Herb oil easy to make yourself

Make your own herb oil - this is how easy you can prepare aromatic oil. In no time you have made your spice oil and can enjoy the taste for a long time.

Herbs are very versatile. Especially in the summer you have tons of them. Even on the small balcony can be a lot aromatic spice plants draw.

Yet they taste delicious, especially in winter. When everything is cold, dark and a little dreary. Rosemary, thyme, basil and co. bring flavor to our soups and salads.

However, homemade herb oil can also be used to season dishes with meat, pasta or potatoes deliciously. Cooking oils can absorb the essential oils of herbs very well.

The aroma of the leaves is retained almost entirely when making herb oil itself. Yummy!

With the spice oil you can not only refine dishes, but you also use it to make a wonderful DIY gift for a dear friend her.

What ingredients do I need to make herb oil itself?

To make most herbal oils, you don't need any ingredients other than the oil, a bottle and the herbs.

This makes it all the more important to use the right oil and herbs for pickling. Let's take a quick look.

The suitable cooking oil

You can choose from a wide range. There is a wide range of oils to choose from. But not every one is equally suitable. It is important that the oil used has an almost neutral taste. Otherwise it will mask the aroma of your herbs. And that would be a real shame.

For the preparation of herbal oil are suitable

• Sunflower oil
• Safflower oil
• Grape seed oil*
• Corn oil
• Soybean oil
• Rapeseed oil
• and all oils that have little inherent flavor

Of course, you can also use classic olive oil. All these oils form the perfect base for the aromas of the herbs. They can be so intense that you don't even need fresh herbs or other spices on your salad.

The best herbs for pickling

In principle, you can use pretty much all herbs. Provided that they have enough flavor. Very often, flavor-intensive herbs are used. They have a high content of essential oils.

You don't have to commit to a specific herb when making your own herbal oil. You can also mix and create the wildest creations. If you like, you can inform about herbs for weight loss and preserve them in the oil.

These herbs do well in oil:

• Wild garlic
• Borage
• Laurel
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Basil
• Parsley
• Dill
• Oregano
• Lovage
• Savory
• Chives
• Sage (please do not use much, otherwise it will be too bitter)
• Dandelion (can become bitter)

Whatever you choose, it is important that the herbs are of high quality. It tastes best fresh from the garden or the market. Plants from the supermarket are often contaminated with harmful substances, I only use them for pickling if I really can't find alternatives anywhere.

Spice oils become especially intense when you grow the herbs yourself. The fresher they are harvested, the more intense the essential oils. Make sure that the herbs are dry before you pickle them.

So easy you can make your own chili oil!

Other ingredients for your herb oil

Very tasty, in addition to herbs, are other flavorings. Garlic, paprika, lemon, chili, onion, cumin, coriander seeds and colorful peppercorns are typical examples.

Insider tip: dried tomatoes!

It's not always about the taste, but also about the look. When I give oils as gifts, they always have to be a few extras.

If you are interested in herbs, I can give you the book The Power of Herbs* recommend. It contains 350 recipes and ideas for herbs and wild herbs.

For example, how you can make herbal salt, herbal oil or creams from herbs. But also how you can turn weeds into recipes and experiences of over 30 herb women. I love this book!

Now let's get to the recipe 🙂 .

What you must know if you want to make herb oil yourself

I asked myself a lot of questions before a first oil. I think you will feel the same way. Therefore, I would like to quickly answer the most important ones. So nothing can go wrong.

Quality determines the taste

Sure, right? Someone who uses herbs with little inherent flavor and a very cheap oil will not achieve the same results as someone who uses high-quality ingredients.

The oil should always be cold pressed and from the first pressing. Before you put herbs in it, you should smell it and taste it on white bread.

Good oil feels soft and velvety and has a subtle flavor of its own.

I have been getting my olive oil directly from a farmer for some time - the difference is enormous.

For herb oil, however, I prefer to use sunflower or canola oil. It is much more neutral in color - which makes the herbs and chilies look much better.

That lemons should necessarily be from organic cultivation, I do not have to say. After all, I use the peel in many recipes. If you imagine that it is contaminated with pesticides, you lose your appetite. In the oil dissolve from both herbs and peels all the ingredients - so also the pesticides.

Do I need to chop the herbs or pickle them whole?

It's entirely up to you. Whether you crush them or use them whole is more a matter of appearance. In small pieces they can release more aromas. You will need to strain the herb oil again before you can use it.

Whole leaves and twigs look more visually appealing and can be left in the herb oil. It is important that the leaves are always covered with oil. Otherwise they could mold. Your herb oil will then no longer be edible. At the latest when the herbs look out of the oil, you should remove them to be on the safe side.

Homemade herb oil is prepared in no time. You don't even need many ingredients.

Which bottles should I use?

