toss it with hot pasta for a quick and satisfying weeknight meal.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

After one too many bad experiences using out-of-season basil to make traditional pesto I’ve started making ‘gateway’ pesto. These culinary concoctions, like spinach & parsley pesto and beet tops pesto, get me through to summer when my basil plants finally take root in our tiny little herb garden. This sundried tomato pesto is one of my new favorites – it’s simple to make and so full of flavor. Sun-dried tomatoes have a rich, slightly sweet flavor that pairs well with the almonds and cheese and it’s so good you may not even miss your regular basil pesto. This is going to be one of your favorite food processor recipes!

Related Recipe – Homemade Pesto

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You Will Need:

• 8 ounces linguine or other long pasta
• 1 jar (8.5 ounces) sun-dried tomatoes
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup roughly chopped parsley
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• Food processor

This recipe makes one cup of pesto, which serves about six people, and it keeps well in the refrigerator. Besides tossing it with hot pasta, use it as a sandwich spread, mix it with cream cheese for your morning bagel, or thin it out with additional olive oil for a great salad dressing. Moral of the story? There a lot of ways to use it, so consider doubling the recipe to have sun-dried tomato pesto on hand all week.

Love using your food processor for recipes like this? Don’t miss these different ways to use your food processor in your kitchen!

Favorite pasta recipes:

• Cajun Chicken Pasta
• Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta
• Chicken with Peppers and Pasta
• Spiced Chicken & Mezzi Rigatoni
• Penne Bolognese
• Chicken Alfredo
• Pasta Carbonara

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

5 from 2 votes

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Servings: 6

Author: Amanda Davis

Ingredients

• ▢ 12 ounces linguini pasta
• ▢ ½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• ▢ 1 jar 7 ounces Sundried Tomatoes, drained
• ▢ ¼ cup silvered Almonds
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped parsley
• ▢ ⅓ cup olive oil

Instructions

• Boil the pasta according to package directions.
• While the pasta is cooking, combine the cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, almonds, garlic, and parsley in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are chopped. With the food processor running, slowly add the olive oil until it's fully incorporated into the mixture.
• Reserve about a 1/4 cup of the starchy cooking water before draining the pasta. Toss the pasta with the pesto until it's well-coated. Add a few tablespoons of the starchy water, if needed, to thin the sauce and serve.

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The recipes on this blog are tested with a conventional gas oven and gas stovetop. It's important to note that some ovens, especially as they age, can cook and bake inconsistently. Using an inexpensive oven thermometer can assure you that your oven is truly heating to the proper temperature. If you use a toaster oven or countertop oven, please keep in mind that they may not distribute heat the same as a conventional full sized oven and you may need to adjust your cooking/baking times. In the case of recipes made with a pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, or other appliance, a link to the appliances we use is listed within each respective recipe. For baking recipes where measurements are given by weight, please note that results may not be the same if cups are used instead, and we can’t guarantee success with that method.