GO! Pesto™ - How To Use Pesto Straight From The Jar (2024)
by Michael Hawkins
Short answer Yes, pesto can be used straight from the jar and doesn't require cooking or heating. In fact, we actively discourage applying too much heat to pesto, as this will destroy many of the fresh flavours that producers work so hard to retain.
Long answer Almost all the jarred pestos you find in the supermarket will have been pasteurised to not only ensure that they can last a long time unopened, but so they are perfectly safe to eat straight from the jar.
There is no need to heat pesto, although too many people do. Perhaps it's understandable that people opt to take a 'belt and braces' approach, especially if they planto serve it to someone they may consider vulnerable, like babies, toddlers, or pregnant women. However, we strongly urge you not to because producers go to great lengths to keep their sauces raw, and heating (or worse still, cooking) destroys all those wonderful fresh flavours.
Once you have cooked and drained your pasta (hopefully you've saved some of the starchy pasta water, right?) the heat from the noodles will be perfectly hot enough to warm the pesto through without ruining the fresh flavours.
As for eating pesto neat, well, if that's your thing, go for it. We think its richness means you'll probably get sick of it long before you reach the bottom of the jar. Even pesto obsessives like us can't demolish a whole jar in one sitting.
Yes, pesto can be used straight from the jar and doesn't require cooking or heating. In fact, we actively discourage applying too much heat to pesto, as this will destroy many of the fresh flavours that producers work so hard to retain.
Swirl into soup before serving, add a spoonful on the side of roast chicken and salad, or dollop over your favourite lasagne. If you've only got a scraping left, pour a little extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar into the jar, screw on the lid and shake to make a salad dressing.
PESTO SHOULD NEVER BE “COOKED”. If you cook Pesto Sauce, you change the make up of the fresh basil and cause it to turn darker in color. It is best to warm it up and use it at room temperature. If it needs to be thinned out, you can do so by adding a little water, chicken stock, cream or white wine.
Whether it's white vinegar, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, or another option altogether, integrating some acid can up the intensity of your pesto sauce. It's particularly helpful since the texture and flavor of jarred pesto sauces varies greatly from brand to brand.
If desired, you can thin out the pesto with more olive oil. (Consider, however, that if you're serving the pesto on pasta, you can thin it with small splashes of reserved pasta cooking water to bring it all together.
Yes, pesto can be used straight from the jar and doesn't require cooking or heating. In fact, we actively discourage applying too much heat to pesto, as this will destroy many of the fresh flavours that producers work so hard to retain.
Do You Heat Up Pesto Sauce? No, you should never heat fresh pesto before adding it to pasta, although with the jarred alternative, we're a little more relaxed.
In Italy, you'll find that chefs use just enough pesto to coat the pasta, and they certainly don't allow the dish to drown in it. As a very rough guide, your pesto should weigh about 2/3 the weight of the dried pasta you are cooking.
Mix pesto into creamy dips, use it as a pizza sauce, spread it on sandwiches, add it to your favorite salads, toss it with roasted summer vegetables, and use it as a sauce for grilled chicken or grilled fish.
The most common reason for pesto tasting bitter is that the olive oil is past its best and has started to turn rancid. If the pesto has been made in a food processor or blender, there's also the possibility that it has turned bitter from the crude, sheering action of the blades.
Individually, the ingredients that make up pesto such as garlic, lemon juice and pine nuts, have their own nutritional values that, as part of a well-balanced diet, can all contribute to good general maintained health. But it's unlikely that pesto is the next superfood to watch out for.
While your pesto can safely reside in your pantry until its first use, forgetting to refrigerate it after opening is guaranteed to spoil it long before the five-day mark. It's also best to seal and refrigerate your jar of sauce right after using, as exposure to oxygen can speed up the spoiling process.
As for the sauce itself, well, pesto is naturally pretty good at clinging to pasta. The secret to making it even stickier is to mix it with a little bit of the water you cooked your pasta in.
For pesto sauces, use about one jar of 5.6-ounce sauce for a 16-ounce package of pasta. The amount of pesto sauce needed for pasta per person would be about . 75 ounces of sauce for each 2 ounce (about 1 cup cooked) serving of pasta.
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