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Herbs & spices

Holy Basil

Ocimum tenuiflorumAlso called Ocimum tenuiflorum, Ocimum tenuiflorums and Tulsi

Holy basil is an herb used for its leaves. Cooks use the leaves to season dishes and in stir-fries, and pair them with fish.

  • Plant-based
  • Gluten-free
  • No listed allergens

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Part used
Leaf
Family
Lamiaceae
Cooked most in
Asia
Top country
Indonesia
Holy Basil, plant

Photo: Mokkie · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use Holy Basil

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Season
  • Stir fry

Goes well with

Around the world

Where Holy Basil is cooked

10 dishes in the catalogue use Holy Basil. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list Holy Basil among their ingredients.

Origins

Native to
Asia, Australia

On the table

Dishes made with Holy Basil

9 of the 10 catalogued dishes that use it, spread across the countries they come from.

  • Laksa

    Iran

  • Karedok

    Indonesia

  • Phat kaphrao

    Thailand

  • Pallumara Ikan Sunu

    Indonesia

  • Nasi tempong

    Indonesia

  • Tinutuan porridge

    Indonesia

  • Pindang Serani

    Indonesia

  • Gohu ikan

    Indonesia

  • Nasi ulam

    Indonesia

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include Holy Basil.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: Holy Basil in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
None of the 15 listed allergens foundChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, crustaceans, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
No animal ingredients foundChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, shellfish, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Cooked together

Ingredients that go into the same catalogued dishes.
Photo credits for this page (12)

Around the world

What Holy Basil is called

Names in 78 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    Ocimum tenuiflorum · Ocimum caryophyllinum · Planta tulasí · Geniosporum tenuiflorum

  • French

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Italian

    Ocimum tenuiflorum · Basilico sacro · Tulasi · Tulsi

  • Portuguese

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • German

    indisches Basilikum · Ocimum sanctum · Ocimum tenuiflorum · Tulsi

  • Dutch

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Greek

    Ώκιμον το λεπτανθές · Βασιλικός της Ταϊλάνδης

  • Russian

    Туласи · Базилик тонкоцветный · Туласидеви · Тонкоцветный базилик

  • Polish

    Bazylia azjatycka

  • Arabic

    حبق رقيق الأزهار · حبق مقدس · الحبق المقدس

  • Persian

    ریحان مقدس

  • Hindi

    तुलसी

Show all 78 languages

  • Afrikaans

    Heilige basilie

  • Albanian

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Amharic

    በሶብላ

  • Aragonese

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Assamese

    তুলসী

  • Asturian

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Azerbaijani

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Balinese

    Tulasih

  • Bangla

    তুলসী

  • Basque

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Bhojpuri

    तुलसी · तुलसी जी · तुलसी माई

  • Bikol

    Kamangkaw

  • Brazilian Portuguese

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Bulgarian

    Свещен босилек · Ocimum tenuiflorum · тулси

  • Catalan

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Cebuano

    balanoy

  • Chinese

    圣罗勒 · 打抛叶

  • Croatian

    Tulsi

  • Czech

    bazalka indická

  • Egyptian Arabic

    حبق رقيق الازهار

  • Esperanto

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Estonian

    püha basiilik

  • Extremaduran

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Filipino

    balanoy

  • Finnish

    pyhäbasilika

  • Galician

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Goan Konkani

    तुळस

  • Gorontalo

    Ulu ulu

  • Gujarati

    તુલસી

  • Ido

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Indonesian

    Kemangi · Ocimum citriodorum · Manglak · Ocimum ×citriodorum

  • Interlingua

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Interlingue

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Irish

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Japanese

    カミメボウキ · カミボウキ · ガッパオ · ホーリーバジル

  • Javanese

    Kemangi

  • Kannada

    ತುಳಸಿ

  • Korean

    홀리바질

  • Latin

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Maithili

    तुलसी

  • Malay

    Kemangi

  • Malayalam

    തുളസി · കൃഷ്ണതുളസി · Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Manipuri

    ꯇꯨꯜꯁꯤ

  • Marathi

    तुळस · तुळशी

  • Minangkabau

    Ruku-ruku

  • Nepali

    तुलसी

  • Occitan

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Odia

    ତୁଳସୀ ଗଛ

  • Pampanga

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Punjabi

    ਤੁਲਸੀ

  • Romanian

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Sanskrit

    तुलसी

  • Santali

    ᱛᱩᱨᱥᱤ ᱫᱟᱨᱮ · ᱛᱩᱞᱥᱤ

  • Sindhi

    تلسي

  • Sundanese

    Surawung

  • Swedish

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Tamil

    துளசி · துளவம் · துழாஅய்

  • Telugu

    తులసి · తులసీపత్రం · తులసి మొక్క · తులసి ఆకు

  • Thai

    กะเพรา

  • Traditional Chinese

    聖羅勒 · 打拋葉 · 打拋 · 神羅勒

  • Tulu

    ತುಳಸಿ

  • Udmurt

    Туласи

  • Ukrainian

    Туласі · Туласа

  • Urdu

    تلسى

  • Vietnamese

    Hương nhu tía · É đỏ · É tía · Ocimum sanctum

  • Volapük

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Waray

    Ocimum tenuiflorum

  • Western Panjabi

    تلسی

Sources and credits

Data

  • GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
  • Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
  • Wikimedia Commons: photos
  • Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q960124

Photos

Photo: Mokkie · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons