When you have a large crop of sage from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it. You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.
Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple! Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve sage:
- Mix it with rosemary and use this mixture when sautéing, slow-cooking, and baking a variety of vegetables. Root veggies such as beets, parsnips, and carrots are an especially good fit for this combination, as are many Brassicas like cauliflower and kohlrabi.
- Add it to sautés and stirfry dishes.
- Bake it with parmesan and winter squash such as butternut squash.
- Bake it with chicken, lemon balm, and garlic.
- Fill ravioli or tortellini with sage and apple or pumpkin purée. Alternatively, add sage to an apple or pumpkin purée and use this as a sauce for premade ravioli or tortellini.
- Add it to other pasta dishes, alone or with bacon.
- Add it to rice or quinoa.
- Add it to rice bowls and other grain bowls like those made with buckwheat or amaranth.
- Add it to egg dishes like omelets and scrambles.
- Add it to soups and broths.
- Toss it with apples, pumpkin, and pepitas.
- Toss it with quinoa and winter squash.
- Make a pesto with sage, parmesan, and pine nuts.
- Make a Simple Salad with sage, radishes, apples, and lettuce.
- Use it as Decor in an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Add it to other salads.
- Make a flavored butter.
- Make a tea. Sage tea is best suited for an infusion.
- Add it to a tea blend. Here are a couple ideas for tea blends with sage:
- Add it to infused water.
- Make a syrup. Sage syrup can be prepared on its own or blended with thyme, rosemary, and peppermint. Learn how to make an herbal syrup here.
- Make infused vinegar. Sage can be infused in vinegar alone or with rosemary, thyme, white pine, garlic, or shallots, among others. Infused vinegars make great salad dressings.
- Make infused oil. Sage-infused oil can be used as a salad dressing as well, or it can be further processed into salves, balms, and more.
- Make an herbal salt.
- Make a tincture. The suggested herb:solvent ratio for a sage tincture is 1:5 in 40% alcohol.
- Dry it to preserve it. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.
- Freeze it whole, chopped, or in herbal ice cubes. Learn about different freezing methods and how to make herbal ice cubes in our Freezing Overview article here.
Further Reading
Growing sage? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Sage is also featured in these articles: