Cooking with Fresh Basil

I love Cooking with Fresh Basil when it’s in season, and this post has my favorite recipes with basil and tips for growing and using it! Here you’ll find my ideas for making pesto, making basil vinaigrette, and freezing basil, and has a huge collection of recipes with fresh basil!

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Today I’m excited to be talking about Cooking with Fresh Basil! I’m a long-time fresh herb enthusiast, and my site has a series of posts about Cooking with Fresh Herbs. I’ve shared tips for growing and using Mint, Parsley, and French Tarragon, but definitely fresh basil is the garden herb I use the most most every year!

Basil isn’t the first herb that shows up in the garden but you can tell basil is popular by the way basil plants show up every spring in Trader Joes and many other grocery stores! And the plants are often available all through the summer months, so it’s not too late to grow basil inside if you don’t have an outdoor garden space. And even though I’m growing basil, mint, and parsley on my patio now that I live in a condo, basil is the herb I look forward to the most every summer!

And it’s clear that I’m not the only one who loves fresh basil. It’s an ingredient in the most popular zucchini recipe on my blog and there are so many more popular recipes featured below where fresh basil is a star ingredient.

How do I love to use fresh or frozen basil?

Of course fresh basil is amazing with summer produce like fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and summer squash, but it’s also a wonderful ingredient to add to pasta sauce, soup, and stew. And any time of year you come to my house you’ll always find frozen basil in the freezer.

What other tips about fresh basil are in this post?

This post will give you tips for growing basil, freezing basil or preserving it on the counter, and of course my favorite recipes using fresh basil from Kalyn’s Kitchen and some ideas from my food blogging friends. If you’re someone who hasn’t cooked with basil that much I hope I can inspire you to try it!

Tips for Growing Basil:

Basil is quite easy to grow from seeds, and when I had a big garden I’d always buy some basil plants to get me started, and then plant seeds for later in the summer. Be sure to plant it in a spot that gets full sun. Let the basil plants dry out between watering. And the most important tip for growing basil is to trim the basil regularly!

See in the photo above how my plants look when they’ve been trimmed. I use the basil that’s trimmed off to make Basil Pesto with Lemon, Basil Vinaigrette, and to Freeze Fresh Basil to use during the winter.

What does Fresh Basil taste like?

If you’ve tasted pesto, you’re familiar with the flavor that makes basil so popular. But for those who have never tried fresh basil, I will attempt to describe the flavor. It’s definitely a slightly peppery herb, with a bit of licorice or anise flavor. There are many varieties of basil, and the type often used in Italian food, summer tomato salads, and to make pesto is often called sweet basil. Thai Basil and Lemon Basil are both quite different.

What foods does fresh basil go well with?

• Basil is amazing with fresh tomatoes!
• It goes well with any creamy mild cheese like fresh Mozzarella, goat cheese, Parmesan, or Ricotta.
• It’s definitely the most common herb used with pasta or pasta sauces.
• Basil is good with chicken, fish, pork, and most any kind of sausage.
• It’s great with zucchini, summer squash, green beans, cucumbers, olives, and many other vegetables.
• It combines well with lemon, capers, oregano, fennel, garlic, mustard, parsley, rosemary, and vinegar.
• There are also many more options than the ones I’ve listed here; let us know in the comments if you have a fun idea for using basil!

Favorite Recipes using Fresh Basil:

If you’re growing basil in your garden I hope you’re making Basil Pesto with Lemon! I’ve been making this homemade pesto for years and freezing it in ice cube trays. 

Basil Vinaigrette is a treat with basil that I’ve been making for many years, and it’s a sign of summer when this shows up in my fridge. The Basil vinaigrette is amazing just drizzled over fresh tomatoes or grilled veggies, chicken, or fish. I’ve also used it as a dressing for so many favorite salads; see the big list of salad ideas below for ways to use this tasty dressing. You can enter “basil vinaigrette” into the search bar on the blog for even more recipes using it.

