It should be away from direct sunlight warm and the humidity in the room should be low. Simply spread your fresh basil leaves evenly on a baking tray and bake at the lowest temperature possible for about 20 minutes.
Heres how to dry basil in the oven.
How to dry basil leaves. Hang the bundles of basil leaves to dry from a hook or wall tack. Choose a place with good sunlight and air circulation for effective drying. After around 2 weeks the leaves should be dark green dry and brittle.
If the leaves are not completely dry and are still moist or flexible hang them to dry for another week. When completely dry they should break easily when you handle them. How to dry basil leaves in the oven.
Using the oven to dry basil leaves is simple but takes a little more time than a microwave. If you have a lot of leaves you want to dry out then this method is great because you can do more at a time. Remove the stems and rinse your basil leaves under cold water to make sure they dont have bugs are dirt from the garden.
Pat them all dry. How to Dry Basil the Easy Way. One of the easiest methods to get the basil leaves dry is to simply leave them out in the open air to dry on.
To dry your basil leaves in the sun you follow the same steps of parsing washing and drying the leaves we. Wash and pat dry your basil. Spread the leaves evenly and in a single layer in a herb drying rack in a place with good air circulation out of the sun.
Allow the leaves to dry for a few weeks. Place the whole leaves in an airtight glass container in a dark and dry place. It should take 2 or 3 minutes for the basil leaves to completely dry depending on the power of the microwave and the size of the leaves themselves.
Once theyre ready let them cool off before crushing them with your fingers and storing them. As you can see you just need a few minutes to dry your basil leaves. However there are some things you should keep in mind.
Rinse them to remove any dirt and other impurities from the leaves and then using a paper towel gently pat the leaves to remove any excess moisture. Place the leaves on a kitchen towel or paper towel placed on top of a microwave safe container and then turn on the microwave on the highest setting for bouts of 20 30 seconds. To process whole dry basil leaves into a flaky ground seasoning simply crush up the leaves into your desired consistency.
You can add the whole leaves to a dry mixing bowl and crumble them up with clean hands. Some folks put them in a ziplock bag and then smash the heck out of it. A food processor or good old-fashioned mortar and pestle will also do the trick.
No matter what tool you use ensure it is 100 dry as to not accidentally re-introduce moisture to your dry basil. Wash and thoroughly dry all basil leaves. Lay an individual layer of basil leaves on a dry paper towel on your microwaves plate.
Cover the leaves with another paper towel. Let the microwave run for. Wash your basil thoroughly and remove the leaves.
Pat dry them with a towel and leave them overnight to dry. Sandwich your basil in a single layer using two pieces of paper towel. Put this in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Since each microwave has a different setting use the one that works best for your microwave. The easiest most low-cost method for drying basil is to air dry it. Create a bundle of basil tie it together and hang somewhere to air dry.
The somewhere is important though. It should be away from direct sunlight warm and the humidity in the room should be low. Its actually fairly easy to dry basil leaves in the oven.
You start by leaving your fresh basil leaves to dry at room temperature for a few days. After this time preheat your oven to 170ºF or the lowest temperature possible then lay your basil leaves out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Heres how to dry basil in the oven.
Simply spread your fresh basil leaves evenly on a baking tray and bake at the lowest temperature possible for about 20 minutes. Leave the baking tray in the closed oven overnight to ensure that the basil leaves are completely dry. Once finished place your dried herbs into a suitable container for storage.
To dry basil in the microwave. Wash basil and remove leaves from stems. Blanch washed basil leaves for 15 seconds and plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process.
Dry the leaves thoroughly and then flash freeze and transfer to freezer bags as described in option 1. The Spruce Cara Cormack. Wash basil and remove leaves from stems.
Allow the basil to dry completely we like to let the leaves air dry on paper towels. Lay the basil leaves out in a single layer on a paper towel.