This post contains helpful tips and tricks! If you’re in a rush, please use the “Jump to Recipe” above!
💭 What’s a chiffonade? Why use it?
Chiffonade (pronounced shee-foh-naad) is a technique by which flat, leafy herbs and vegetables are cut so you can get curled strips that look great as garnish. Not only do they look great, slicing herbs and greens this way helps tenderize them (since it breaks down tough fibers) - as a result, it helps to cook them quicker and more evenly. It works especially great for basil and other herbs due to two key reasons:
📖 How do you chiffonade basil?
To chiffonade basil (or other leafy herbs and vegetables!) I use a simple formula: stack, roll, slice.
Stack up the leaves, with the largest ones at the bottom and the smallest one on the top and roughly align the stems and tips. Roll the stacked leaves, into a tight cylinder, typically along their longest edge (so if you placed them horizontally in front of you like I did, you’ll roll them bottom to up) Doing it this way yields longer strips, while rolling side-to-side yields shorter, skinnier strips.Slice the rolled leaves, from right to left (or left to right!) into thin curls using a sharp knife! Using a dull knife will bruise the basil, so watch out.
The curls will slowly unfurl after a while, leaving you with the most delicious basil chiffonade!
🍴 Serving and storage suggestions
Chiffonaded basil turns brown quite quickly, so I don’t recommend storing them. It only takes 5 minutes to get them ready, so just make them right as you need them, in order to preserve maximum flavor.
If you like this recipe, check out my other fun basil recipes:
If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 Recipe
