How to dry basil

We have a lot of basil in our backyard and since fall is on its way we thought it would be a good idea to store the basil. This way we can use our homegrown basil in winter too! We made this guide very visual by using lot's of pictures, also there is a bonus at the end!

How to dry basil

Here's a list of items you need for (quick) drying basil leaves:

• An oven
• Baking paper
• Salad spinner

For the bonus:

• Olive oil
• Ziplock bag
• Blender

So, let's get started! Pre-heat oven Pre-heat your oven at the lowest setting possible, in our case that was 50 degrees celsius. Prepare the baking plate Add baking paper to the baking plate of your oven. Grab a salad spinner Basil herb Above picture is our basil plant with a lot leaves ready for processing. We have already used so much of it and it's still huge, growing bigger every single day. Fill your sink with cold water Fill your sink with cold water. Rinse basil leaves Cut the basil leaves from the stems and rinse them. Don't include the dried up or brown leaves. Add leaves to the baking plate Lay out the basil leaves nice and evenly. Make sure the leaves don't overlap as much as those areas will not dry as quickly. Drying basil leaves in an oven Put into the oven for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Depending on what kind of oven you have it can take longer or less. Since the temperature is low, you can feel if the leaves are dry enough. Above photo shows the drying in progress. Dried basil leaves from an oven Ta-dah! The basil leaves are dried and ready for crumbling. Crumbling dried basil leaves Just roll the dried basil leaves between your fingers to crumble. Dried basil in a jar The end result is shown above.

And now for the bonus

Since we had so much basil -and this is the first batch- we've decided to freeze fresh leaves to use in the winter months to come. See below: Freeze basil leaves We've used this Kitchenaid Artisan blender to blend the rinsed and cleaned basil leaves. Adding basil to ablender Add basil leaves to your blender. Chopped basil leaves Blend it using the pulse setting on your blender until it looks similar to the picture above. Add olive oil to basil Add in olive oil to make it freeze easier and easier to cut when you might need it. Chopped basil leaves with olive oil The end result will be similar to what is shown in the above picture. Olive oil and basil leaves in a ziplock bag Put the basil and olive oil into a container, or as we did: a ziplock bag. Be sure to label it because it can look the same as spinach!

Conclusion

We hope you've enjoyed this step-by-step guide on how to dry basil leaves and even how to freeze basil leaves for use in winter months. Leave a comment below by using the form and let us know what you think ! :-)