10 recipes that use basil

*This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my small business…at no extra cost to yourself!

SHARE THIS POST OR PIN IT FOR LATER!

Normally, I buy basil plants for our summer crop to eat with the tomatoes we grow. I sometimes have to replace them halfway through the season because they've failed to do well or we've eaten more than they can produce. I've always heard that BASIL SEEDS are easy to start, though, so this year I thought I'd try it out. Well, whoever told me that is right! I have had a bumper crop of basil, to the point that I was giving away plants to friends and neighbors because we have more than enough.

I started the seeds in this antique double wash stand on the side of our house. I've used this for years for tender crops I don't want the bunnies to nibble off. The last couple of years, I've done basil here, but in the past, it's been perfect for lettuce! As the basil plants got bigger this year, I thinned them out so they had room to grow bigger. I moved some to our raised beds (they are good companion plants with tomatoes) and gave some away. I still have more than enough, so I needed to come up with some ideas for how to use all the basil we have.

I love how wild the garden is looking right now. You can see some of the basil I transplanted in the raised bed next to the tomato stake. I also have had so much luck with my zinnias this year too. Did you know you can cut basil and add it to a bouquet? Looks neat, smells great, and you can harvest leaves from it to use in the kitchen! I broadcast sowed the ZINNIA SEEDS this year and it worked so well. They're lush and strong and I love them so much!

Basil is pretty anywhere you plant it. I added a couple of plants in terra cotta pots to this shelf and love the look of it. Bonus, if you let a few plants go to seed, they will attract pollinators. You don't want all your plants to go to seed right away, though, because they will stop producing when they do. Once the flowers dry, you can harvest the tiny black seeds for next year, if you're so inclined.

One of the main ways we eat basil during the summer is with tomatoes, mozzarella, and really good balsamic vinegar. I switched things up a little a couple weeks ago and used burrata cheese instead of traditional fresh mozzarella, peaches instead of tomatoes, and added prosciutto. Yum!! 

I thought it would be fun to round up a few other ways to use basil, including the pesto I made the other night. I'm definitely going to make more because it was delicious!!

The only one of these recipes that I've made is the pesto itself, but I cannot wait to try some of the others! I like the idea of eating some of the basil fresh and then preserving some to enjoy when the weather gets cold and I'm longing for summer days. Do you have a favorite recipe or way to use basil? I'd love to know!