Chicken Free Garlic Basil Herb Oil
There is something almost meditative about making your own infused oil from scratch, and the result here is genuinely stunning. Garlic, thyme, and rosemary slowly perfume a good extra-virgin olive oil over the gentlest heat, coaxing out deep, savory flavor without a single drop of anything animal-derived. The trick is patience — keeping the burner low so the garlic turns pale golden and sweet rather than bitter, then letting fresh basil steep in the residual warmth until the oil takes on a beautiful green tint. Straining everything through a fine-mesh sieve leaves you with a silky, jewel-bright oil that tastes far more complex than its short ingredient list suggests. Drizzle it over roasted vegetables, swipe it across crusty bread, or use it as a finishing touch on pasta or soup. It keeps in the fridge for up to five days, so you can make a batch at the start of the week and reach for it whenever a dish needs a lift.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, lightly smashed and peeled
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- 1
Combine the olive oil, smashed garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and rosemary sprigs in a small saucepan. Set over the lowest heat your burner allows and warm until the oil reaches a gentle, lazy sizzle around the garlic — small bubbles forming slowly at the edges of the cloves, about 8–10 minutes. The garlic should turn pale golden and fragrant but not brown; if it begins to color quickly, lift the pan off the heat for 30 seconds.
- 2
Remove the pan from the heat and add the fresh basil leaves, pressing them gently into the warm oil with a spoon. Let the basil steep in the residual heat for 5 minutes, until the leaves are wilted and the oil is bright green-tinged and fragrant.
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