Have extra garden basil? Make a quick basil vinaigrette for a salad dressing or sauce for chicken, fish, potatoes, or pasta.
Have extra basil in your garden right now?
This is a quick and easy basil vinaigrette dressing you can make with it that you can use not only as a salad dressing, but also as a sauce for fish, chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, or white beans.
Basil vinaigrette is super easy to make. Use either a blender or food processor and purée some fresh basil leaves, a shallot, some Dijon mustard, a little salt and sugar, white wine vinegar, and olive oil.
Ideas for using basil vinaigrette
- Use this basil vinaigrette with some chopped fresh tomatoes and drained canned garbanzo beans. Presto jammo, instant basil-y bean salad!
- Use as a dressing for a salad with quinoa, arugula, corn, feta, chickpeas, and toasted sunflower seeds.
- Marinate chicken breast cutlets in the basil vinaigrette, grill them, then add thin slices of tomato, mozzarella, and a basil leaf, and put back on the grill for a grilled caprese chicken.
Basil Vinaigrette Recipe
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Makes a little more than one cup
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped basil leaves
- 1 shallot, chopped,
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Method
1 Place the basil, shallot, mustard, sugar, and salt in a blender or food processor. Pulse several times to combine. Scrape the sides of the blender down with a spatula.
2 Add the vinegar and pulse again.
3 Slowly add the olive oil: Turn the blender on low and take off the cap in the center of the blender’s lid. Slowly pour in the olive oil while the blender is going.
The mixture may sputter a little out of the open cap, so hold your hand over it to minimize splashing.
4 Purée for 1-2 min: When the olive oil is incorporated, turn off the blender and scrape the sides down one more time. Cover and purée everything for 1-2 minutes.
Store covered in the fridge for up to a week.
