How To Dry Basil In The Oven – Step By Step

Basil is one of the most aromatic and bright-tasting herbs you can season your food with, and it’s not half-bad when it’s dry either.

Basil easy to grow and commonly found in the kitchen or garden area of serious home cooks. If you have this plant on your windowsill, you may be interested in learning how best to dry it for long-term storage – such as by oven drying the leaves to store neatly away.

How do you dry basil in the oven? To dry basil in the oven, you just need to wash and trim fresh basil and lay the leaves on a baking sheet. Place them in the oven at the lowest setting for 1.5 to 4 hours.

Drying basil is really quite simple. Of course, there are a few best practices you’ll want to follow for optimal results. But it’s very easy if you follow our step by step guide.

In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about drying basil in the oven, as well as a few alternatives in case you need them. We’ll even cover proper harvesting and washing techniques so you have all your basil bases covered.

Drying Basil in the Oven

Drying basil or any other herbs in your oven is safe, easy, and quite effective, but there are a few best practices you should know to get the most out of your herb. 

Here are some things to keep in mind when preparing your basil leaves for oven drying:

• Wash and dry your basil thoroughly before trying to dry the leaves. If your basil has any moisture on the leaves at all they will cook in your oven instead of drying, which is a very different result.
• Prep your leaves by removing all the stems.
• Flatten the leaves as much as possible to get even heat distribution and no pooling or dripping of steam as they dry. To get your leaves very flat, you can cover them with a paper towel and place a heavy pan or baking tray with cookbooks on top of them for 5 minutes.
• If you let your basil leaves air dry for 2–3 days before drying in the oven, it will drastically reduce the necessary oven time.

Tools and Materials:

• Baking sheet(s) – enough space to spread your basil out so that none of the leaves are touching
• Ridged silicone baking mat, like this one from DiOro (optional but recommended)
  • The ridges will allow air to flow underneath your basil leaves as well as above them, creating a more even drying process.
  • If you need an alternative: a metal baking rack is fine.
• Parchment paper

How to Dry Basil in the Oven

Once you have all of your materials and your basil is prepped, you can get on to drying them! Here are some easy steps to follow for oven-drying your basil:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 -180F, preferably the lowest setting on your oven. If the lowest setting is any higher than 180F you can leave your oven door slightly ajar to keep the temperature from getting too hot and burning your basil.
2. If you’re using a ridged silicone baking mat or metal baking rack, place it on your baking sheet.
3. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Spread out your basil leaves so that they are in a single layer and not touching each other.
5. Bake your leaves for 1.5 – 4 hours.

Note: Baking time will vary depending on oven temperature, how dry your leaves are before they’re placed in the oven, how full your baking tray is, and the size of your basil leaves.

After 1 hour, check your basil every 15 minutes to make sure it isn’t burning.

When your basil is ready, move on to the next steps:

1. Remove from the oven when they crumble at your touch.
2. Allow them to cool completely before crumbling the entire batch as they will get even more crispy as they cool.
3. Dry herbs will stay fresh longer if they’re crumbled, but if you prefer ground basil you can use a mortar and pestle to get a finer grain.
4. Transfer to an airtight glass container, like these spice jars with flip tops, and store it in a cool, dry location away from direct sunlight or heat exposure for 6 months – 1 year.

Alternative Methods for Drying Basil

Drying basil in the oven is the most popular method for most home cooks to dry their herbs. It doesn’t take absurdly long and doesn’t require any special equipment.

There are alternatives, however. If your oven is unreliable for any reason (or if it’s too hot to bake right now) consider one of your following options:

Can You Dry Basil in the Microwave?

We have seen the wildly popular videos that suggest you can dry basil and other herbs in the microwave perfectly in 60 seconds. Some things that seem too good to be true are.

You can dry basil in a microwave, but the leaves will lose their color, flavor, delicate aroma, and nutrition. In short, it would be a complete waste of your herbs. The microwave will break down the essential oils in your basil and render it mostly useless.

