I have a real problem with leftovers. If they’re contained and refrigerated for more than a night… I am generally more than pleased to forget they’ve ever existed. Actually… I should say that I do have patience for sexy leftovers. Sexy leftovers I’m inclined to, not only not forget about, but to wake up in the middle of the night to snack on.
Sexy leftover include pizza, lasagna, and basically anything else Garfield that Cat might consume in excess.
Beyond the weird amounts of brown rice and salsa I have lazing around in my fridge, I sometimes have a shameful amount of fresh herbs wilting away, asking for forgiveness and such. I feel so guilty wasting these herbs that I’ve taken a stand, put my foot down, and busted out my olive oil.
We’re quick preserving fresh herbs and garlic in olive oil. This will create a wonderfully flavorful oil, and extend the life of the herb we’re about to throw away.
I should note, this is not the kind of oil you make, put in a fancy jar, and let sit on the counter for months on end. Oh no oh no oh no. This is not that! This oil needs to be kept in the refrigerator to keep any weird bacteria from acting up.
What will you flavor your oil with? Have any thyme or rosemary on hand? Some garlic? Smash it! Some black pepper? Crack it!
For this infused oil, I used my very favorite everyday olive from California Olive Ranch. It’s fragrant and flavorful. It’s a fruity olive oil, which is to say that it’s rich, buttery and grassy. I use this olive oil for both sauteing and drizzling. It feels like an everyday treat. Ps… No one is paying me to say this.
Allow oil to meld in the fridge for a day or so. The oil will last up to four or five days. In the meantime… use it on absolutely everything! Pasta, eggs, toast, as a pre-dinner bread dip. Whatever you fancy!
If you’ve got butter on hand instead of olive oil, you might try this Super Herb Butter.
The Kitchn has some super great suggestions: leftover herbs in Simple Syrup and leftover herbs in Olive Oil Ice Cubes.
Waste not, want not…. and whatnot.
Thyme and Garlic Olive Oil
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed and skins removed
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, rubbed from their stems and coarsely chopped
about 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients together and store in a small, airtight container. Be sure to store this oil in the refrigerator when you’re not using it. Use it on everything from fried eggs, to pizza, pasta, and toast. I find it best to label and date the jar. Oil will last up to 5 days in the fridge. After five days in the fridge the oil needs to be tossed. No pushing it with this recipe.
53 Responses
can you freeze thyme if your not going to use it within a few days
Yes, that should work.
This is such a great idea. I always feel guilty about the leftovers sitting in my veggie drawer.
That last shot of the egg is gorgeous! And I love the fork with the designs- so cute.
My mother just gave me a book on flavored oils, so this is perfect :)
One of my favorite ways to use herbed oil is to make popcorn. Rosemary oil popcorn, with pepper on top? YUM.
It’s also really easy to dry your own herbs. You can stick them in the oven at a low temperature, or just leave them out. Make sure the herbs are separated to ensure through drying, example: all your sprigs of thyme are separate, so no moisture traps between them.
Some heartier herbs, like sage, also freeze well. I had a ginormous crop of sage two years ago and I still have a bit frozen in my freezer!
Really it was an great idea of not wasting the herbs leftover! It is also useful for health and is spicy taste on the dishes.
Love California olive ranch.
Would totally have tried to leave the oil for more than 5 days…but since you insisted…I’ll settle for 7.
love it! Garlic is phenom in this too
I haven’t looked at The Kitchn site, but we love to make herb syrups to mix in cocktails. It started with mint syrup for juleps of course, but has turned into tarragon syrup with grapefruit soda, rosemary syrup for vodka martinis, and basil syrup for rum mojitos. You can also reduce leftovers by growing your own and only snipping just what you need for a recipe. Even if you buy springs, they wil last for weeks and sometimes even months if you put the springs in a glass or vase of water.
P.S. cilantro and parsely make great pestos!
Great idea! I’m guilty of throwing these things away also. I’ll keep this one in mind;)
Love it!
I am having the same problem with leftovers. This is really gut tip ” The oil will last up to four or five days. In the meantime… use it on absolutely everything! Pasta, eggs, toast, as a pre-dinner bread dip. Whatever you fancy!”. Especially after working I usually have some leftovers.
Joy- great post. I never understand why stores can’t sell herbs in bulk so you’re not stuck with so much!
There’s cilantro in my fridge probably about to get all slimy like seaweed in your bathing suit after a dip in the ocean. In other words, I needed this idea!
Finally an answer to my wasted herb issue! Why I never thought about this I’m not sure, but now I feel free to buy fresh herbs once again. Yay! Totally in-love with it! Let the happy dance commence!!
I hate leftovers! But I wouldn’t mind some of this flavored oil in my pantry!
