Jump to Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more info.

Pesto aioli is the ultimate condiment. It is creamy, flavorful and easy to make. It’s wonderful on chicken, burgers, sandwiches, and roasted vegetables. I often use it as a dip for fries or celery sticks.

This aioli is made with fresh basil, light mayonnaise, garlic, Romano cheese and lemon juice. If you are pressed for time you can easily combine your favorite store bought pesto with some mayo and voilá, you have pesto aioli.

Fresh lemon juice is best but bottled lemon juice in the little squeeze containers in the produce section can also be used. Fresh garlic in my local produce department doesn’t always look great. In those instances, jarred minced garlic or garlic powder can be substituted.

Please see the recipe card below for exact amounts and directions.

Ingredient Round Up

  • Fresh basil leaves
  • Light mayonnaise – I used Kraft.
  • Garlic – I used garlic powder. I use fresh garlic when it is available and looks decent.
  • Grated Romano cheese
  • Lemon juice

Making the Pesto Aioli

  • Rinse off the basil leaves and pat them dry with a paper towel.

  • Place the basil, mayo, grated Romano cheese and garlic powder in the food processor bowl.

  • Pulse the food processor until the basil is very finely chopped and the ingredients are mixed together. Add the lemon juice and give it a couple of more pulses to incorporate the juice. Taste the aioli and adjust the garlic if needed.

  • Transfer the pesto aioli to a storage container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Serving Ideas

  • Pesto aioli is great on chicken, burgers or deli sandwiches.
  • Use it as a dipping sauce for fries instead of ketchup.
  • It’s great along side roasted vegetable.
  • It makes a nice dip to anchor a crudité platter.

WW 1 pt per Tsp, 2 pt per Tbsp, 12 pt entire recipe, makes 8 Tbsp

Pesto Aioli

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Course: condiment
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 8 Tbsp
Calories: 40.1kcal

Equipment

  • food processor
  • garlic press
  • measuring cups & spoons
  • storage bowl

Ingredients  

  • 24 g basil leaves
  • ½ c light Kraft mayonnaise
  • 4 tsp grated romano cheese
  • 1 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove of garlic if you have it
  • 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

  • Rinse off the basil leaves and place on a paper towel to dry.
  • Place the light mayonnaise, basil leaves, garlic and romano cheese into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until all the basil is very finely chopped and incorporated into the mayo along with the garlic and romano cheese.
  • Taste the pesto aioli and add more garlic if you think it is needed. I like to taste the garlic but at the same time, I do not want it overpower the other ingredients. You may like a stronger garlic taste.
  • Lastly, add the lemon juice and pulse a few more times to incorporate it into the aioli.
  • Transfer the pesto aioli into a storage container. Refrigerate until you are ready to use it.

Notes

Grated parmesan cheese can be used in place of romano cheese.
Jarred minced garlic or garlic powder can be used in place of fresh garlic cloves.
You mix some of your favorite brand of jarred pesto with mayonnaise instead of making it from scratch.
 
The bulk of the sodium in the entire recipe comes from the light mayo. The sodium from the romano cheese is very small in comparison, 760 mg vs. 139 mg, respectively
For those who need to reduce their sodium, you can use less than 1 tbsp to cut sodium back that way. You can make your own mayo from scratch and reduce the sodium content that way. Regular mayonnaise has lower sodium levels than the light versions but they are more caloric and have a higher fat content. If you are hard pressed to keep your sodium low, using the full fat Mayo version and planning for the increased number of points may be your better option.
Hellmann's makes a lighter that light mayonnaise that is low in sodium but I have never tried it so I can't comment on its flavor. It has an average rating of 3/5 star review from 4 reviews. Two of the reviewers gave it 5 stars and 2 gave it 1 star. With the basil, garlic and romano cheese mixed it, it may be OK.
Finally, Mrs. Taste Zero Sodium Mayonnaise has 0 g fat and 0 mg sodium. It has a 3.1/5 star review from 125 reviews.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1tbsp. | Calories: 40.1kcal | Carbohydrates: 2.3g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 3.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Sodium: 112mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 0.6g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
14
Share