Marjoram Uses: Sausage, Liver, Potatoes, Soups and Herb Blends

Marjoram (Origanum majorana) is a mint-family herb¹ best known in Central European cooking, where Gernot Katzer calls it well established and where German cooks call it Wurstkraut, the sausage herb.² It is gentler than its relative oregano: The Spice House suggests using about half as much oregano when swapping it in for marjoram,³ and a 2022 review credits marjoram’s sweet note to cis-sabinene hydrate.⁴ This page covers what to use it in, with named recipes. For timing, fresh-to-dried conversion and storage, see cooking with marjoram.

Marjoram uses at a glance

Sausage, liver and the German kitchen

Katzer says dried marjoram goes, together with thyme, into the spice mixtures used to make sausages, which is where its German name comes from.² He calls marjoram on boiled or fried liver somewhat classic,² and recommends it mostly for heavy vegetables such as legumes and cabbage.² His most direct suggestion: fried potatoes with a liberal amount of marjoram.²

For stews, Katzer pairs marjoram with bay leaves, or with a little black pepper or juniper, and says the juniper version suits ragouts, especially venison.² See juniper berries.

Soups

Two named soups put marjoram in the pot:

• Żurek, Polish sour rye soup. Polonist’s recipe adds 1 tablespoon of dried marjoram with a garlic clove to the pot, and garnishes with fresh marjoram.⁵ See Polish spices.
• Swedish pea soup. Sweden’s inventory of living traditions lists onion, marjoram, thyme and ginger as common ingredients in the Thursday pea soup.⁶ See split pea soup spices.

Dried marjoram cooked in and fresh marjoram on top, as in the żurek, matches Katzer’s note that fresh marjoram should be added shortly before serving.²

Blends

Italian seasoning. No single recipe exists. McCormick’s Italian seasoning lists marjoram first, then basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory and sage;⁷ Simply Organic’s leads with oregano, then marjoram.¹¹ The USDA’s purchasing specification names thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and basil without requiring marjoram.¹² See Italian seasoning.

Poultry seasoning. McCormick Culinary’s blend is thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper and nutmeg,⁸ and New England’s Bell’s Seasoning adds marjoram to rosemary, oregano, sage, ginger, thyme and pepper.⁹ See poultry seasoning.

Herbes de Provence. Here the sources disagree. France’s Label Rouge specification is thyme, rosemary, savory and oregano, with no marjoram.¹³ Leah Kaplan of The Takeout lists marjoram among the most common herbs in commercial blends,¹⁴ and The Spice House’s homemade version uses 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram with 2 teaspoons each of thyme and savory.¹⁰ See herbes de Provence.

Za’atar. The herb behind the name is not sweet marjoram. Katzer says the Jordanian za’atar herb is a local marjoram relative, Majorana syriaca, and that it is best replaced by a mild thyme or savory rather than by European sweet marjoram.² Susan Belsinger gives the same plant as Origanum syriacum, known as za’atar or Syrian oregano.¹⁵ Sweet marjoram in a homemade za’atar is a substitution, not the original. See za’atar.

Fresh marjoram: tomato sauce, fish and herb bundles

Katzer says fresh marjoram is more popular in southern European cooking.² He mentions it in Italian tomato sauces with garlic, where fresh oregano can stand in for it, and says it is often suggested for delicate fish dishes.² He also finds fresh marjoram well suited to a bouquet garni,² and Britannica lists marjoram among the common additions to the classic parsley, thyme and bay bundle.¹⁶ Katzer suggests it can add new accents to fines herbes, though it is not one of the usual four.² See bouquet garni and good spices for pizza.

In Jordan, Lebanon and Israel, the local marjoram relative flavors grilled mutton and is also used on breads, according to Katzer.²

Dried is the usual form

America’s Test Kitchen lists marjoram with oregano, sage, thyme and rosemary as the herbs worth using dried.¹⁷ Katzer notes that it loses some fragrance on drying.²

Uses we could not confirm

These circulate widely, but no source we opened supports them, so treat them as kitchen ideas: marjoram as a salad green or in Italian-style dressings, marjoram in dry rubs with garlic powder and cumin, and za’atar as a table condiment.

How much to use

The University of Delaware puts marjoram in its medium-strength group,¹⁸ for which it suggests 1 to 2 teaspoons for 6 servings (Attributed). Polonist’s żurek uses 1 tablespoon of dried marjoram for a full pot of soup.⁵

Related

• Marjoram
• Cooking with marjoram
• Marjoram vs. oregano
• Marjoram substitutes
• How to dry marjoram