5 Basil Recipes You'll Want to Make Right Now
Burpee Edible Gardening Team Members
Basil lovers, this is for you! Whether you love cooking or are looking for the perfect gift, you can’t go wrong with basil.
Check out these recipes and tell us which is your favorite in the comments!
1. Basil Salt
Ingredients/Materials:
1 cup of salt
1 handful of fresh Dolce Fresca basil
Blender
Parchment paper (or cookie sheet)
Steps:
1. Place a handful of basil and 1 cup of coarse salt into a blender
2. Pulse basil and salt until well blended
3. Pour onto parchment paper or cookie sheet and spread out
4. Let dry for at least 24-48 hours
2. Strawberry Basil Cupcakes
Ingredients/Materials:
1 handful Pesto Party Basil (finely chopped)
1 cup sugar
1 ¾ cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
¼ cup vegetable or extra virgin olive oil
? cup plain Greek yogurt
½ tsp. vanilla
? cup fresh strawberries (finely diced)
¼ cup milk
¼ cup butter
For frosting:
1 tub store-bought cream cheese frosting (so easy!)
1 handful Pesto Party Basil (finely chopped)
Cake Steps:
1. In a medium bowl, combine the first two ingredients. With a spoon, press the basil into the sugar while stirring
2. Add next four dry ingredients into the basil/sugar bowl
3. In a separate small bowl, combine next four wet ingredients
4. Add room-temperature butter to the dry ingredients and mix well
5. Add wet ingredient bowl to dry ingredients and mix well
6. Add strawberries and mix just until blended
7. Add cold milk and mix just until blended
8. Scoop batter into lined cupcake pan (about ¾ full)
9. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.
10. Let cool
Frosting Steps:
1. Combine basil with cream cheese frosting
2. Insider tip: If you don’t have piping or icing bags/tips, make your own with a resealable plastic sandwich bag. Just cut a hole in a corner and squeeze!
3. Once cupcakes are cool, frost and decorate them in any style you want!
4. Store any uneaten cupcakes (yeah right…) in the refrigerator
3. Basil Butter
Ingredients/Materials:
½ cup fresh chopped basil
2 sticks butter (room temp.)
Sprinkle of salt
Steps:
1. Beat butter with mixer
2. Add in basil and mix until well blended
3. Spoon onto parchment paper and roll into a log
4. Twist ends of parchment paper and refrigerate for 3 hours
5. Serve with bread or use in cooking!
4. Blueberry Basil Water
Ingredients/Materials:
Handful of fresh basil
Handful of blueberries
Water
Pitcher
Steps:
1. Crush a few of the blueberries and toss them into the pitcher of chilled water
2. Sprinkle the basil into the water pitcher as well
3. Ready to enjoy on hot summer days!
5. Basil Lime Sugar Scrub
Ingredients:
5 large Burpee Basil leaves
The zest and juice of ½ a lime
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon coconut oil
Steps:
1. Chop up the basil leaves before adding them to a mixing bowl. Not only will this release more of the fragrance from the leaves, but it will make sure there are no large-leaf pieces in the scrub.
2. After chopping up the leaves into small pieces, add in the rest of the ingredients and mix away!
From salt and butter to cupcakes or water, you can now incorporate basil into everything -- every basil lover’s dream!
Don’t know which type of basil to grow? Explore different varieties of basil here!