Fried sage leaves (from the garden)

As a gardener, I've had to figure out what to do with giant sage plants that have grown out of control. Frying is one of my favorite options and I can speak from (a lot of) experience on how to do it right.

Fried sage only takes 30-60 seconds to fry in a pan of shallow oil. The strong sage flavor mellows dramatically, like a raw onion does once fried. The leaves will be dark green, crispy, and benefit from a sprinkle of salt.

After the recipe, I walk through the types of sage best for frying (for you gardeners out there), how to tell when they are done, and finally a list of recipes to make use of your fried sage.

Jump to:

• Recipe
• Fried sage leaves
• Fresh sage
• Frying in olive oil
• How to tell when they are done
• Flavor & texture
• How to use fried sage
• More recipes & resources

Recipe

Fresh sage

You can usually buy fresh sage at the grocery store, in the refrigerated area near all of the produce.

For those of you growing sage in your garden, let's talk about what kinds of sage to use. Salvia officinalis is the most common type of culinary sage (also called common sage), most often a silvery green-blue color with fuzzy leaves.

Any of those thick leaves work great for frying. While delicate, they are sturdy enough to handle the hot oil and turn into crispy fried sage leaves.

Other edible sages, like the popular pineapple sage, have thinner, non-fuzzy leaves. Those are much harder to fry to a perfect, crispy consistency because they are too thin. Here's a list of some edible sages, and you can see how some have those typical, thick leaves while others are really thin.

Frying in olive oil

Most recipes for frying instruct you to use a high-heat oil, claiming olive oil doesn't qualify. I might even have a legacy recipe or two on this site along those lines (that I'll update if I find one). This came about because high heat can break down some oils, creating compounds that aren't healthy.

Olive oil

However, numerous studies have shown that our beloved extra virgin olive oil is perfectly safe for this use. The Culinary Institute of America addresses this head on: "Then comes the question that has generated much heat on the Web: can you (deep) fry with olive oil? First, let’s state that yes, you can absolutely fry with olive oil with great results."

Furthermore, the North American Olive Oil Association explains that, "[Olive oil's] high smoke point (210°C/410°F) is substantially higher than the ideal temperature for frying food (180°C/356°F)."

If you want to be a real geek about it, you can use an infrared thermometer to see how hot the oil is in your pan, making sure its around 350°F.

Anyway, this is all good news because I prefer the flavor of olive oil to most other vegetable or seeds oils. It also means you can save the olive oil to use for roasting vegetables or to use in a salad-dressing. It's now sage-flavored and delicious.

Butter

I was researching some ideas for fried sage leaves and came across a Reddit thread where a bunch of people said they fry sage in butter. Curious, I gave it a try.

First of all, the flavor of the fried sage leaves was very buttery, and not in a good way (as impossible as that may sound). But the real problem was the butter very quickly burned, which was not unexpected.

Butter is known to be a terrible option for pan frying most things because the milk solids burn. If using butter, you'll want to buy clarified butter or ghee, which can stand up to the high heat.

How to tell when they are done

The speed the sage fries at is highly dependent on the temperature of the olive oil. When the oil is really hot, they fry up in 15-30 seconds but can go from perfectly cooked to burnt in just 5 extra seconds. The sage quickly turns brown and it's really hard to keep them that beautiful green color.

My first batches, the oil was too hot and I had a hard time getting them perfectly crispy. If I took them out 5 seconds too early, they were limp. If I took them out 5 seconds too late, they were burnt. It was too small of a window for me to confidently tell you how to successfully fry sage leaves.

So I finally went into the basement to grab my infrared thermometer to make sure the oil was the right temperature. It turns out, I had it way too high. You want to aim for about 350F. Mine would climb up to 385F at times and that still seemed ok.

With the right oil temperature, the sage leaves fried up in about 60 seconds, but I found I could leave them for about another 30 seconds without them turning brown. Each leaf was a vibrant green color with no brown spots.

Flavor & texture

Fresh sage has a very strong flavor, especially if it's fresh from your garden. You often have to use it sparingly in recipes or it takes over.

But fried sage is more subtly flavored. Oh it definitely tastes like sage, but at a level that's delightful to eat straight up. Think of how an onion's flavor is strong and pungent when raw, but mellow once deep fried.

As for texture, fried sage is crispy, but not as crispy as a potato chip. The leaves are thin enough that they crumble when chewed. When crumbled to add as a garnish, it flakes into pieces similar to a fancy flaked sea salt, or the crumbs at the bottom of a bag of thin Lay's potato chips.

How to use fried sage

If you have a garden and are overloaded with sage, you might be wondering how you can use fried sage so you can make use of your plants! Fried sage is good on everything, it seems. But that doesn't really help you, so below are some specific ideas, followed by actual recipes that use fried sage.

• Add to a charcuterie board
• Topping meat (like roast beef, turkey, chicken)
• A focaccia topping
• Garnish soups, stews, and chilis
• Sprinkle on top of roasted vegetables or mashed potatoes
• Top ravioli or alfredo pastas or gnocchi
• On top of bruschetta
• As a garnish on a salad or to replace basil leaves on a caprese salad
• On everything for Thanksgiving!

More recipes & resources

There are a couple of other ways to make fried sage, in case you're interested!

• Battered and fried sage leaves by Jul's Kitchen
• Manchego stuffed fried sage leaves by The View from Great Island