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    Home » Recipes » Italian and American Pasta

    Busiate with Pesto Trapanese

    Published: Sep 18, 2023 · Modified: Feb 24, 2024 by Vinny · This post may contain affiliate links · 1 Comment

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    An easy way to shake up your pesto! Busiate with pesto Trapanese is a staple dish in Trapani, Sicily made with cherry tomatoes, basil, and toasted almonds!

    Busiate with pesto alla trapanese.

    If you love pesto, try some of our other favorite pesto meals: Creamy Pesto Shrimp Pasta, Pistachio Pea Pesto, Pistachio Pea Pesto Stuffed Chicken, Artichoke Pesto Pasta or Lemon Pesto Spaghetti with Scallops.

    Jump to:
    • Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
    • Step-by-step directions
    • Pro-tips
    • Recipe FAQs
    • Our Favorite Simple Italian Staples
    • 📖 Recipe
    • Reviews

    Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

    Ingredients for the recipe.

    Tomatoes. I use cherry tomatoes because they're easy to find and go well with parmigiana. A lot of people, use Piccadilly tomatoes which are more traditional. They are way more difficult to find.

    Pasta. Busiate is a corkscrew pasta a little bit longer than a rigatoni. They're made by wrapping semolina dough around a metal rod. They are great for really gathering up all the sauce within the nooks and crannies of the corkscrew shape.

    You can use whatever kind of pasta you want! I would substitute farfalle or rotini if I weren't using the traditional busiate that's generally served with pesto alla Trapanese

    Nuts. Traditionally, almonds are the nut of choice for this pesto. Sicily is known for its nuts, especially its pistachios. You can use blanched almonds or toasted almonds. If you only have pistachios or pine nuts though, that will do the trick.

    *Please see the recipe card below for more information on ingredients.

    Step-by-step directions

    This Sicilian pesto comes together in just a couple of minutes. You can make it ahead of time or make it while your pasta is boiling. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add kosher salt. Add your pasta and cook as directed on the box.

    Basil, almonds, and garlic processed in food processor.

    Step 1: In a food processor, combine basil, garlic, salt and almonds. Process until completely combined.

    Cherry tomatoes and olive oil added to the pesto in food processor.

    Step 2: Add in the cherry tomatoes and process while slowly pouring in the olive oil until processed.

    Pesto finished off with parmesan cheese.

    Step 3: Pour in the parmesan and combine.

    Pesto alla trapanese in a bowl.

    Step 4: I like my trapanese pesto to look like the image above. It's creamy but still has texture to it. Adjust the olive oil as necessary to achieve the desired texture.

    Step 5: Drain the pasta and save ¼ of pasta water. Combine the pasta and the pesto in the pot that you boiled the pasta in. I like to use this pot while it's still hot to steam off some of the water in the cherry tomatoes and help the pasta develop a creamy texture.

    Pasta and pesto stirred together in the pot that the pasta was boiled in.

    Step 6: Slowly pour in the pasta water to combine while hot. Stir well and serve with extra parmesan cheese.

    Pro-tips

    • Slowly pour the olive oil into the processor so that you can see how much olive oil you want to add. It's about a ¼ cup but you want the pesto to reach a smooth consistency. 
    • Use high-quality extra virgin olive oil. With dishes that are not "cooked" like this, the simple flavors are really important to get the best out of the dish. 
    • Use the same hot pot that you boiled the pasta in! This is important to get the creamiest pasta!

    Recipe FAQs

    What else can I use pesto Trapanese for?

    There are so many dishes that you can substitute Trapanese pesto for regular, or Genovese, pesto. It can be as easy as serving this on ricotta bruschetta or with Italian chicken cutlets. I'd also substitute this with some of our recipes like our Creamy Pesto Shrimp Pasta, Italian Red Potato Salad (No Mayo), or OG Italian Pasta Salad.

    What is the difference between Trapanese and Genovese Pesto?

    Genovese pesto is the green pesto you see all the time. It has a ton of basil and it uses pine nuts. Trapanese pesto has cherry tomatoes and it uses almonds instead of pine nuts.

    Busiate with pesto alla trapanese finished product.

    Our Favorite Simple Italian Staples

    • spaghetti with garlic and oil
      15-Minute Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil
    • pasta with zucchini and cherry tomatoes. finished product
      Italian Summer Pasta with Zucchini
    • lemon pasta with spinach
      Lemon Pasta with Spinach
    • bucatini amatriciana
      Bucatini Amatriciana

    Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.

    📖 Recipe

    busiate with trapanese pesto

    Busiate Pasta with Trapanese Pesto

    Vincent DelGiudice
    Trapanese pesto is a delicious alternative to basil pesto made with cherry tomatoes served over busiate pasta.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes mins
    Cook Time 15 minutes mins
    Total Time 30 minutes mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Italian
    Servings 8 servings
    Calories 321 kcal

    Equipment

    • 1 food processor

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 lb busiate pasta
    • 1.5 cups cherry peppers
    • 15 basil leaves
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 3 tablespoon blanched or toasted almonds
    • ¼ cup + 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
    • ¼ cup parmesan cheese
    • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

    Instructions
     

    • Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add kosher salt. Add your pasta and cook as directed on the bag.
    • In a food processor, combine basil, garlic, salt and almonds. Process until completely combined. Add in the cherry tomatoes and process while slowly pouring in the olive oil until processed. Add the parmesan and combine.
    • Drain the pasta and save ¼ of pasta water. Combine the pasta and the pesto. Slowly pour in the pasta water to combine while hot. Stir well and serve.

    Notes

    1. Slowly pour the olive oil into the processor so that you can see how much olive oil you want to add. It's about a ¼ cup but you want the pesto to reach a smooth consistency. 
    2. Use high-quality extra virgin olive oil. With dishes that are not "cooked" like this, the simple flavors are really important to get the best out of the dish. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 321kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 9gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.001gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 746mgPotassium: 162mgFiber: 4gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 64IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 62mgIron: 1mg
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Vinny

      May 26, 2024 at 1:41 am

      5 stars
      This is a classic Sicilian pasta dish made with a trapanese pesto which is not as common in the US. Definitely give it a shot because I guarantee you'll love it.

      Reply
    5 from 1 vote

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    Recipe Rating




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    Vinny in the Kitchen.

    Vinny DelGiudice, MS CCC-SLP

    My name is Vinny. I am an Italian-American home cook, a photographer, and previously, a speech pathologist specializing in swallowing and voice disorders. I share the recipes I grew up eating in my home and the recipes that I cook for my family. Always From Scratch is about cooking homemade meals and eating with family.

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