My Sun Dried Tomato Pesto is only 4 ingredients and comes together in about 5 minutes in your food processor! I’ll show you exactly what you’ll need and lots of ways to use this delicious pesto.
Sometimes sun dried tomatoes are intense if eaten as large chunks. (Am I alone in feeling this way?)
Turning a small jar of sun dried tomatoes into pesto is great way to get that intense tomato flavor into your dishes while turning down the intensity a notch.
Good news, too! It lasts for weeks in your fridge so you can enjoy it at your own pace.
Tomato Pesto
If you're wondering what that orange stuff is in the jar, it's the sun-dried tomato-soaked olive oil that solidified after being in the fridge.
Once upon a trip to Costco, I bought a giant jar of sun-dried tomatoes on a whim. After using them off and on throughout our six years of marriage (not this exact jar, mind you) my husband finally told me that he doesn't like them.
He's such a patient, patient man. He did the same thing with stuffed peppers after a half dozen batches of them (I really like stuffed peppers.)
He also claims he doesn't like balsamic vinegar or eggplant.
I could be a nice, sweet wife and avoid those completely. "Sweet" isn't something I've heard about myself often. Instead of avoiding the food he "dislikes" I kept making them in different ways in order to get him to like them.
Back to the sun-dried tomatoes...
He informed me that he didn't like chewing on a chunk of a tomato, but he likes the flavor it gives the dish that they're in.
Soooo. . .I threw a third of the jar into the food processor with some Romano cheese and pine nuts and made sun dried tomato pesto. And because I had a big bowl of that pesto, I tried to find uses for it over the next couple of weeks. And guess what?? He liked it!
I feel like you could use the same technique for getting kids to like things. It's worked so far with my girls. But it probably takes more tries with them because kids can be especially finicky. (I take that back. I know adults who are more finicky than a toddler.)
Try this pesto in my 15-Minute Sun-Dried Tomato and Spinach Omelet.
Why you'll love this Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Making homemade sun dried tomato pesto is easy. If you've made basil pesto or another kind of pesto sauce before it's very similar. I love this recipe because most of the flavor is in the sun-dried tomatoes! Like other kinds of pesto, you just need to add some nuts and parmesan cheese and some olive oil. I like to buy sun dried tomatoes that are packed in olive oil (as opposed to vegetable or soybean oil) and if I have enough oil in the jar, I'll use that in the pesto instead
If you're dairy-free, just add some nutritional yeast instead to give it that "cheesy" flavor.
I'd love to hear if you try this pesto recipe! There are a lot of things you can do with it, too -- toss it with gluten free pasta and some fresh basil. Or some zucchini noodles.
OH! You should totally use it in my Pesto Zucchini Noodles with Bacon & Broccoli. That's such a great recipe. It calls for basil pesto, but you can use this one instead.
What to do with leftover pesto? Just freeze it in an ice cube tray so you have little portioned out squares to throw into a sauce or a soup or your breakfast scramble.
Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Ingredients
- Oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, pre-sliced if possible
- Shredded fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese
- Toasted pine nuts
- Extra-virgin olive oil
How to make Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
- Put the sun-dried tomatoes (along with the oil in the jar), cheese, and pine nuts in the work bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse/blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Drizzle in a few teaspoons of oil, if needed, to create the consistency you prefer.
- Store in a lidded container, chilled.
Tomato Pesto Recipe Variations
Add herbs: Try adding some fresh basil for a basil pesto hybrid. Fresh Italian parsley or a little oregano would be delicious, too.
Omit the cheese: Make a dairy free pesto by omitting the cheese.
Use different seeds/nuts: Use walnuts, cashews, or sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts if you prefer.
Make it spicy: Add some crushed red pepper flakes for some heat!
How to use Sundried Tomato Pesto
Use this pesto like you would traditional basil pesto! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Pasta
- Sandwich spreads (add to mayo or use alone)
- Add a spoonful to a homemade vinaigrette
- Use in marinades
- Mix into rice
- Spoon over roasted vegetables or meats
- Stir into soups as a garnish – like tomato soup or any Italian-slanted soup, like Zuppa Toscana or most creamy soups.
Sundried Tomato Pesto Recipe
Sun-dried tomato pesto is super easy to make and can be used in any recipe that you'd use basil pesto.
Ingredients
- 2 cups oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, sliced thinly (I bought mine julienne)
- 1 cup shredded fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese
- ⅓ cup toasted pine nuts
- Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
Instructions
- Combine tomatoes, cheese, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse/blend until thoroughly combined.
- Drizzle a little oil in if it gets to thick to process.
- Store in a lidded container, chilled, for up to a month.
Notes
Nat's Notes:
- I thought the tomatoes did a great job of providing flavor, but feel free to add garlic and fresh herbs as you see fit.
- To toast pine nuts, place them in a dry skillet over medium heat and toast them for 4-5 minutes or until they become fragrant and turn golden brown.
- If you're dairy free, substitute the Parmesan cheese for ¼ cup nutritional yeast so you don't lose that cheesy flavor.
