Best pesto: Supermarket own-labels take on Filippo Berio and Sacla in blind taste test

Whether you swirl it through pasta, spread it in a sandwich or dollop it on roasted veg, pesto from a jar is a quick and versatile way to add a punch of flavour to your meals. That fragrant hit of basil, blended with cheese, garlic and nuts, can transform even the simplest dish. 

But is it worth splashing out on a premium pesto, or can a supermarket own-label jar deliver the same herby kick for less?

We asked a panel of 71 tasters to blind-test 10 green pestos – from big names such as Filippo Berio and Sacla to supermarket staples from Aldi, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and more.

One brand soared to the top with its rich basil flavour, but a supermarket option also impressed – offering great taste at a fraction of the price.

Read on to discover which pesto jars brought the most vibrant basil notes to the table, and which fell flat.

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Best pesto

Filippo Berio topped the rankings winning out on flavour compared with all the other pesto from a jar sauces. Ocado also did well and both of these become Best Buys.

Aldi, Asda, Sacla and Lidl were also all rated well by our taste testers.

All the pesto on test is sold in 190g jars. This equates to around four portions.

Best Buy: Filippo Berio Classic Pesto – 73%

£2.80 for 190g (£1.47 per 100g)

This delicious pesto wowed our tasters. It had a lovely aroma, and three-quarters found the basil flavour just right. Even more rated its consistency as spot on – neither too coarse nor too fine.

The thickish sauce was enjoyed by two-thirds, while the colour and saltiness also proved to be a winner for most tasters. 

Filippo Berio is the second-priciest of the pesto sauces we tested, but it achieved the highest overall score, and is therefore our top Best Buy.

Available from Asda, Morrisons, Ocado and Tesco.

Best Buy & Great Value: Ocado Classic Green Pesto – 70%

£1.10 for 190g (58p per 100g)

With the second-highest overall score, Ocado’s jarred pesto is also a Best Buy.

While its flavour wasn’t quite up there with the top-scorer, Filippo Berio, this pesto is a good all-rounder. 

Most enjoyed the strength of the basil flavour, as well as the thickness and consistency of the sauce. Salt levels pleased two thirds of our tasters.

Ocado’s pesto is a good deal cheaper than the top Best Buy, so it also gets our Great Value badge. It's an excellent choice to stock up on if pesto is often on the menu.

Available from Ocado.

Aldi Cucina Basil Pesto – 69%

99p for 190g (52p per 100g)

This low-cost pesto was another crowd-pleaser. 

It had both good looks and a pleasing aroma. The thickness of the sauce worked well, and, according to most of our taste testers, it was neither too coarse nor too fine when it came to texture.

The strength of the basil flavour and the salt levels were also praised by most of our testers. Around a third would have enjoyed a shake or two more salt, though.

This pesto is around a third of the price of the top Best Buy and makes a decent budget choice.

Available in-store at Aldi.

Asda Green Pesto – 69%

99p for 190g (52p per 100g)

Asda's pesto was generally well liked by our tasters without being outstanding. 

They told us that it both looked and smelled good. Around two thirds also liked its thickness and consistency.

However, around a third of tasters found it wasn't salty enough.

Available from Asda.

Sacla Classic Basil Pesto – 69%

£3.35 for 190g (£1.76 per 100g)

This widely available – but pricier – pesto proved popular with our testers.

Two thirds said its vibrant colour, balanced saltiness and fresh basil flavour were just right. The consistency also impressed, with many enjoying its smooth texture and satisfying thickness.

However, its aroma didn’t score as highly as some of the better-rated pestos in our test.

Available from Amazon, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose

Lidl Baresa Green Pesto – 68%

99p for 190g (52p per 100g)

Although more than half of our testers thought Lidl's offering was too pale, the pleasing thickness and consistency of this sauce helped keep it in the top half of the table. 

Nearly two thirds said the salt level was good, and a similar proportion rated the strength of the basil flavour favourably.

Available in-store at Lidl.

How Sainsbury's, Tesco and the rest of the supermarket pesto jars compare

None of the pesto jars on test was terrible, but these four were a step down from the top scorers when it came to flavour.

Tesco’s pesto was the best of the rest (it didn’t win overall, but it scored highest among the lower-ranking products).

