Basil

Sweet, peppery and impossibly fragile. Basil dictates the whole dish — heat it too long and it turns to hay, so every recipe below treats it as the last thing in the pan, not the first.

5 recipes Home + pro scale Year-round

Peak flavor

Year-round from our Mexico and Texas fields

Hold at

50–55°F. Below 45°F it blackens within hours

Pairs with

Tomato, mozzarella, garlic, stone fruit, chili

Formats

0.25–4 oz clamshell · 1 lb and 5 lb bulk

Five recipes where basil is not optional

Take the herb out of any of these and there is no dish left.

Caprese Salad Three ingredients, nowhere to hide. The basil is a third of the dish, not a decoration. 10 minServes 4Easy

Tomato & Basil Soup Roasted tomato soup finished with a raw basil purée stirred in off the heat. 50 minServes 4Easy

Pasta with Fresh Tomato & Basil A twenty-minute sauce that lives or dies on the handful of basil added off the flame. 25 minServes 4Easy

Thai Basil Chicken Pad krapow logic: high heat, five minutes, and a whole bunch of basil folded in at the end. 20 minServes 4Easy

Eggplant & Basil Pasta Pasta alla Norma, unfussed. Fried eggplant, tomato and basil in three places. 45 minServes 4Medium