Is basil high in histamine?
Basil has not been tested for histamine; we estimate fresh basil mostly low, but pesto made with aged cheese is a different matter, because the cheese carries the histamine.
- Histamine
- Not measured
- Other amines
- Not measured
- Liberator
- Not on the lists we use
- DAO blocker
- No evidence
What each source says
| Source | Verdict | What it says, in our words |
|---|---|---|
| Leafy vegetables measured in Spain 1 | No histamine in lettuce, traces in chard, an average of 31.77 mg/kg in spinach. Basil was not tested. | |
| 10 published low-histamine diets 2 | Basil is not on the review's chart of foods the diets exclude; aged and grated cheese is excluded by all 10. | |
| SIGHI food list 3 | See source | See SIGHI's own list for its rating. |
How freshness and processing change it
Basil was not measured fresh, stored or dried. Leaves are the plant foods where storage has been shown to raise histamine, in spinach, so buy basil fresh, or keep a growing pot, and use cut leaves within a few days. Jarred pesto has been prepared and stored for longer.
Not measured; measured leafy greens range from none to high. (estimate)
Not measured. (estimate)
Not measured; cured and grated cheese averaged 33.10 mg/kg. (estimate)
Not measured; the same estimate as the basil itself. (estimate)
Why we rate basil 1
Basil has not been tested for histamine in the studies we use, so this page is an estimate. None of the University of Barcelona team's tables include fresh herbs, and the 2021 review of ten published low-histamine diets does not chart basil among the foods they exclude.
Basil is a leaf, and leaves are where the measurements vary most. In the same team's survey of vegetables sold in Spain, lettuce had no histamine, chard had traces, 0.79 mg/kg on average and at most 1.33 mg/kg, and spinach had a lot: every one of 18 samples contained histamine, averaging 31.77 mg/kg. The team's review says some histamine occurs naturally in certain plants and that bacteria growing during storage can add more. With nothing to place basil in that spread, we rate it 1, "mostly low", rather than 0.
Two practical points narrow the question. First, basil is used by the leaf or the handful, not by the plateful, so it makes up a small part of most meals. Second, many basil dishes bring their own histamine. Classic pesto contains aged hard cheese such as Parmesan or pecorino. Cured and grated cheeses sold in Spain averaged 33.10 mg/kg of histamine, with 5% of samples above 203.30 mg/kg, and every one of the ten published diets excludes them. We estimate pesto made that way at 2. Tomato and basil is another common pairing, and tomato is rated 2 on this site. In those dishes, the basil is the least of it.
Pesto can be made without the aged cheese. A 2020 review from the same team found no detectable histamine in 20 samples of unripened cheese, the fresh kind that has not been matured, so a fresh cheese or none at all avoids the problem ingredient.
Dried basil was not measured either. The 2020 review reported no detectable histamine in a group of 12 spice samples, but it does not say which spices were included, or whether dried herbs were among them. Thai basil and other varieties were not studied separately.
Questions about basil and histamine
Is pesto high in histamine?
Pesto was not measured, but classic pesto contains aged hard cheese, and cured and grated cheese averaged 33.10 mg/kg of histamine in tests in Spain. We estimate it at 2. Pesto made with fresh cheese or none is closer to the basil itself.
Is dried basil better than fresh on a low-histamine diet?
Neither has been measured, so we cannot say. We estimate both at 1.
Evidence behind this page
- Fresh herbs, basil included, do not appear in the measurement tables of the 2018 or 2021 reviews. 12
- Among leafy vegetables tested in Spain, lettuce had no detectable histamine (4 samples), chard averaged 0.79 mg/kg (8 samples) and spinach 31.77 mg/kg (18 samples). 1
- Cured, semi-cured and grated cheese sold in Spain averaged 33.10 mg/kg of histamine (80 samples), with 5% of samples above 203.30 mg/kg, and all ten published low-histamine diets exclude it. 2
- Unripened cheese had no detectable histamine in 20 samples. 4
- A group of 12 spice samples sold in Spain had no detectable histamine; the review does not name the spices or say whether dried herbs were included. 4
Sources
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Rabell-González J, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Biogenic Amines in Plant-Origin Foods: Are They Frequently Underestimated in Low-Histamine Diets? Foods 7(12):205, 2018. doi:10.3390/foods7120205 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2018)
- Sánchez-Pérez S, Comas-Basté O, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla ML, Vidal-Carou MC. Low-Histamine Diets: Is the Exclusion of Foods Justified by Their Histamine Content? Nutrients 13(5):1395, 2021. doi:10.3390/nu13051395 (Sánchez-Pérez S et al. 2021)
- Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI). Food compatibility list for histamine intolerance. histaminintoleranz.ch (accessed November 2026), 2026. Link (Swiss Interest Group Histamine Intolerance (SIGHI) 2026)
- Comas-Basté O, Sánchez-Pérez S, Veciana-Nogués MT, Latorre-Moratalla M, Vidal-Carou MDC. Histamine Intolerance: The Current State of the Art. Biomolecules 10(8):1181, 2020. doi:10.3390/biom10081181 (Comas-Basté O et al. 2020)