Making bay leaf oil at home is straightforward: you steep dried bay leaves in a carrier oil using either gentle heat or a slow cold infusion. The result is an aromatic infused oil useful for cooking, massage, or skin care. The method you choose depends on how quickly you need it and what you plan to use it for.
What you’re making is an infused oil, not a pure essential oil. True essential oil requires steam distillation equipment and large quantities of leaves. A home infusion extracts many of the same beneficial compounds into a carrier oil, just at lower concentrations. Bay leaves contain roughly 41% eucalyptol (a cooling, aromatic compound), along with smaller amounts of linalool, sabinene, and terpineol, all of which contribute to the oil’s characteristic scent and its soothing properties.
Choosing Your Carrier Oil
The carrier oil you use matters more than you might expect. It affects how long your finished oil lasts, how it feels on skin, and how well it absorbs the bay leaf compounds.
- Olive oil is the most common choice because it’s cheap and widely available. Unrefined (extra virgin) olive oil has its own strong color and scent, which can compete with the bay leaf. Refined olive oil is more neutral but has fewer of its own beneficial compounds. Either works well for culinary bay leaf oil.
- Sweet almond oil has better heat stability than many alternatives and a light, slightly nutty scent. It absorbs well into skin, making it a good pick if you’re making the oil for massage or topical use.
- Jojoba oil is technically a liquid wax, which gives it the longest shelf life of the three. It feels light and non-greasy on skin. The tradeoff is a higher price point. If you want your infusion to last as long as possible, jojoba is the best option.
For cooking, stick with olive oil. For skin and body care, almond or jojoba will give you a better result.
Preparing the Bay Leaves
Start with dried bay leaves rather than fresh ones. Fresh leaves contain moisture, and moisture in oil creates a serious food safety risk. The bacterium that causes botulism thrives in oxygen-free, low-acid, moist environments, which is exactly what a jar of herb-infused oil provides. Dried leaves dramatically reduce this risk.
That said, even dried herbs can retain small pockets of moisture, so proper handling still matters. Choose leaves that are fully dry, with no soft or flexible spots. Crumble or tear them slightly to increase the surface area exposed to the oil, which helps extraction. You’ll need about 1 cup of loosely packed dried bay leaves for every 2 cups of oil.
Cold Infusion Method
This is the simplest approach and preserves the most delicate aromatic compounds. Place your torn bay leaves in a clean, dry glass jar and pour the carrier oil over them until the leaves are fully submerged. Seal the jar tightly.
Store it in a cool, dark place (a cupboard works fine) and let it sit for 4 to 6 weeks. Shake or swirl the jar every few days to redistribute the leaves. The oil will gradually take on a green-gold tint and a warm, herbaceous aroma. After the infusion period, strain the oil through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer into a clean bottle, pressing the leaves gently to extract the last of the oil. Discard the spent leaves.
The cold method requires patience, but it produces a clean-tasting, aromatic oil that works beautifully in both cooking and skin care.
Heat Infusion Method
If you don’t want to wait a month, gentle heat speeds up the extraction considerably. You have a few options here.
Stovetop Double Boiler
Combine the bay leaves and oil in a heat-safe glass jar or the top of a double boiler. Heat the water in the lower pot to a gentle simmer, keeping the oil temperature between 130°F and 160°F (55°C to 71°C). Maintain this temperature for 2 to 3 hours, checking periodically. Lower temperatures around 130°F produce milder, more aromatic results. Higher temperatures around 160°F yield stronger, slightly more “cooked” flavors. Do not let the oil reach a full simmer or smoke point, as this destroys the beneficial compounds and can create off flavors.
Slow Cooker
Place the leaves and oil in a mason jar, loosely cover it with a lid (to let steam escape), and set it in a slow cooker filled partway with water. Run the slow cooker on its lowest setting for 3 to 5 hours. Most slow cookers on “warm” or “low” will keep the oil in the ideal 130°F to 185°F range. This is the most hands-off heated method.
Oven
Combine leaves and oil in an oven-safe dish, cover with foil, and place in an oven set to its lowest temperature (usually around 170°F to 200°F). Leave it for 2 to 3 hours. Check occasionally to make sure the oil isn’t bubbling aggressively.
Whichever heat method you use, strain the oil through cheesecloth once it has cooled to room temperature. The finished oil should smell distinctly of bay leaf with a warm, slightly spicy quality.
Storing Your Bay Leaf Oil
Homemade infused oils are vulnerable to oxidation, which makes them go rancid over time. Three things accelerate this: light, heat, and air exposure. Store your finished oil in a dark glass bottle (amber or cobalt blue) with a tight-fitting lid. Keep it in a cool, dark cupboard or in the refrigerator.
Cold-infused bay leaf oil in olive oil will typically last 1 to 2 months at room temperature, or up to 6 months refrigerated. Jojoba-based infusions last longer due to jojoba’s natural resistance to oxidation. Natural vitamin E present in cold-pressed carrier oils provides some protection against rancidity, but it won’t prevent it indefinitely.
If your oil develops an off smell, looks cloudy, or tastes unpleasant, discard it. For any infused oil you plan to use in cooking and store at room temperature, keeping it refrigerated between uses is the safest approach to prevent bacterial growth.
What Bay Leaf Oil Is Good For
Bay leaf oil has a long history of topical use. The essential oil of bay leaves has demonstrated both pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects in animal studies. The compounds responsible appear to work by reducing the body’s production of nitric oxide, a molecule involved in inflammatory responses. Traditionally, bay leaf preparations have been applied as poultices for joint pain and nerve pain.
For a simple massage oil, warm a small amount between your palms and apply it to sore muscles or stiff joints. The eucalyptol in bay leaves gives the oil a mild cooling sensation similar to what you’d feel from eucalyptus products. In cooking, bay leaf oil adds depth to salad dressings, marinades, and pasta dishes. A few drops go a long way, since the flavor is more concentrated than a whole leaf simmered in a pot.
Bay leaf oil also works as a hair treatment. Massage it into your scalp, leave it on for 30 minutes, then wash it out. The warming, stimulating sensation comes from the same aromatic compounds that give the oil its distinctive scent.
Safety Considerations
The biggest risk with any homemade herb-infused oil is botulism. Clostridium botulinum spores can be present on herbs and garlic naturally, and oil creates the oxygen-free environment they need to produce toxin. Using thoroughly dried leaves, keeping finished oils refrigerated, and using them within a reasonable timeframe all reduce this risk significantly. Never store homemade infused oils at room temperature for extended periods unless you’ve acidified the ingredients to a pH of 4.2 or below, a process that requires careful measurement.
Before applying bay leaf oil to large areas of skin, do a patch test on your inner forearm. Wait 24 hours to check for irritation. Some people are sensitive to the compounds in bay leaves, particularly eugenol, which can cause contact reactions in certain individuals. The oil is not recommended for use on broken skin or open wounds.