Jalapeños Can Give Your Pesto A Spicy Edge

Pesto feeling a little blah lately? There is no end to what you can do with this delicious mix of basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese — serve it up as a sauce with pasta, for example, dress your salad with it, or top your pizza — but if you've been getting tired of the same old, same old, it might be time to give your pesto a spicy little kick.

What can you add to your pesto to up the spice factor? Why, a bit of jalapeño would not go amiss when placed in with the other ingredients before processing (whether in a blender or food processor or by hand with a mortar and pestle). Its veggie-forward flavor meshes well with the herbaceous basil and buttery taste of pine nuts, while the spiciness adds another dimension of flavor to the nutty, grassy sauce.

You can judge for yourself how much jalapeño you use, and indeed, how much of the pith — or ribs — you want to include, as that is the source of the vegetable's heat (and not the seeds, as many think). Pulse or pound a few times to get the jalapeño constituted within the pesto, give it a taste, and add more — you can throw in the whole thing, seeds and all — if you want to up the fiery factor.

Of course, not everyone has jalapeños when the mood strikes to whip up this better-when-hand-made sauce (where's the "Call me crazy if you want" pesto girl from TikTok?). So if you want to spare yourself a trip to the grocery store, there's a good chance you'll have this spicy ingredient on hand: Red pepper flakes. Add anywhere from ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon or more (depending on how much pesto you're making and how much spice you can handle) to the mix before processing. This is a great substitute for jalapeño if you don't like the way peppers taste.

If you do like how peppers taste, you can absolutely substitute in serrano or habanero pepper — just be sure to remove most of the ribs and seeds, as these peppers are hotter than jalapeños. You could also replace some of the olive oil with hot pepper oil. Depending on how spicy the oil is, you likely won't want to replace all of the olive oil with it, so play around with a ratio that works for your heat tolerance. Start out with just a few teaspoons, then 1 tablespoon or more if you want it spicier.