It is best to use bottles with large openings to make your own herb oil. So you can easily place the herbs in it and later take out. The oil bottles should not be too large, because the contents do not last forever. I therefore like to make more small bottles instead of one large one.

If you need a lot of oil, then you can use a milk bottle. This looks especially nice because you can see the contents so nicely. I have decided for the photo for a swing top bottle, because it makes visually really what. When removing the herbs I regretted the choice but then. 😅

Glass bottles can be very well decorated if you want to give the oils as a gift. For this you can attach a fresh branch and a self-designed label to the bottle. With special pens you can paint directly on the glass.

Make your own herb oil with dried herbs or fresh?

You can use fresh or dried herbs. Some are even said to increase in flavor by drying. Typical examples are sage, oregano, thyme or rosemary.

Other herbs should be processed immediately fresh. Otherwise they lose flavor. These include borage, peppermint, lovage or basil.

By the way: Dried herbs must be really dust-dry. For very thin and small leaves, this is already the case after 2 hours in the dehydrator. Rosemary, thyme twigs, lemons or orange peels need longer.

But beware of mold!

Help - my herbal oil is moldy! What have I done wrong?

Fresh herbs (like chili, peppers and other ingredients) have a high water content. This can cause the oil to begin to mold in a few weeks.

Take note of this to avoid mold:

• Fresh herbs, peppers and co must always be covered with oil.
• Take the fresh herbs out of the oil after 2 weeks so they don't start to mold.
• For the look, you can now replace the fresh herbs with dried ones. With the dried herbs you have the great advantage that they do not have to be continuously covered with oil.
• You can now also add peppercorns, dried chili and the like.

If you use dried herbs from the beginning, you can leave them in the oil. You do not have to replace them.

If you use dried herbs, make sure they are really dry.

Thin herb leaves such as basil or parsley are dry in the dehydrator after 2 hours. Lemons and orange peels need - depending on their thickness - about 7 to 8 hours. The smaller you cut the herbs, peels and co, the faster you can pickle them.

Better than bought: DIY lemon oil with rosemary

What is the shelf life of spice oil and how should I store it?

Once you have made the oil, you need patience. It takes at least 4 weeksuntil the herbs release their full flavor to the oil. If you can not and do not want to wait so long, you can taste for the first time after 14 days. Let the oil infuse darkly at room temperature.

If you use high quality ingredients, your herbal oil will easily last up to half a year if the bottle remains sealed. It is enough if you store the oil at room temperature.

Once you have opened the bottle, you should pour the oil in Six weeks consume and store in the refrigerator. To avoid mold, you can refill oil.

Always pay attention to how the oil smells before consuming it. If you notice a strange smell, you should leave it alone. It is important that you store the oil in a dark and dry place. The best place to keep it is in a storage cabinet.

The spice oil is cloudy

If the oil is stored in a very cool place, such as the refrigerator, it may flocculate. You do not have to throw away cloudy oil. It is not bad. In fact, the opposite is true. Many high-quality oils contain suspended or cloudy substances. They settle out after time. You can enjoy your herbal oil without any problems.

If you later store the oil at room temperature, the turbidity often dissolves again.

Pour off the herbs, chili, garlic and co and fill the filtered oil into a new bottle.

The best herbal oil blends

There are countless recipes. Here I would like to tell you my absolute favorites.

For all the recipes presented, these instructions apply - only the ingredients change:

Here's how:

1. Put the freshly washed bottle in the oven at 90° for at least 10 minutes. This disinfects it and makes the oil last longer. Boil the screw cap briefly in a pot.
2. Add the herbs and other ingredients to the dry and cold bottle.
3. Pour with oil until the branches are completely covered.
4. Close the bottle airtight and put it in the cellar. The oil will become cloudy in the refrigerator - if you don't mind, you can store it here as well.

3-4 weeks later you can enjoy your aromatic oil from the series "Make your own herb oil". By the way: From herbs you can also make very tasty Make herbal salt.

Lemon and thyme

If you want to go all lemony, replace half of the classic thyme with lemon thyme.

Pairings: salad and pasta

• 1/2 liter olive oil
• Grated half a lemon
• 10 sprigs thyme

Garlic and chili

Optimal for those who like it spicy.

Goes with: Pasta!

• 1/2 liter olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 5 chili peppers
• 3 dried tomatoes
• 1 sprig rosemary

Make rosemary oil yourself

Perfect with: fish and pasta.

• 1/2 liter sunflower oil
• 2-3 rosemary sprigs
• A bottle to fill

Herbs and chili

• 1/2 liter canola oil
• 8 sprigs thyme
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 5 chilies
• Peel of one lemon

Our conclusion

Making your own herb oil seems more complicated than it is. In the end, you only need two ingredients and your dishes will be even better. By the way, the spice oil tastes especially delicious on salads.

Have fun making it and enjoy!

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