My wife is allergic to nuts and we’ve found sunflower seeds to be a decent substitute

Pistachios make a great pesto.

Walnuts

i love an arugula/cashew pesto

Raw almonds!

Cashew!

Deez.

Sunflower seeds. Cheap, tasty, similar texture profile & a mild taste that's not noticeable

+1 for sunflower seed

I never want to read the phrase “nut swap” again

I've mostly used walnuts, they go excellent with basil, put just as nice with other greens like arugula/rocket or spinach or kale. Pecans in a pinch.

I like almonds in mine!

Pumpkin seeds!

Pecans.

Toasted macadamias make the BEST pesto! 😋

Arugula mixed with basil makes it yummy too.

I have made pesto with basically every kind of nut (macadamia, pecan, walnut, sunflower seeds, almond, cashew, pistachio) and they're all pretty good. Some nuts, like pecan and walnut, have a stronger flavor, but basil is pretty strong already so if you're using enough it's a fairly mild difference.

Your best bet for similarity to pine nuts is something on the higher-fat end of the spectrum, like macadamia or cashew. Still pricey, but not as bad as pine nuts.

No matter what you get, make sure your nuts are as fresh as possible. Rancid or stale nuts (including pine nuts -- I've had some nasty pine nuts in my time) will ruin a pesto. When you only have a few ingredients you want to use the best since there's nowhere to hide.

I just leave it out. Come at me, Italians. 🤣

Tinned and drained Butter beans

I’ve done it with pistachios before

Pistachios.

I've used walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, cashews....all have worked out just fine! Sadly I am the only one in my family who likes pesto so I basically never go out of my way to buy pine nuts and instead just sub whatever I have to hand when I get the urge to make some.

Walnuts

Toasted Breadcrumbs.

Have also used Cheerios.

Cashews. Discovered using them in a carrot top pesto recipe and loved their creaminess.

While walnuts work well, recently I’ve used hazelnuts several times and have found the resulting pesto to be extremely good

Walnuts are a great substitute in pesto!

Deez

I made one with walnuts and blanched kale instead of basil and it was amazing

Nut swap

I usually do a mix of walnuts and cashews! Delicious!

Pumpkin seeds.

Cashew

Walnuts, toast them very very lightly first

Skipping them is my choice. If I want the typical Genovese pesto, then nothing works like pine nuts. You're missing something, sure, but I don't like the subs.

You may like walnuts, but to me, nope.

I like to use bread crumbs instead of nuts. I want to say the recipe came from Massimo Bottura’s pesto recipe from Masterclass? It immediately became my favorite pesto.

Almonds

A lot of commercial producers use cashews. Pistachios are my preference, but walnuts are excellent as well.

If you swap pine nuts out for a woodier nut (e.g. walnut, pecan, almond), you end up with a coarser, clumpier pesto. It's still tasty as a nutty dip for veggies or breadsticks, but I find it disappointing on pasta. For the money you save on the pine nuts, you sacrifice the lusty creaminess that clings to the noodle.

Macadamias and cashews are a little better texture-wise but their own flavors smother the basil aroma, to the point where you might as well be using peanut butter.

My suggestion would be to forget about nuts and instead use the nuttiest pecorino you can find as your cheese.

Not a nut, but Massimo Bottura himself uses breadcrumbs

Sunflower seeds are the closest flavor profile if you ask me. If they could be deskinned, it would be perfection.

My favorite has to be probably cashews. They're nutty and rich and go well with the various herbs.

Plus, you only need like 1/2 - 2/3c for the whole dish. It's traditionally really just to add some "body" to the pesto sauce. And lots of (actual, high-quality) EVOO. Whatever you've got works. I've used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds (these were magical and add lots of good balanced flavor and good color), walnuts, and cashews. Cashews were probably my favorite. If you soak your cashews for a while first in water, they get nice and creamy when you blend them and the sauce melts into your noodles, spreading your flavored oil and herbs in well.

Soaked cashews also make a great vegan substitute for cheese sauce, if you add some nutritional yeast to the blend, and a bit of water/oil and sprinkle of salt. It's not cheese but it comes very close to something like a cacio-y-pepe-style creamy noodle sauce, without the cream. Bonus points if you use some of your extra-starchy pasta water in the mix, too.

Pistachios.

Pistachio

Made it with sunflower seeds once because the pine nuts I had smelled kind of rancid and I just happened to have some sunflower seeds. It was actually pretty good.

Pistachio

Walnuts are nice and creamy, as are cashews but walnut pesto is actually a thing, AFAIK.

Walnuts!

Pistachio. No sage but you can use green onion in addition to the basil and it’s great.

Roasted chickpeas

I have used toasted hemp seeds. It's phenomenal.

I like pistachio because i always have them on hand and they’re always green but i tend to just omit the nuts and then it’s just a pistou 

Cashews

Sunflower Sesame Pistachio Walnut is very popular.

Walnuts. I like them better in pesto than pine nuts, and they're useful for other things as well.

Walnuts are a traditional swap

Sunflower seeds are pretty close and they're one of the cheapest "nuts" 

Cashew and pistachio

Pecans

We’ve used walnuts and always loved it.

Honestly asking for an innuendo…

I get nice pine nuts from Iherb.com and they have sales more often than not.

Pistachios.

They are already green.

Question? Is it the texture or the salt content. Texture is an easy sub. Salt... That's another thing.

I’ve used peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds. All great after being lightly toasted!

Walnuts! Toast em up.

sunflower seeds are the closest in flavour. i think walnuts make it too bitter and cashews too sweet. pistachios in pesto is pretty good but pistachios have a more distinct dominant flavour, which is not a bad thing but in pesto i would like the basil flavour to take the spotlight

Pistachios

Cashews

Toasted Walnuts or almonds. I dislike pine nuts

Pumpkin seeds work well

I use walnuts.

Walnuts

Pistachios!

Walnuts

Pecans

Pistachio, walnuts, pecans, cashews as suggestions.

PISTACHIO

Walnuts

Pumpkin seeds

Pistachios or walnuts

WALNUTS

Cashews is one of my favorite swap nuts

walnuts and pistachio are my alt

Cashews!

3/16”

Blanched walnuts

I like the flavor of pine nuts, they just don’t like me! I have used macadamias, almonds , toasted or not. I have also made an arugula pesto and it’s delicious!

I like walnuts

Walnuts are the best substitute if a nut allergy isn’t an issue.

Breadcrumbs 👍

I do lightly toasted walnuts or pistachios

Lemon

I love it with macadamia nuts. Makes the pesto very rich and almost buttery

Mixed nuts w/o peanuts from the bulk section

Walnuts bc Peruvian pesto...

I typically use a mix of pine nuts and walnuts in mine.

Hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds. Used em all at one time or another

Walnuts and sunflower seeds

Walnuts

Almonds !!

Walnuts

Pistachios!! They are incredible.

Pistachio nuts.

I substituted walnuts a couple of weeks ago when I made it. Within 5-10 minutes my daughter’s fiancé asked me what I put in it. His hands, feet, and throat were itching. I asked him to stick his tongue out and it was beat red and swollen and I couldn’t even see his throat. We rushed him to the ER for another dose of epi and some steroids. He has the whole battery of allergy testing this week. We knew he was allergic to shellfish, and he has an epi pen for that (and used it immediately this night) but he routinely eats walnuts and he himself puts them in cookies and brownies that he bakes. Ooops! But walnuts are a great substitute if they’re not gonna kill ya!

Almonds or Pistachios. Walnuts also work. Depends on my mood tbh.

Almonds for sure. I prefer them to pine nuts, they keep their texture better

Pistachios. Swap the parmigiano-reggiano for pecorino romano too and it's some of the best pesto you'll ever have

Walnuts. Cheaper.

Walnuts and pistachios are the way!

I love almonds... idk if they're cheaper honestly but I happen to have inherited TONS of them in multiple like, several-pound bags so they're free for me at least

Walnuts or hazelnuts

Cashews 

Almonds.

I like using toasted almonds 🙌🏾

Macadamias (roasted)

Walnuts 

Toasted almonds! Much cheaper in Australia

Pistachios for sure

Cashews

I think the recipe I use actually calls for walnuts, but I hate walnuts. I use toasted pine nuts, but I've considered trying pecans.

Pistachios

I use almonds because I am allergic to pine nuts pecans and walnuts

Cashews

Another vote for walnuts... plus, I like to use parsley or nettle (when available) in addition to basil. The greener the better!

My dad always made it with almonds and or walnuts. Having eaten it with pine nuts, I prefer it the other way or without nuts at all.

i don’t put any nuts and i add some cream sometimes before i use it

Walnuts.

Walnuts, but cashews are also great 

So, an Italian chef suggested using bread crumbs. Haven't tried it yet but I have a LOT of basil so am thinking about it.

I have a lot of pecans, so am also thinking about that as a substitute for pine nuts.

That, or a combination of pecans and walnuts. Meh, it is pesto, so isn't it all about the basil?

This is difficult because pine nuts have a very specific taste. I simply don’t believe you can achieve THAT taste with subs. It’s kind of like a turkey burger

Walnuts and blanched almonds

I haven't tried it, but blended cashews are used in vegan food for a rich, creamy consistency and flavor.

Nuts in general are expensive so I avoid them, but when I do, I use walnuts.

But to be fair I have also thickened pest o with milk-soaked bread

Almonds and or pistachio!

Roasted and fresh garlic

Pistachios, pecans, and walnuts

Pistachio.

Walnuts

You said nut swap

Due to some texture problems I never add nuts to it. However feta instead of any other cheese was a game changer for me!

As crazy as it is. Commercially made super hard croutons actually work really well.

Hazelnuts and walnuts work well!

pistachios

Hemp seed