You’re better off using another method.

How to Dry Basil in a Dehydrator

If you have a dehydrator, this is a fantastic option for drying basil efficiently. 

Make sure to wash and trim your basil as normal, and pat it dry as much as possible before dehydrating. Arrange your basil leaves on the dehydrator trays so that they’re in a single layer and not overlapping each other in any way. Place tray(s) in the dehydrator.

Your dehydrator may have a specific herb setting, or you can use the lowest temperature available, usually around 95 F.

The length of time it takes to entirely dry will depend on the humidity in your home. If you’re in a very dry location, it may take as little as 6 hours but it may also take up to 24 hours to dry thoroughly.

When the leaves are very crisp, to the point of crumbling at your touch, they are dry and you can crumble into your spice jars for storage. If they wrinkle or need to be torn, they need more time in the dehydrator.

How to Air Dry Basil

Air drying basil takes a while, but it produces delicious results. This method is excellent if you can’t use your oven and don’t have a dehydrator.

Some herbs have stems large or sturdy enough that you can hang them upside down to dry. However, basil is quite delicate, so drying them flat is best.

To air-dry your basil you will need a drying rack. We love this collapsible and adjustable hanging tiered system from Happy Hydro. It’s made from polyester mesh and allows optimal airflow beneath your herbs as well as plenty of space between tiers for airflow.

To air-dry your basil, trim, wash and dry as normal. Lay each leaf out in a single layer in one of the mesh racks so that nothing overlaps and each leaf has plenty of surrounding space. 

Make sure to hang the rack in a humidity-controlled location. You don’t want too much moisture in the air when you’re trying to dry herbs. Some movement through the air is good, but you don’t want so much that it will disturb your herbs.

It will take a minimum of 1 week to thoroughly dry basil in an air drying rack. Although it may take longer depending on your air and temperature conditions. 

How to Dry Basil [Table]

Appliance	Temperature	Time	Results
Oven	170 – 180F	1.5 – 4 hours	Very good, but easy to overheat in an oven so needs careful attention
Microwave	High	60+ seconds	Useless – flavorless, colorless, aromaless
Dehydrator	Herb setting or lowest setting possible	6 – 24 hours	Best results
Air Drying Rack	Hot and dry as possible	1+ week	Very good if done right, potential to mold if humidity is inappropriate for drying

Related Topics

While this article focuses on how to dry basil, you may want to know how to harvest and clean your basil properly, especially if you are new to growing your own.

We’ve got some more tips for you if this is the case.

How to Harvest Basil

If you want your basil plant to survive your harvest and keep producing, you need to be careful to never harvest more than one-third of the plant at any given time.

Ideally, your plant should be at least 6” tall before you start to pick leaves. But if you’re going to use quite a few, wait until it’s closer to 8” tall, and nice and bushy.

If you only need enough basil to flavor a single meal, pick individual leaves, starting from the top of the plant. To batch cook or dry your basil, you can cut whole stems, but again, start from the top.

If you cut the top third of your basil all at once, try to let it recover for at least a few weeks before harvesting again.

How to Clean Basil

Washing basil is a delicate task. Too much water and you could wilt or drown your leaves. But you do want to be thorough to avoid any dirt or critter contamination.

Before washing, pull each leaf off the stem of the plant. Remove any that have spots or holes, or any that are obviously dead or have gone bad.

To wash, fill a bowl with clean, cool water and add your leaves. Stir them with your fingers and rub the leaves clean if necessary. Avoid running them directly under the water as the pressure can crush them too much. 

Let them soak in the water for up to 3 minutes and then remove them and lay them flat on a kitchen towel to dry.

Make sure to always pull the basil leaves out of the water, don’t drain them through a colander or strainer. Any dirt from the plant will sink to the bottom. So you don’t want to dump it back onto your leaves.

You can pat your leaves dry with a towel or paper towel if you’re in a hurry. Or you can leave them out to air dry.

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