• Tesco Green Pesto – 67%. Good looks and aroma, plus a nice thickness and consistency to the sauce, but the basil flavour was too much for many. 99p for 190g (52p per 100g). Available from Tesco.
• Morrisons Green Pesto – 64%. Appealing-looking with a good consistency and thickness, but overly strong basil flavour. Many wanted more salt, too. 99p for 190g (52p per 100g). Available from Morrisons.
• Sainsbury’s Green Pesto – 64%. Rather bland. The consistency was ok, but more salt and a stronger basil flavour would've boosted its popularity. 99p for 190g (52p per 100g). Available from Sainsbury’s.
• M&S Green Pesto – 63%. Its pleasant consistency was the high point of this pesto. More than half said that it lacked salt and that the basil flavour was too weak. £1.40 for 190g (74p per 100g). Available in-store at M&S and from Ocado.

Best cheap food and drink – find out the supermarket own labels that beat pricier well-known brands in our taste tests

Is pesto good for you?

Pesto has a relatively high fat content – on average, about a third of it is oil – but most of it is the healthier, unsaturated kind.

A single portion of pesto gives around 16g of total fat, but there's quite a variation between brands. Lidl had the most by a fair margin (22g per portion). The Best Buy Filippo Berio was in the higher range too, with around 18g.

Look out for salt levels. Again, we saw quite a wide range. Our taste testers wanted Morrisons pesto to be saltier, and indeed this brand had around half the average amount, just  0.86g per 100g (the average was 1.5g).

Our Best Buy Filippo Berio had higher salt levels, as did Sacla. Both of these came in at 2.7g per 100g – something to bear in mind if you're watching your intake. 

Ingredient in a jar of pesto

Basil made up nearly half of all the green pesto sauces on test, varying very little between the jars. Next came oil, most of which was sunflower oil. Extra virgin olive oil also featured in most, but not all, pesto sauces.

All contained cashew nuts and pine nuts. Although pine nuts are well known for being in pesto, they made up 1% or less of those on test.

Pesto also has a small amount of hard sheep’s cheese, such as Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan).

Finally, alongside garlic and salt, other ingredients included potato flakes, egg, preservatives, flavouring, emulsifier, spices and rice syrup.

As an alternative, other flavours of pesto are becoming more widely available. Red pesto has sun-dried tomato as its main ingredient, and also contains a little basil alongside the cheese, cashews, and pine nuts. Another interesting take on the classic is Ottolenghi's Miso Pesto, which is made with caramelised onions, spinach, pine kernels and white miso.

 Are you storing your condiments correctly? Pesto should be stored in the fridge once open, but what about mayonnaise, ketchup, mint sauce and chutneys? 

Can you freeze pesto sauce?

Whether it’s homemade or out of a jar, pesto sauce freezes well.

Once opened, add a swirl of extra virgin olive oil to help keep it fresher in the fridge. 

If you’ve opened a jar of pesto but know you won’t use it within the next couple of weeks, transfer the remainder into a plastic container and pop it in the freezer with olive oil on the top to prevent freezer burn and discolouration. There it will be fine for several months.

If you have a glut of basil, you may like to try homemade pesto. Here’s a simple recipe with just five ingredients from BBC Good Food. To make your pesto suitable for vegans, swap the parmesan cheese for a plant-based version.

Pesto pasta and other quick fixes for dishes and dips

While pesto works well in pasta dishes, there’s plenty of other food it pairs pleasingly with.

For example, it adds a delicious basil kick to mashed potato or couscous and works really well with green beans, or mashed into butter beans.

Try combining a couple of spoonfuls of pesto with yoghurt or soft cheese for a creamy basil dip. Or dot it on top of an omelette or mix into a salad dressing and drizzle over mozzarella. 

A soup or stew that's tasting a little bland might also be rescued with a swirl or two of flavourful pesto.

How we tested pesto

All the jars of pesto sauce were blind-tasted and rated by a panel of 71 people in August 2025 at our specialist test lab.

We recruited a panel of people who buy and eat pesto, and who broadly represent the demographic profile of adults in the UK (age range, gender split and more). 

The taste test was blind, so our testers didn’t know which brand they were trying. They tasted the pesto in a fully rotated order to avoid any bias. Each tester had a private tasting booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.

The tasters rated the flavour, aroma, appearance and texture of each pesto and told us what they liked and disliked. 

The overall score was based on:

• 50% flavour
• 20% aroma
• 15% appearance
• 15% texture.

These weightings are based on what people ranked as the most important attributes when tasting pesto sauce. All our results are checked and analysed by our in-house statistical team.

Price and availability checked: 5 September 2025