One of the most common leftover ingredients seems to be the neglected parsley or cilantro bunch. The good news is that herbs are easy to use once you know a few options to keep in your tool belt.
While you can make chimichurri, herb oil, herb salt, or herb vinaigrettes, we’ve found the best way to go through herbs is simply to add them to recipes you’re already making.
Salads: herbs are an easy way to add flavor to salads of all kinds — leafy greens, vegetable salads, beet or fruit salads, slaws, and especially chicken/tuna/egg salads.
- Most restaurant salads have way more herbs in their salads than people think to do at home.
- If you love herbs, toss them in by the handful. If you want them to be more in the background, mince them and they’ll blend in more evenly into each bite.
Marinades: Toss any leftover herbs into your , and they’ll infuse their aromas into the mix. If you want their green color too, blend up the marinade first.
Rice: Cilantro-lime rice is an easy way to use up the stalks & leaves while also upgrading plain grains. But it doesn’t have to stop there. Try parsley-lemon rice, or mint jasmine rice. Any herb can be minced and tossed to perfume the cooked grains.
Sauces: Mince, blend, or add herbs to creamy yogurt sauces, pan sauces, or dips. They easily disappear and add a vibrant freshness to almost any sauce.
Bonus tip — Herbs can be or into the base of any dish, just like you would onions or garlic (which happens often with cilantro in Indian cuisine).
- Because they’ll get cooked down anyway and disappear into the dish, this works especially well with wilted herbs.