Grilled Zucchini Caprese Salad is one of my favorite things to make when I have zucchini and fresh garden tomatoes, and the Basil Vinaigrette makes this a real wow!

Zucchini Strata (with Basil and Cheese) is a recipe where zucchini and basil go together in a delightful way!

Crustless Three-Cheese Tomato-Basil Quiche is an amazing recipes that uses fresh basil! I use my beloved Herb Scissors (affiliate link) to get those nice thin strips of fresh basil!

Cauliflower Rice with Basil, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts is a think-outside-the-box idea for using fresh basil, and this is really delicious!

Basil adds an extra flavor punch to this amazing Green Bean and Tomato Salad.

Summer Squash with Feta and Basil uses strips of fresh basil to add even more flavor to summer squash that’s roasted with Feta Cheese!

Steamed Asparagus with Basil Vinaigrette is quick and easy to make for a low-carb side dish, and this is absolutely a wow!

And recipes like this No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil are one of the reasons I love to freeze basil to use it during the winter!

Tips for Preserving Fresh Basil

If you’re buying bunches of basil you’ll want to read this post on How to Preserve Fresh Basil on the Countertop.

My post on How to Freeze Fresh Basil is popular every simmer, and the frozen basil is great to use for basil vinaigrette, pasta sauce, soup, and stew! If you have lots of basil growing in your herb garden, I hope you’re freezing it!

Fresh Basil Recipes with Beans, Grains, and Pasta:

• Pasta with Arugula 
• Spaghetti Salad Recipe
• White Bean Sausage Soup (with Zucchini and Basil) 
• Tomato Chickpea Soup
• Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup
• Cannellini Bean and Sausage Soup
• Pepperoni Pasta Salad
• Pasta Salad with Sausage, Zucchini, Olives, and Peppers
• Grilled Vegetable Salad
• Chickpea Salad with Tomatoes and Olives

Fresh Basil Recipes with Eggs:

• Tomato-Basil Breakfast Tarts
• Greek Frittata

Fresh Basil Recipes with Meat, Poultry, or Fish:

• Italian Beef Stew (with Zucchini, Mushrooms, and Basil)
• Grilled Cod with Garlic, Lemon, and Basil
• Thai-Inspired Ground Turkey Stir Fry
• Sausage and Peppers Casserole
• Leftover Roast Beef Stew
• Grilled Halibut with Basil Vinaigrette
• Italian Sausage and Zucchini Skillet Meal

Recipes for Fresh Basil in Salads:

• Chicken Salad with Basil
• Tomato, Olive,  and Fresh Mozzarella Salad 
• Summer Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese 
• Raw Summer Squash Salad (with Arugula and Feta)
• Antipasto Artichoke Salad 
• Tomato Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, and Feta
• Marinated Fresh Mozzarella with Herbs
• Artichoke Heart Salad
• Grilled Sweet Potato Salad
• Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad
• Grilled Eggplant Salad
• Zucchini Carpaccio
• Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm

Recipes for Fresh Basil in Sauces, Dressings, or Dips:

• Sausage and Basil Marinara Sauce (for the Freezer)
• Cherry Tomato Pasta Sauce
• Basil and Kale Pesto
• Tomato-Basil No-Cook Pasta Sauce
• Instant Pot Pasta Sauce
• Spinach Basil Pesto

Fresh Basil Recipes with Tomatoes:

• Zucchini Noodles with Tomatoes and Burrata
• Zucchini Crust Pizza Margherita
• Julia Child’s Eggplant Pizza
• Gazpacho Recipe (with Red and Yellow Tomatoes)
• Ratatouille Stew with Italian Sausage
• Instant Pot Ratatouille 

Fresh Basil Recipes with Vegetables:

• Asparagus with Basil Pesto from 
• Summer Squash with Feta and Basil 
• Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake 
• Stuffed Zucchini Recipe with Ground Beef
• Grilled Zucchini Lasagna

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