At the end of the summer season last year, I had a TON of extra basil that I knew would die with the first frost when winter came. I wasn’t sure what to do with the extra batches of basil stocked in my fridge. In time, they were eventually going to turn color, so I ended up drying some (post on this forthcoming), and I gave a bunch to my sister who made 4x the normal size batch of her pesto recipe. With the last cuttings, I’d figure I can find a way in how to freeze basil, and use it for future smoothies, sauces, and pasta dishes.
When I come across making or doing new things I’ve never done before, I make it up as I go, and it seems to come out very well. And it’s always easier than I think. When prepping my basil for storage, it took no more than 4 Easy Steps!
How to Freeze Basil:
Step 1 – Pick the leaves off the branches and wash them thoroughly. I had my lettuce spinner,
which has come in real handy this last year for spinning water off.
Step 2 – Set basil into blender or food processor (I use my Braun Multiquick 3 for blending almost everything. They don’t make it any more and I’m glad it’s not quit on me yet). I recently purchased an inexpensive Black & Decker processor to replace mine just in case! Add just a drizzle of olive oil to moisten the leaves-just enough into a paste-like substance. Water or other oils of your choice can also be a substitute for the olive oil. Do a quick blend until smooth and move onto step 3.
Step 3 – Spoon the paste into ice cube trays until filled to the top, don’t go overboard. You’ll want to be able to easily get the cubes out of the tray later. Freeze.
Step 4 – Once the cubes are frozen, quickly run water on the back sides of the trays so that the cubes easily came out of the trays and into a Ziploc bag.
Now you can use 1 cube at a time whenever you need some fresh basil! I now have fresh basil year round. Or if you buy fresh basil from the grocery story, now you don’t have to worry about it going bad and throwing it away – just freeze it before it starts to turn colors.
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