The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

The key to cutting herbs into a chiffonade efficiently is to
stack the leaves—that way, you can cut through many at
once. For basil or other leafy herbs like mint, sage, and
parsley, start by placing one especially large leaf bottom
side up on a cutting board (1), then stack more leaves on top
(2). Once you have a stack of about 10, roll the leaves up
into a tight cylinder (3) and use a sharp knife to slice them
as thin as possible (4). You will end up with a shower of
herb ribbons (5).