How to Make an Infused Oil at Home

It is easy to make your own infused oil at home for culinary or medicinal purposes!

I have been infusing many oils lately. The garden has been giving me so many wonderful herbs that I just can’t help it. Infusing herbs into oils is an excellent way to preserve them and get some tasty oil out of it as well.

Not only can they be used for culinary reasons but I also use many infused oils for the products in my home apothecary.

There are a few different methods to infuse oils but I am going to stick with the two that I use the most. Those are hot processing or using the cold process method.

I’ve referenced both in a few of my past blog posts but it seemed that it should be time to dedicate a whole blog post to infusing oils, the different methods and if one is really better than the other.

What is an Infused Oil?

An infused oil is when you place petals, herbs and plant matter into a neutral carrier oil and allow the oil to fully absorb that plants flavour, properties or colour. Infused oils can be made and used for culinary purposed or for medicinal ones.

How to Cold Process an Oil

Cold Processing is the easier of these two infusing methods. It requires the least amount of hands on work. The downside to the cold processing method is that it does take up to a few weeks to use your finished product. But if you plan ahead, this method is really the easiest!

Begin by preparing your jars by ensuring that they are well cleaned.

Pack the jars with the herbs or plant matter that you plan to use and fill the jar to the top with a neutral carrier oil.

Allow the jar to sit on your countertop or in a cabiner for up to 4 weeks.

When the 4 weeks is up, you will be ready to use your infused oil!

How to Hot Process an Oil

Hot processing oils takes a bit more active time and effort but you will end up with a finished oil much quicker.

Start of by selling up a double broiler. You can do this by filling a pot with a few inches of water and then placing a snug glass bowl on top of the pot.

Begin to heat the pot on a low to medium heat.

Add your carrier oil and plant matter into the glass bowl and stir.

Adjust the heat if needed. The oil should be warm but never reach a high enough temperature to fry the plants.

It will take about 4 hours to fully infuse the oil. Stir the oil and plants occasionally throughout the infusing process.

After 4 hours, store your oil in a clean container and allow to cool before using.

What Carrier Oil is Best?

Carrier oils are oils that have a neutral flavour and are plant based. Some examples are sunflower oil, olive oil, almond oil and coconut oil.

The best carrier oil for your project depends on what you are using it for.

For culinary oils, I like to stick with olive oil because it is something that is relatively inexpensive and palatable to most people. I also enjoy using grapeseed oil from time to time!

When it comes to skin care oils and other products, I like to use sunflower oil or coconut oil because those work best for my skin type.