Fresh Basil: Vegan Cooking Guide
Fresh basil is the quintessential summer herb - sweet, slightly anise-like and beautifully fragrant. It's at its best raw in caprese, pesto and pasta dishes, scattered over pizza or torn into salads. Thai basil is a different species with a more anise-like, spicier flavour that's essential in South-East Asian stir-fries and curries.
How to Use Fresh Basil
Tear rather than chop - cutting causes bruising and blackening at the edges. Add raw at the very end or off the heat; high temperatures destroy the delicate volatile oils rapidly. For pesto, pulse briefly - do not over-process.
Nutrition
Rich in vitamin K, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory eugenol.
Chef's Tips
- Store basil at room temperature, stems in water - cold temperatures turn it black within hours.
- Blanch then blend basil in olive oil and freeze in ice cube trays for fresh basil flavour all year.
- Grow a pot on a sunny windowsill - it's one of the most rewarding and cost-effective herbs to grow.
→ Find the best substitutes for fresh basil
Vegan Recipes Using Fresh Basil
Learn to cook with fresh basil on video
Our Cook Like A Pro course covers vegan cooking techniques including how to get the most from plant-based proteins, flavour bases and dairy alternatives. Watch step-by-step with chefs Rupert Worden and Lisa Hinze.
Explore the course Browse all UK ingredients