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Home » Recipes » Food

Published: Jun 17, 2021, By: Melissa, Updated: Oct 16, 2023

Basil Simple Syrup

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Basil Simple syrup is a wonderful sweet addition to drinks, cocktails, and desserts. This floral basil syrup is delicious and so easy to make.

A glass of simple syrup with basil leaves next to it.
Basil syrup.

Why You Will Love This Simple Syrup

Making a basil simple syrup is very easy. It involves adding equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan and heating it until the sugar dissolves.

This makes a beautiful homemade sweetener that you can enjoy anytime. We make so many batches of this basil syrup in the Summer to use in so many recipes.

The only additional step when making basil syrup versus regular simple syrup is adding the basil to the pot and letting it steep until it cools. Minimal effort for a really big flavor.

Let me show you how easy it is to make!

The ingredients you will need

basil simple syrup ingredients

There are only three ingredients to make this simple syrup. Here is what you need:

  • Water. Any type of water is fine as long as you drink it plain 🙂
  • Sugar. Granulated sugar is what you need. I prefer to use less processed sugar or unbleached granulated sugar. This will give a slight yellow hue to the syrup but it will not show through in your drinks.
  • Fresh basil leaves. It is important that you use fresh basil for this recipe. Any variety of fresh basil will work well. Thai basil, Italian basil, purple basil, etc.

How to make basil syrup

A pot of liquid sitting on top of a stove.
Add your sugar and water to a pot.
A pot of liquid sitting on a stove top.
Bring it to a boil until it is clear.
Fresh basil leaves on a white counter.
Add fresh basil.
A pot with basil leaves on top of a stove.
Let basil steep.
  • Warm sugar and water until the sugar dissolves.
  • Remove from the heat, add your fresh basil leaves then place a lid over top.
  • When cooled, remove basil leaves then pour your syrup into a container, and use right away or refrigerate.

Recipe Tips

  • When making this, you are going to essentially steep your basil in the warm just off of the stove syrup. The longer you let the basil steep, the more basil flavor you are going to have so do not rush it.
  • This recipe requires a little planning ahead but as I mentioned, it will last a long time. This is a great excuse to double the recipe and have lots of extra simple syrup on hand for later use.

Storing

Simple syrups will last for a long time in your refrigerator. The little work that you go through in making it will not go to waste and you will thank yourself later on when you need it.

You can store it in the fridge covered for up to a month.

How To Use Basil Syrup

Here are some of our favorite recipes using this basil syrup:

  • Italian Mocktail. We love adding a splash to this easy Italian Mocktail to really elevate the flavors.
  • Aperol Soda. This recipe calls for regular simple syrup but you better believe we use basil simple syrup when we have it.
  • We love making a basil lemonade with it!

More simple syrup recipes

In addition to this basil simple syrup, I love making cherry simple syrup, strawberry simple syrup, pear simple syrup, honey simple syrup, and lavender simple syrup. and even a blackberry simple syrup.

basil syrup
Print Recipe
5 from 7 votes

Basil Simple Syrup

Basil Simple syrup is a wonderful sweet addition to drinks, cocktails, and desserts. This floral basil syrup is delicious and so easy to make.
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time10 minutes mins
Total Time20 minutes mins
Servings: 3 cups
Author: Melissa Oleary

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups of water
  • 1 ½ cups of sugar
  • large bunch of fresh basil leaves 15-20

Instructions

  • Add water and sugar to a medium pot over medium heat
    1 ½ cups of water, 1 ½ cups of sugar
  • Warm the mixture until the sugar dissolves.
  • Once the sugar dissolves, remove from the heat and add your fresh basil leaves and place a lid over top.
    large bunch of fresh basil leaves
  • Allow to cool with the basil leaves steeping in the simple syrup.
  • When cooled, remove basil leaves and pour your syrup into a container and use right away or refrigerate.

Nutrition

Calories: 387kcal | Carbohydrates: 100g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 2mg | Sugar: 100g | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition Values are estimates only.

See full nutrition disclaimer here

Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

Course :Drinks

Reader Interactions

Comments

    5 from 7 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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  1. Matt says

    March 14, 2023 at 11:49 am

    5 stars
    This is so delicious! I’ve used it in cocktails and iced tea and the whole family loves it. It is very easy to make and makes use of leftover basil I buy at the store.

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      March 14, 2023 at 11:54 am

      Love hearing that Matt! Thanks for sharing 🙂

      Reply
  2. Kevin says

    January 31, 2023 at 10:41 pm

    5 stars
    This basil syrup was easy to make and really tasty

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      February 01, 2023 at 12:55 am

      Hi Kevin. Thanks so much for sharing!

      Reply
  3. Melissa says

    January 27, 2023 at 3:08 pm

    So glad you enjoyed!

    Reply
  4. Danny says

    December 27, 2022 at 1:19 pm

    5 stars
    We made this for a party and it was delicious in cocktails!

    Reply
    • Melissa says

      December 27, 2022 at 1:20 pm

      So glad you enjoyed it Danny 🙂

      Reply
  5. Melissa says

    November 11, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    I love it in lemonade too! Glad you enjoyed it!

    Reply

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I am so excited you are here. My name is Melissa and I started this recipe website to share easy recipes that I have been cooking for years. I have written hundreds of easy recipes that are tested and perfected. Some of the recipes I learned during my years of working in restaurants, some from owning my own food company, and others from friends and traveling.

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