When you have a large crop of purslane 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 purslane:
- Sauté it with garlic, marjoram, and lemon juice or lemon balm.
- Stirfry it with duck.
- Stirfry it with lamb.
- Bake it with salmon and lemon juice, lemon balm, or lemon verbena.
- Bake it with chicken, avocado, and cilantro.
- Bake it with chicken, tomatillos, and onions.
- Bake it with pork and tomatillos.
- Slow-cook it with duck and onions.
- Slow-cook it with onions and lamb.
- Add it to egg dishes like quiches and omelets.
- Add it to other soups and broths.
- Top a flatbread with purslane and apples.
- Top a flatbread or pizza with purslane, tomatoes, and goat cheese.
- Toss it with amaranth and chickpeas.
- Toss it with corn and tomatoes.
- Make a pesto, substituting purslane in place of basil.
- Add it to tzatziki. See our cucumber page for more about tzatziki.
- Add it to other dips such as chimichurri, guacamole, and hummus. Purslane leaves can be added whole or puréed to these dips.
- Top toast or crackers with a mixture of purslane, mint, and pomegranate arils.
- Make a Simple Salad. A few ideas for Simple Salad combinations with purslane are as follows:
- Cucumber and dill
- Cucumber and avocado
- Cucumber and tomato
- Tomato and mozzarella
- Tomatillos and sunflower seeds
- Bell peppers and basil
- Bell peppers and poblanos
- Almonds and parmesan
- Pomegranate and peppermint or another mint
- Peaches and walnuts
- Peaches and plums
- Garlic and marjoram
- Use it as a Base or Partial Base of an Interesting Salad. (Wondering why I capitalized those letters? Read more about Interesting Salads here!)
- Use it as a salad green in other salads and similar dishes.
- Use it as a substitute for spinach in a variety of dishes. Purslane can even stand in for spinach in classic spinach dishes like spanikopita and spinach-artichoke dip (that is, purslane-artichoke dip). Get some inspiration for spinach dishes that could be made with purslane here.
- Add it to smoothies for a zingy, nutritious boost.
- Make infused vinegar. A purslane-infused vinegar makes a great salad dressing on its own. You can also co-infuse your purslane with other herbs such as dill, lemon verbena, lemon balm, garlic, and/or leeks.
- Make infused oil. Purslane-infused oil is another good salad dressing. It can be blended with other infused oils and processed further into balms, salves, lotions, and more as well.
- Dry it to preserve it for later use. See our How to Dry Your Herbs articles here for more information.
- Freeze it to save it for later. Since purslane has a high water content, it may have a different texture when thawed. But thawed purslane can still be added to soups, smoothies, and more without issue.
- Pickle it. Purslane can be pickled on its own or added to other pickles such as those made with cucumbers, carrots, radishes, or beets. It can be pickled using either traditional or quick-pickling techniques.
Further Reading
Growing purslane? Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.
Purslane is also featured in these articles: