Herb Oil Recipe (Simple & Delicious)

This simple herb oil recipe makes a delicious condiment to have on hand. The oil has a vibrant color and fresh flavor. It is the perfect garnish for many recipes: I use it regularly to enhance my salads, soups, risotto, and even pasta. 

Making this herb oil is super easy. Plus, this recipe has a lot of room for customization. All you have to do is blend the herbs of your choice in a vegetable oil and then strain. It is perfect for adding a delicious kick of fresh flavor to your dishes and adding beautiful color accents to your plate.

Today, I am making this herb oil using only parsley because I want a mild and pure taste of parsley to serve with soups and salads. This simple version of the recipe is all I need! If you want to try other herbs, basil, coriander, mint, oregano, or sage would be other flavorful classics for this recipe. You can try combinations of these herbs, but I usually like to keep the oil pure with just one herb at a time. You may need to adjust the proportions a bit depending on the intensity of the herbs.

With the milder parsley, two tightly packed cups of leaves will give you a dark green and delicate flavor when using one cup of oil. I’d recommend using a little less if you’re using mint, sage, or coriander for this recipe. Let’s jump right into this simple herb oil recipe.

Ingredients to make this Herb Oil: 

• Olive Oil
• Fresh herbs (parsley, basil, coriander, mint, oregano, wild garlic, or sage) 

I recommend using fresh herbs for this recipe. While you can infuse oil with herbal flavor using dried herbs, fresh herbs work much better for this recipe. Also, your oil won’t take on the fantastic green color that fresh herbs do. 

While you can use most vegetable oils as a base for making this herb infused oil, my favorite is olive oil. I like how the natural spice and flavor of a good quality extra virgin olive oil blends with the notes of the herbs. Especially when using this herb oil to garnish soups and salads, the flavor of extra virgin olive oil is just what I want. 

Herb Oil Recipe: 

Wash your herbs thoroughly. Now it’s important that the herbs are dry for the next step, as we don’t want to introduce unnecessary moisture into the oil. Pat the herbs dry with a clean kitchen towel.

While other recipes call for blanching the herbs and using cooled oil, I found this step to be negligent. It is good to be mindful of oil temperature when mixing, but I had no problem keeping the temperature of the oil low, and my oil turned out with an amazing color without blanching the herbs first.  

Next, remove the leaves from the herb of your choice and add them to your blender along with the oil. An immersion blender also works great for this recipe as well. 

Blend for about 30 seconds until the herbs and oil are well incorporated. If you’re using a high-powered blender, make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot. 

The next step in this recipe requires a little patience. We need to separate the green residue from the oil. To do this, slowly filter the oil through a fine cheesecloth or coffee filter. This process can take up to an hour. Pour the clean herbal oil into a clean jar or bottle. 

How to store the Oil: 

My recommendation if you are going to use this oil for garnishing is to store it in the refrigerator in a small squeeze bottle. It will keep for a week or two. This depends on how much moisture is in the oil from the herbs. I’d always recommend checking the color and flavor of the oil to see if it has gone rancid before using it in your dishes. 

I hope you enjoyed this simple herb oil recipe. It is such a nice little addition to the refrigerator. It can elevate your dishes with that little kick of fresh flavor and color.

For example, this herb oil makes a great addition to spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino as well. But don’t let that limit your creativity. The possibilities for using this oil are endless! 

Here, I used the parsley herbal oil to garnish a Chioggia beet dish with parsnip chips, vegan beet cream cheese and pickled radish, which was delicious!

A few more Recipe Ideas: 

• Peanut Sauce
• Miso Glaze 
• Cashew Cream Cheese
• Wild Garlic Pesto 
• Mixed Herb Pesto

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