I made some marinated olives the other day and it essentially had this same result — it just had olive oil, thinly sliced garlic, some rosemary and parsley. We still have some in the fridge and a like to use a tablespoon basically any time I saute anything — all of the flavors that you would normally add are already there and taste much more melded and balanced than they would ordinarily.
love this! I have some beautiful thyme in my fridge that I can’t seem to use up… I see thymey oil in my future!
I love making dill butter from left over fresh dill and freezing it. It’s wonderful on salmon when it’s cold out and fresh herbs are 100 dollars a pound…
I’ve never tried the oil route, but I will now. Thanks for the suggestion!
Ooohhh fancy oil. I like it. :)
Happy Monday!
Perfect idea to waste not – what’s not to love about olive oil with herbs?!
I loved that you wanted to watch the Olympics with Garfield the Cat. I live with a big orange tabby cat named Garfield, but I wasn’t able to watch the Olympics with him because he is recovering from a broken leg (poor little guy). I would have liked to think that there would have been lasagna involved, though!
I so needed this idea! I always throw out leftover herbs and it makes me sick to waste!
Why do you have to throw it away in 5 days? Do the herbs deteriorate?
how did you know that i have sad, shriveled basil in my kitchen waiting for someone to love it? :)
A ncie oil and herb combination!
I love trying different infused oils and have never made one myself. This is a great idea – it seems like I can never use up herbs fast enough before they go bad. Thanks for the smart thinking!
Yeah to not wasting! Herb oil is the bomb, I love it!
Delish. Can’t really ever go wrong with herb-infused anything. Whether throwing it in olive oil, or making herb butter, it makes most everything taste better. Thanks, Joy, great post!
Hello, my husband and kids all love your website, but we wondering is there any way to make this recipe spicy?
There are two things I LOVE about this recipe:
First, it only makes about 4 Tablespoons so it will be easy to use in 5 days (with roasted veggies, to gild poultry,…)
Second, it sounds absolutely delicious! Thanks, Joy.
What a great idea. I feel like I always have extra herbs lying around. I will have to try this out.
adahliavolk.com
Great idea! I’ve done this with leftover basil that was going bad as well. SO GOOD!
what a great idea. i always have extra herbs, and a lot of other leftovers that end up getting tossed. i’ve been trying to use them in pestos, chimichurris, and other various ways (not always successful – like the basil rice pudding I tried). now I can try making infused oil… but then I have to make sure to use that too.
Excellent idea, I don’t know why I don’t do this more often with the herbs I always end up throwing away. Thanks for the tips and reminder to not let them go to waste!
Herb-infused garlic oil could probably enable me to convince my husband of just about anything. He would love love this stuff!
I often make an herb butter….so delicious (but unfortunately there is the possibility of a spoon making its way to my mouth, oops)!
Looks absolutely delicious, but I’m going to second what Seanna Lea said about acdifying the garlic. Here’s more info on homemade garlic-infused oil and botulism:
https://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/food-aliment/garlic-ail-eng.php
because this is just a quick oil that is refrigerated and used within a week, it’s safe from botulism.
LOVE this idea, Joy! I hate it when I don’t use my all my herbs before they start to turn.
I seem to think that I’d forget this oil was in the fridge though. ;-)
Certainly not as lovely, but to simply save fresh herbs, (I grow many types) I press them flat into a ziplock freezer bag and “file” them flat in my freezer. When I need them in a recipe I have to chop a chunk off quickly before the remainder thaws, but the part I use continues to have fresh herb flavor. I prefer this to drying herbs.
My sad looking basil plant thanks you!
I just started a batch of ghost chili oil yesterday.
In a cookbook I copied from gazillion years ago (I cannot be the only one who hand copied recipes into their own cookbook as a child), I had a recipe for herbed oils and vinegars. The recipe said that you should acidify the garlic. Is that something you considered with your recipe?
I have the hardest time seeing the font color on this website. I wish it was darker.
I hate eating leftovers, with two exceptions: Thanksgiving and pizza. but using up leftover herbs I could totally do! thanks for the idea :)
Wow, I love how super-green that olive oil is. It does look like quality stuff!
This can also be a great idea to make as a gift for friends!
Love it
Brilliant idea, no more guilt when I have to chuck out those wilting herbs at the back of my fridge!
This sounds so good! Too bad I just killed my thyme by forgetting that I should water occasionally, even here in Seattle. Along the same lines, I really liked this super-easy basil oil I made recently to ward off the dreaded bag-of-mushy-black-basil problem. (Oh, that only happens to me? How embarrassing.)
This sounds amazing, especially on toast. Have you tried fresh pesto on toast? Best. Snack. EVER.